The Listies

The Listies are Richard Higgins and Matthew Kelly, a comedy double act who are serious about being silly. They formed during the latest Ice Age (2008) to perform absurdist comedy to elderly people (i.e. 18+) but switched to full time kids comedy in 2011, and finding it to be a wondrous and rewarding sphere full of joy, never looked back (plus the hours are heaps better).

To date, they have claimed to have written ten-ish award-winning & critically acclaimed live shows, collaborated with most major theatre companies and festivals in Australia, toured 3 continents, recorded four albums, and published four books with Penguin - and they have 2 books on the way. Though we only have their word for this…

On Australian television you can see them on ABC with their shows ‘Art Blast’ ’The Listies Work For Peanuts’ and ‘What’s With the Listies?’, their music video ‘Wash Your Hands’ (with Zoe Coombs Marr and muso Ryan Ritchie) and occasionally in the background of outside weather broadcasts.

In 2022 they performed over 110 shows to tens of thousands of people all over Australia, NZ and Scotland. Nearly all of them stayed awake and only some of them vomited. Recently, in what may have been an administrative error, they won the Edinburgh Festival’s ‘Primary Times award for Best Production for Children’.

In the past they have received a Sydney Theatre Award, 'The HarperCollins Best Designed Children’s Fiction Book', and the Best Independent show (Golden Gibbo Award) at Melbourne Comedy Festival, (and they are still the only kids act to have been nommed for the Comedy Festival’s ‘Best Show’ award). What can we say - the bribery seems to have worked.

They are currently working on a narrative Podcast series and a new book.