Review: Thank God You're Queer
Picture: Thank God You’re Queer, in The Brisbane Comedy Festival Dome, Image credit: Creative Futures Photography
Take one well-known television show format, add some of ‘Brisbane’s finest LGBTQI+ improvisers’ and sprinkle in a delight of Straight guests. Mix well, and you have a successful festival show. This month, Thank God You’re Queer had two shows at the 2026 Brisbane Comedy Festival, making a welcome return to the stage following their Melt 2025 success, so we can only hope that the team will be back on Brisbane stages soon.
Most of the people in the Sunday audience appeared to be very familiar with improv comedy, and with the ‘Thank God You’re Here’ format. But we were all in safe hands, as Daniel Kirkby (Artistic Director, Second Beat Productions) is a quite fabulous compere—providing an excellent introduction to the format, hyping up the crowd for the introduction to the performers, keeping the show on track, and generally making sure that the Thank God You’re Queer (TGYQ) show delivers. Daniel is funny, upbeat, and highly professional—with some great introductions for the Queer cast and for the Straight guests.
Several of the real queer stories and questions collected from the audience on arrival are, across a mere hour, used as the basis for unscripted comedy. The ‘aim’ of the ‘competition’ is to determine which of the Straight comedians are to be awarded the title of ‘Brisbane's Best Ally.’ On the Sunday evening, Liz Talb was a clear crowd favourite, taking out the title. Chris Martin was a close second, which might also mean that several members of the audience will be booking tickets for Chris’s Date Night show (Brisbane Comedy festival, 21-24 May 2026).
The Queer cast drew on each of the audience questions or stories with funny introductions and some excellent improv. For each of the two performances, Daniel drew on 14 fellow performers to bring a cast of four Queer and four Straight comedians onto the stage. The standout from the Sunday night Queer cast was Ollie Kate, who is a fast and funny improviser with some very hilarious self-deprecating comments that had the cast and audience in fits of laughter. Ollie was joined by three fellow Queer cast members including Laugh Out Liam (LOL)—who is a great physical comedian, delivering a number of memorable lines throughout the evening, and worked particularly well with scenes featuring Ollie and Rosa.
Picture: Thank God You’re Queer, in The Brisbane Comedy Festival Dome, Image credit: Creative Futures Photography
Picture: Thank God You’re Queer, in The Brisbane Comedy Festival Dome, Image credit: Creative Futures Photography
Picture: Hosting Thank God You’re Queer, in The Brisbane Comedy Festival Dome, Image credit: Creative Futures Photography
Picture: Thank God You’re Queer, in The Brisbane Comedy Festival Dome, Image credit: Creative Futures Photography
Personal favourite moments from the Sunday TGYQ show included a couple of Himali’s one-liners. You had to be there, but let’s just say the answer to the question about finding ‘new’ dates was a very funny take on immigration policy. Liz’s eating of tacos and comment about a straight white woman and definitions of homophobia drew audience cheers, and snorts of laughter from people sitting with me. Chris’s improv hostage negation scene, alongside the Queer cast, had to be one of the highlights of everyone’s evening. And of course Liz’s poetry slam songs are probably what lead to her being voted as Brisbane’s Best Ally for the night.
Second Beat Productions and Big Fork Theatre are excellent partners and have created a memorable show that certainly deserves to be on high repeat. It’s a pity that there were only two Thank God You’re Queer shows during the 2026 Brisbane Comedy Festival. However, as Big Fork Theatre runs a Brisbane improv training centre and Second Beat Productions is a Meanjin-based theatre company, I happily recommend you keep an eye out for tickets to future Thank God You’re Queer shows. Of course successful Improv depends on the energy of the audience, and the selected performers, but this format delivers an entertaining festival show.
Audience information: Thank God You’re Queer, The Dome, Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm (2 & 3 May 2026). Suitable age 15+ (all children are permitted but must hold a valid ticket). The Dome is outside the main Powerhouse building, but the large tent include comfortable seats and delivers good sightlines. Contains adult themes and coarse language, as well as sexual and drug references. 60 minutes, no interval, and with a full lockout. Tickets $32.50-37.50 plus $7.20 transaction fee.
The reviewer attended the 3 May 2026 7pm show.