I am a person who believes in laughter. I work in live art. My main medium is performance. In art-making I revere legacies of border-riders, defiant sexualities, witches and rascals. I have been known as a sex clown and I am proud to invoke laughter.
Some of the best laughing is out of absurdity. Laughter erupts and massages. Purrs and murmurs. It erodes calcified, rational, top-down thinking. It appears mysteriously, sometimes even when we think we should not laugh. My grandmother Betty used to say to my brother and I: “You’re laughing now, you’ll be crying in a minute!” We need our tears and hope; I wouldn’t be laughing so hard if it wasn’t so deeply serious.
1. Solid Gold Dancer workout
I grew up watching my mother instruct aerobics classes. It’s in the blood. As part of my art practice, I lead “Grumble boogies”. These are psychically charged dance classes with deeply daggy spirit. We have even conducted 24-hour boogies.
I love this Solid Gold Dancer workout. I encourage you to do it, adapt it to your body, move it around. Look at those outfits, those faces! (I have a crush on Darcel.) Dancing and laughing, laughing and dancing. This is a healthy day. Thank you body.
2. Lynda Gibson, Judith Lucy and Denise Scott
Three legendary women of comedy show us how they prepare to go onstage in this flashback to the 2000 Melbourne International comedy festival. Judith Lucy, Denise Scott and the late Lynda Gibson – who is my beloved auntie.
When I was about 15, she asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said I wanted to act. She said: “Whatever you do, make sure you are having fun doing it.” Lynda is performing here while living with ovarian cancer. Funny, strong, defiant and real. A Golden Gibbo.
3. Flutterbye goes into fire
A classic. I had one of these contraptions when I was little. There is something so pure in how the parent exclaims “ohhh noooo” at the end. We must all return to the fire of purification sometime. Faeries are real.
4. Being In Total Control Honey
The lockdowns had their way with us. During the pandemic I found myself living at a legendary queer house, in a static caravan in the backyard. During one of the windows where we could gather, a collective I was in titled Working Bitches created a track with our gay uncles Paul Mac & Jonny Seymour (AKA Stereogamous). It brings me so much joy to see the music video scene with our friends, mentors and fellow artists dancing in the backyard.
5. Divine David
This is a go-to refresh for the mind. I’ve been lucky to witness David Hoyle a few times live onstage in London. I love their streams of consciousness. Their glamour. Their simmering, raging and welcoming intelligence. You can go on a real spree diving into their other videos. Do so! Divine indeed.
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6. Recess Therapy
I know social media can feel like gambling and I have tried to be very careful with my usage. I feel how it changes my brain. But some things bring real hope – like Recess Therapy. Kids get it. These kids do great things to my brain.
7. Dogs underwater
You know who else gets it? Dogs. It was hard to choose one dog video: dogs in wigs, dogs dancing, dogs being naughty, dogs smiling. I am not anthropomorphising them. Rather, they bring me back into my dog nature and for this I am grateful. I do have a constant stream of dog memes going back and forth between my closest friends. Dog is god.
8. Young person dancing to Vogue
Much like the aerobic offering before, I encourage you to copy their moves, invent your own, yield to the drama. Ecstatic dancing helps us. The gaze in this child’s eye gives me energy.
9. Sammy Obeid
Some of the greatest laughter I have experienced has been created by people who have come through life’s most jagged edges. Joy in the face of oppression is a powerful tool for unpicking the throes of dominance. Laughter can be a weapon too. It can unionise and dismantle power.
10. The Spark
My body was shimmering and giggling when I saw this video for the first time. It’s swept across platforms and rightly so. It’s just so good. We love Celtic joy! Sing along!