Unlikely Friends
Hosted by Damian Callinan, Unlikely Friends is an improvised, live chat show featuring a rotating duo of Australia’s best comedians, improvisors & actors. However, in this chat show, they don’t get to trot out their usual banter. Rather than playing themselves, each guest is attributed an historical character to portray. Defying their own mortality & conflicting timelines, it turns out that they are in fact UNLIKELY FRIENDS.
After Premiering at the Comedy Republic at the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Unlikely Friends has gone on to have return seasons at Woodford Folk Festival, Adelaide Fringe and Replay Festival back at Comedy Republic. Guests have included Wil Anderson, Tom Gleeson, Claire Hooper, Geraldine Hickey, Dane Simpson & Gillian Cosgriff. Each show is recorded and released as a podcast. You can find them here and contact Damian here to book Unlikely Friends for your festival.
Did Frida Kahlo & Marco Polo really meet at Schoolies? Who dominated the music round in Andre the Giant & Neil Armstrong’s pub trivia team? Who played Wing Defence in William Shakespeare & Marie Curie’s mixed netball team? Damian Callinan hosts an improvised chat show with a rotating duo of comedians and improvisors taking on historical roles as they reinvent the past, revealing how they became Unlikely Friends.
The three-time nominee for Most Outstanding Show at MICF, returns to his improv roots in this new format that will be later released as a podcast. Listen in and you’ll hear Ned Kelly (Wil Anderson) & Estee Lauder (Gillian Cosgriff) reminiscing about the Kelly Gang hiding out at her luxury beachside estate in the Hamptons & Noah (Tom Gleeson) & Steve Irwin (Dane Simpson) riffing on their first meeting at Jesus’s Buck Weekend in Byron Bay. Who will launch themselves into the historical mosh pit next? As Napoleon Bonaparte once said on the Graeme Norton Show, ‘History is a set of lies agreed upon’.
Guests enter the chat show set, armed only with their wits and google as Damo takes them through the high and lows of their friendship through a series of verbal and prerecorded prompts revealing their connections to their Unlikely Friend. They don’t know what’s coming and Damian doesn’t know where they’ll take it.
Comedy Republic – MICF 2024
- Wil Anderson (Ned Kelly) & Gillian Cosgriff (Estee Lauder)
- Tom Gleeson (Noah) & Dane Simpson (Steve Irwin)
- Geraldine Hickey (Joan of Arc) & Andrew McLelland (Andy Warhol)
- Michelle Brasier (William Shakespeare) & Claire Hooper (Coco Chanel)
- Brian Nankvervis (Neil Armstrong) & Rusty Berther (Andre the Giant)
- Ivan Aresteguita (Don Bradman) & Sami Shah (Julius Caesar)
- Rik Bown (Mary McKillop) & Jason Geary (Leonardo Da Vinci)
- Kirsty Weebeck (Phar Lap) & Elf Lyons (Pegasus)
Comedy Republic – Replay Festival 2024
- Charlie Pickering (Banjo Patterson) & Genevieve Morris (Marcel Marceau)
- Josh Ladgrove (Bob Hawke) & Hannah Camilleri (Mary Shelley)
Woodford Folk Festival – December 2024
- Harley Breen (Jesus Christ) & Ben Turner (Harry Houdini)
- Rob Carlton (Henry the 8th) & He Huang (Marilyn Monroe)
Adelaide Fringe – 2025
- Mickey D (David Hookes) & Heath Franklin (Genghis Khan)
- Amy Hetherington (Catherine the Great) & Kel Balnaves (Peter Brock)
- Luke McGregor (Laika the Space Dog) & Zoe Coombs-Marr (Koko the Gorilla)
- Garry Starr (Richard the 3rd) & Bec Hill (Jim Henson)
- Daniel Connell (John F Kennedy) & Wil Anderson (Shane Warne)
- Marie Curie (Lena Moon) Adam (Paul Gordon) & Eve (Claire Bottrall)
If you’d like to bring Unlikely Friends to your festival, Damian will curate special shows for you using a combination of local identities and visiting artists. He can even tailor it to fit the theme of your festival by matching historical identities to the world of your festival. Contact Damian here to learn more.