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Laughing Matters has more than 20 years experience delivering corporate hoaxes and improvised mayhem
Posing as credible, expert speakers, Laughing Matters has successfully hoodwinked audiences across Australia and overseas, performing more than 500 bespoke characters.
Now, comedians David Lawrence and Jo Gill are unleashing their hoax creations into the video conferencing world!
Posing as serious experts in any field, they will inject mischief and comedy into the homes of unsuspecting remote workers. Whether transforming into an organisational change ‘guru’, best-selling author, futurologist, customer experience ‘strategist’ …
no role is out of bounds.
PLUS
Laughing Matters continues to specialise in our long-running services
Hoaxes
Posing as serious keynote speakers, ‘Industry Experts’ (Jo Gill and David Lawrence) commence credibly, then progressively become more bizarre, until audience members twig that they are being hood-winked.
Accompanied by Powerpoint slides (which invariably go off the rails), our tailor-made hoaxes can also feature bogus (seemingly unscripted) role plays between the Presenter and their inept off-sider who is ‘in charge’ of the embarrassing, error-laden Powerpoint.
Once the penny drops, and audiences realise they have been had, the speech can climax with a light-hearted, comedy roast of key individuals in the audience. (This is based on information and photos provided by the client.)
Importantly, clients review the script and slides before the big day, to ensure they are delighted with the content.
Laughing Matters hoax scripts are bespoke for each Client, and tailored to include relevant industry ‘hot topics’, emerging trends, and any cringe-worthy buzzwords sure to hit the mark with the audience.
A few of the 500-plus characters we have inhabited:
Change Management Consultants
Mining Experts
Motivational Speakers
Mt Everest-scaling Mountaineers
ASIC Officials
Entertainment Journalists
Customer Service Gurus
Tax Advisors
Feng Shui Consultants
Authors of Best-selling Business books
Archibald Prize Nominated Artists
Organisational Transformation/Working From Home Experts
The (Original) Waiters From Hell
There’s no better way to disrupt an otherwise run-of-the-mill Conference dinner, Awards night, AGM or Christmas Party.
Going undercover alongside real members of the waiting staff, these inept waiters (Jo Gill and David Lawrence) mingle among guests performing odd, inappropriate, eyebrow-raising activities.
Antics range from hiding behind plants, drinking wine, eating food from their trays, crawling under tables, and joining in other people’s conversations (entirely unsolicited).
After around two hours of controlled mayhem, (usually by now Jo is in a neck brace) an announcement is made that guests have been had. Of course, some guests may have twigged by now.
We often conclude with a comedy roast of key people in the audience, (based on information and photos provided by the client) and always reveal that we are not real waiters … ensuring the fine reputation of the venue remains intact!
Previous Waiters from Hell venues include:
The Park Hyatt
The Grand Hyatt
The Sydney Bathers Pavilion
Melbourne Zoo
The Deck at Circa
Jolleys Boathouse, Adelaide
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium
The Australian Club
Riva
The Kirribilli Club
Click here to find out how the Waiters From Hell can make your next function an unforgettable one.
TV Comedy Writing
We have written for more than 30 TV shows on all major Australian networks across a range of comedy/entertainment genres.
Our credits include Host scripts (Dancing With The Stars, Australia’s Got Talent, The TV Week Logie Awards), sketch comedy (Hamish & Andy, The Wedge, Big Bite, Comic Relief) and even Quiz shows (Family Feud, Millionaire Hot Seat, The Chase, Hard Quiz.)
Jo and David have also worked in creative development for now long-running, popular series such as Talking ‘Bout Your Generation.
Click here for a full list of TV credits for Jo Gill.
Click here for a full list of TV credits for David Lawrence.
MC Hosting
Over the last twenty years Laughing Matters has provided professional Master of Ceremonies services for all types and sizes of corporate events.
From product launches, and industry award nights, to three-day conferences and even hosting TV auditions, we specialise in injecting comedy with a professional touch.
Originating from corporate backgrounds ourselves, we know where to ‘draw the line’, with entertaining material (ad lib or pre-prepared) to match the audience, and the occasion.
Click here to learn more about the range of events Laughing Matters has MC-ed.
Hypothetical Scripts and Moderating
Spanning industries from Emergency Services to Health to Cyber Security, Laughing Matters has more than 20 years experience researching, writing and moderating Hypothetical panel scripts.
The Hypothetical debates can also be enhanced by the addition of televised news bulletins featuring Laughing Matters news anchors such as ‘Scoop Verbatim’.
Training Films
Say farewell to the ‘traditional’ talking head training film. We love being challenged to turn a serious brief into a razor-sharp script that is both funny and factual.
Offering a full suite of services from scripting to casting to final edit, Laughing Matters has produced more than 50 training films and vignettes.
Clients include: Priceline, Cricket Australia, ANZ and Victoria’s Road Traffic Authority.
Corporate ‘Bogus History’ Documentaries
The Inept Film Crew
The Laughing Matters team has been known to pose as legitimate film makers. Armed with a real camera operator, we infiltrate companies under the guise of producing a ‘serious’ corporate documentary.
Specific employees are ‘nominated’ by a Manager who is in on the joke, and these unsuspecting people are then interviewed one by one. (Most are thrilled at the thought of being on TV!)
Any hopes of a professional and smooth interview are quickly dashed as ill-prepared questions and dodgy make up practices are employed from the start. Unbeknownst to our interviewees, the cameras are rolling the whole time and their reactions to the chaos going on around them is captured on film.
Once the interviews are complete, the footage is edited to include the best reactions, and the ‘documentary’ is ready for screening as part of a conference, launch, company ‘anniversary’.
The Short Film
These parody historical films feature photos allegedly from the company ‘archives’ and possibly never-seen-before old black and white footage.
Fictitious founding ‘Partners’ or bizarre unknown chapters in the company’s history are celebrated.
Current, well-known employees can also be lampooned about their role in the business’s success.
A great tongue-in-cheek way to celebrate a company milestone or anniversary.
Corporate TV ‘News’ Anchors
Laughing Matters has been delivering bogus news reports, long before the term ‘fake news’ was invented.
Spice up your conference with daily updates from the quirky news desk of Scoop Verbatim and Manheim Lame, or with vox pop interviews with unsuspecting delegates.
Keep your team informed with monthly ‘reports’ from our NQR news readers, who combine comical fictitious stories, with genuine company news.
Acts of Mischief
The gold standard in professionally-produced pranks.
Laughing Matters loves to perform elaborate and specialised hoaxes, that target individuals or very small groups.
Whether it’s playing a strange new employee who joins the company at the Annual Conference, a brand-new Marketing Director receiving a handover from the ‘Victim’ on their last day, or an inept Temp who gives a poor unsuspecting CEO high blood pressure, Laughing Matters has done it all!
These pranks are impactful (on both the ‘target’ and those in the know) and quickly become part of that company’s folklore.
To pull off these large-scale pranks, we perform a thorough due diligence – liaising with all the necessary people behind the scenes, to put in place procedures that ensure the ‘real work’ still gets done!
Mischievous Characters portrayed include:
Mining Company EA – Temp
Recruitment Company PA – Temp
Art Gallery Receptionist – Temp
Pyramid Sales Couple (who infiltrated a company event, purporting to sell actual pyramids for garden displays!)
New Marketing Director
New (Loose Cannon) IT employee
Dodgy Relative of the Guest of Honour
New CEO
Bride and Groom (Accidentally at the wrong venue for their wedding reception!)
About us.
Jo Gill
Partner
Jo was once a serious PR consultant. Fortunately she jumped ship to follow her passion for writing and performing, and helped create the Laughing Matters empire instead.
Twenty odd years later, Jo has more than 300 successful corporate Hoaxes under her belt in industries ranging from health care, government, mining, retail, telecommunications and sporting.
This former co-host of the Moomba Birdman Rally, has experience hosting Awards nights, presenting Hypothetical scripts and performing as a mischievous ‘Waiter From Hell’ at many of Australia’s highest class establishments.
Jo has also written and appeared on a number of TV shows including Big Bite, Hamish & Andy, Comic Relief, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Balls of Steel (Australia), Hey Hey It’s Saturday Reunions, Millionaire Hotseat, Australia’s Got Talent, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now! and Hard Quiz. For three years she was Head Writer for TV Week Logie Awards.
She has written and performed in five Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, played Theatresports with Impro Melbourne, appeared in The Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festivals and sung in The Famous Spiegeltent.
Her televised Hoax newsreader character ‘Scoop Verbatim’ has appeared at national Conferences, delivering comedy news bulletins and injecting fun into otherwise dry topics.
Jo has also terrorised a number of leading MDs and CEOs with her Temp from Hell character, who is ‘released’ into their workplace to create controlled chaos, unbeknownst to the Boss. The ultimate team building experience!
She has illustrated three books in the Fox Swift series, and provided cartoons for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s Damo Makes Mis Mark.
In 2019 she travelled around Australia to host auditions for the popular ABC show Hard Quiz.
David Lawrence
Partner
Like the majority of comedy performers, David started out as a Financial Analyst.
But when discounted cash flows no longer made him smile, he realised there had to be more out there. And, after discovering that there wasn’t, he started Laughing Matters.
That was in the 1990’s, which looking back seems so last century.
Since then David has performed stand-up comedy and put on five Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows, including the sell-out, auto-biographical, ‘Can a Fat Man Run a Marathon?’ (It turns out he can’t – David lapsed into a coma at the 39 km mark!)
His main focus over the past twenty years has been entertaining unsuspecting Corporate audiences with hilarious Hoaxes, Waiters from Hell and MC performances.
He has performed for audiences measuring five to five hundred across a broad range of industries including retail, manufacturing, energy, legal, construction, banking, telecommunications, insurance and health.
He has written for numerous TV shows including Comedy Inc, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Hamish and Andy, The Wedge, and performed on the ABC’s kid’s sketch comedy program, You’re Skitting Me!
David is a popular children’s author, having written 11 books to date including the award-winning Maxi the Lifeguard and Fox Swift series. He is also a proud Ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, where he helps children from remote communities to write their own stories.
We made these people laugh
A lot!
Accenture
Adelaide Crows Football Club
Adelaide Crows Football Club
Allens Arthur Robinson
Amcor
Ansell
ANZ
Atlas Steel
Australian Greeting Card Association
Australian Hotels Association
Australian Institute of Landscape Architects
Australian Institute of Training & Development
Australian Mines & Metals Association
Australian Securities & Investments Commission
Bank of Melbourne Westpac
Bosch
Canningvale
Chubb Insurance
Coca Cola Amatil
Collingwood Football Club
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Cricket Australia
Crown Casino
CSR Emoleum
Department of Human Services
Department of Justice
Department of Natural Resources & Environment
ELC Baillieu Stockbroking
The Empower Group
Exxon Mobil
Fosters Group
Gazman
General Electric
Golder Associates
Heinz Wattie’s
IBM
Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia
InvestorWeb
Jeans West
Kangaroos Football Club
Kodak
Laura Ashley
Lend Lease
Macquarie Finance
Maddock Lonie & Chisholm
Mayne Health
Melbourne Business School
Minter Ellison
MLC
Monash Medical School
Moomba Birdman Rally
National Association of Women In Construction
National Australia Bank
Nike
Nylex
Optus Communications
Orica
Pasminco
Pillsbury Australia
Pioneer Electronics
Pioneer Homes
Powercor
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Proclaim Management Solutions
Public Relations Institute of Australia
Puma
QuizzelStick Enterprises
(OK, so we made that one up, but we need a ‘Q’ client. Qantas if you are reading this give us a gig!)
RACV
Richmond Football Club
Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists
Royal Melbourne Hospital
Simplot
Smorgon ARC
Societe Generale
Spotless Services
Standard & Poor’s
State Government of Victoria
Symex Holdings
Tabcorp
Tasmanian Minerals Council Limited
Tattersall’s
Texas Utilities
The Campaign Palace
Toyota
Union Steel
VicHealth
Victoria State Opera
Victorian Water Association
Vodafone
Walt Disney
Watson Wyatt Worldwide