About

Steph Tisdell is one of the brightest stars in Australian comedy.

A  luminescent presence on stage, her warmth and wit has been a hit with audiences ever since she won the  Deadly Funny National Grand Final in 2014. Her award-winning shows sell out wherever she performs and she  is fast becoming a ubiquitous presence on mainstream television, in 2021 she made her ‘serious acting’ debut  in ABC’s “Total Control”, she appeared on Ten’s The Stand Up for Christchurch Benefit, a couple of times on  Hughesy We Have A Problem, and on multiple occasions as both an interviewee and presenter on The Project.  More recently Steph plays fan favourite “Phoebe” the scholarship scab to workaholic career woman in Amazon Primes hit show “Class of 07”, has returned to reprised beloved character Joely in the final season of “Total Control” and played Shauna in the hit Stan show “Bump”. 

Her famous 2019 spot on ABC TV’s Oxfam Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala went viral and as a  result, in 2022 she was invited to host the Gala, one of the festival’s highest status gigs. Steph has also  performed barefoot stand-up on ABC TV’s Tonightly With Tom Ballard; went on a platonic blind-date with  Faustina ‘Fuzzy’ Agolley on ABC Life’s Hey Stranger, where the pair bonded over being mixed race, and  performed stand-up to a live audience of a couple of thousand for radio station Triple J. She’s also done Stand up on ABC Comedy Up Late and was a presenter on Australia Talks, an ABC special broadcast in 2019. 

On stage, critics have showered her with a galaxy-worth of four and five star reviews and hail her as being  “warmly funny, immediately relatable, fast on her feet” (Time Out) and “riotous, audacious and incredibly  smart” (Arts Hub). “Like Hannah Gadsby, she clearly recognises that true vulnerability is a powerful place to  excavate comedy material and her authenticity on stage is remarkable,” said The Adelaide Review of her 2020  show Baby Beryl. 

Her debut solo show, Identity Steft, won the weekly award for best emerging talent at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and was nominated for the illustrious Best Newcomer Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  Her second show, The Pyramid, took out the Melbourne International Comedy Festival John Pinder  Award. 

As a proud Indigenous woman, Steph was also a part of the Aboriginal All Stars line-up, who sold out most  nights during their festival run at the notoriously competitive Edinburgh Fringe, before heading to London’s  Soho Theatre. It’s not just Australian critics impressed that she “never fails to keep the audience laughing”  (The Wee Review). Major daily newspaper The Scotsman described her set as being “a phenomenal twenty  minutes” and said “Steph Tisdell is a glorious powerhouse of First Nation funny”. Broadway World’s enamoured  reviewer admitted “it was a bit of a fangirl moment seeing Tisdell gig live”. 

Steph has also traversed Australia with the Comedy Festival’s Roadshow and when she was honing her craft at  the beginning of her career in the UK, was a semi-finalist in comedy competition So You Think You're Funny and  a finalist in Scotland’s Yes Bar New Comedian contest. 

Before discovering her gift for comedy, Steph’s interest in politics and advocacy saw her enrolling in law and  this formidable intelligence and sense of social justice now permeates her material. As a Ydinji woman she  loves to share her experiences and what her culture means to her, and she hopes that her visibility will  empower other Aboriginal artists to come forward and showcase why they’re the funniest race in the world.  “Aware of her platform, she uses it in a way that both educates and entertains her audience on the nuances of  Aboriginal life – something that many Australians would benefit from” (Arts Hub) 

Steph’s material covers plenty of other ground, as well. She talks with endearing candour about her issues with  mental health and body image, revels in oddball observations (have you ever considered what animals would  look like with eyebrows?) and peppers her sets with some ribald remarks. Whatever the topic, with a wit as  sparkly as the mischievous glint in her eyes, Steph Tisdell is indeed “a joy to watch” (Glam Adelaide).

PRAISE FOR STEPH