Demi Lardner is an Australian comedian based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In 2013, she won

Raw Comedy Raw Comedy, stylised as RAW Comedy, is an Australian annual competition for emerging stand-up comedians held by Melbourne International Comedy Festival. History and description The Raw Comedy competition was established at the Melbourne Inter ...

in Melbourne and went on to win So You Think You're Funny? in Edinburgh for her comedy set. She regularly streams on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

, and co-hosts the podcast ''bigsofttitty.png'' with her husband Tom Walker.

Early life

Lardner grew up in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, South Australia.

Career

Lardner began performing in Adelaide at

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...

s at 15, and won Adelaide Comedy's Rising Starr Award for Best Newcomer in 2010. In 2013, she won the Raw Comedy national competition and earned a place in that year's So You Think You're Funny? competition at

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, which she won in a tie. Lardner co-wrote and performed in ''Wolf Creek, The Musical'', which won BankSA's Best Emerging Comedy Show Award at

Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

. That year she also won Adelaide Comedy's Out of Adelaide award and was nominated for their Adelaide Comedian of the Year award. Lardner's comedy has been described as surreal and absurdist. She performed in ''Limbless Cagefighter'' in 2014, and was nominated for Adelaide Comedy's Adelaide Comedian of the Year and Out of Adelaide awards. In 2015 she performed in her first solo show ''Birds with Human Lips'', as well as in ''Angus and Demi are: Best Good Show'' with Angus Brown. She also began the podcast ''We Are Not Doctors'' with Bart Freebairn in 2015, which ended after its 100th episode in 2017. Lardner's 2016 solo show ''Life Mechanic'' led to her receiving the Sydney Comedy Festival's Best Newcomer Award as joint winner and being nominated for Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Best Newcomer award. Her 2017 show ''Look What You Made Me Do'', directed and co-written by Mark Bonanno, received the Directors' Choice award at the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

and the Underbelly Edinburgh Award at Adelaide Fringe. In 2018 Lardner's show ''I Love Skeleton'' won the Pinder Prize at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She also began the podcast ''bigsofttitty.png'' with Tom Walker, which was picked up by Sanspants Radio Podcast Network later that year. Her 2019 solo show ''Ditch Witch 800'' won Best International Show at the

New Zealand International Comedy Festival The New Zealand International Comedy Festival (NZICF; sometimes the NZ Intl Comedy Fest) is a comedy festival in both Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. The festival is run by the New Zealand Comedy Trust, and is held across three weeks duri ...

, and was nominated for Edinburgh Fringe's Best Show and for

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Establ ...

' Best Comedy Show. Also in 2019, Lardner performed alongside Tom Walker in ''We Mustn't'', which received

Sydney Comedy Festival The Sydney Comedy Festival is held annually in Sydney, Australia. Launched in 2005 as The Cracker Sydney Comedy Festival at a number of inner city venues, the Festival has grown quickly and now attracts 111,000 patrons every year at venues all ...

's Director's Choice Award. Walker and Lardner began their second podcast ''We Have No Strong Feelings About Harry Potter'' that year, which was also on the Sanspants Radio Podcast Network. The podcast ended in 2020. Lardner has collaborated with comedy group

Aunty Donna Aunty Donna is an Australian surrealist comedy group formed in Melbourne in 2011. The group currently consists of performers and writers Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, alongside writer and director Sam Lingham, director Max Mill ...

. While she had previously occasionally streamed on

, Lardner began to stream regularly in 2020, when

COVID-19 restrictions During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

were preventing live shows. Lardner was one of a cast of voice actors in the Australian comedy sci-fi feature film '' Lesbian Space Princess'', which premiered at the

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is a film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in movie theater, cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented wikt:Special:Search/biennial, biennially in March from 2 ...

in October 2024.

Personal life

Lardner is openly

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

. She has been involved in LGBT+ awareness initiatives, such as a

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

interview about her parents' responses when she came out to them, and creating a satirical public service announcement in October 2018, addressing recent national debate about the rights of religious schools regarding LGBT+ employees and students. She is married to her comedic partner Tom Walker.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lardner, Demi Living people 21st-century Australian comedians Australian stand-up comedians Australian women comedians Australian women podcasters LGBTQ podcasters Comedians from Sydney Bisexual comedians Australian Twitch (service) streamers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people Comedians from Adelaide Australian podcasters