I’ve been meaning to recommend some essential comedy reading from our producer down under, Justine Sless, who as “a woman at her wit’s end” was compelled to write her first book, Mistress of Mirth’s COMEDY Tour, whilst studying for her MA in creative writing. Now also available as an audiobook, it’s a valuable addition to any comedy archive.
Full disclosure here, the book is an adaptation of Justine’s academic studies and should therefore be taken in context. However, she cleverly manages to weave her own experiences and insights into the narrative and the result is semi-autobiographical, intellectually compelling, and an essential exploration of the world that women face on the comedy circuit. It’s funny too, of course!
Under the guise of her COMEDY Tour, Justine exploits her full-on comedy addiction. She sets the scene early: “My gateway drug was that first time I ever did a gig in the back of a bar, on a makeshift, dimly lit stage. It was an incongruous, hostile and seminal moment. Not least because I was attempting to illicit laughter but also trying to come to grips with how absurdly undermined I felt by the whole process of doing an unpaid gig with a blatant undercurrent antipathy.”
The book uses the theme of a tour featuring three people, mirroring the rule of three device of comedy joke-telling. As a comedian, author, and humour academic, spending over a decade researching, performing, teaching, and producing stand-up comedy, Justine has chosen Melbourne where she now lives as the setting, and takes the reader on a journey where the joke sequence begins in a well-known shopping mall.
Justine blends wisdom founded in her comedic research with her darkly funny short stories. It’s a distinctive and memorable voice, all the more enjoyable as it’s written by a woman with first-hand experience of the comedy circuit who has toured nationally and internationally. Her roots are in Sunderland, where Justine was born and raised in a Jewish household.
“I am a Mistress of Mirth having written, performed, researched, and taught stand-up comedy for many years,” says Justine. “Together with millions of other women across the globe we have enacted a mirthful mutiny taking on the unwieldy and historically (or is it hysterically?) male dominated world of stand-up comedy.”
Justine was the founder and creative director of the Melbourne Jewish Comedy Festival and has written for Jewish Women of Words, Funny Women, short story anthologies and academic journals. She is on the board of Writers Victoria, and a member of the Australasian Humour Studies Association.
Comedy performers, students and fans can now enjoy Justine narrating Mistress of Mirth in her own voice as an audiobook.
The book is available via Australian Scholarly Publishing or as an Ebook.
Visit www.justinesless.com for more details.
