110% Ready

“Nobody else does kids comedy this brilliantly, what’s more astounding is that adults have just as much fun.”

ABOUT THE SHOW 

In this show The Listies perform a miracle! 110% Ready sees Rich and Matt do something no family in Australia has ever done before: leave the house on time! 

Well, that’s what Rich thinks anyway. Matt on the other hand has a different plan. He may or may not have accidentally flushed the car keys down the toilet.

Featuring a poop-load of puns, silly slapstick sight gags, and a splash of improvisational idiocy, 110% Ready sees Melbourne’s masters of mirth do what they do best for 55 solid minutes of full family lols.   

This brand-new show is all about the joys of the average morning routine: sleeping through the alarm, not having any milk, fishing dirty clothes out of the hamper, burning the toast, and then finding the front door is glued shut, the shower won’t switch off, and the house is filling with water.

Dedicated to anyone who has ever been in charge of someone who is impossible to get out the front door in the am.

REVIEWS

★★★★½ “...an hour of rambunctious fun so clever, and so perfectly attuned to its audience, it wouldn’t surprise me if The Listies became the first children’s comedy act to win top gong at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.”
Cameron Woodhead, The Age

“In short... hilarious.”
Sydney Morning Herald

“The only downside of seeing The Listies is that kids may be disappointed the next time they go to the theatre because it isn’t always this awesomely excellent.”
Sometimes Melbourne

 “When I saw The Listies, it affected my thinking because I really related to the comedy craft they were exercising...it got me a little bit excited to realise that when you are performing for kids, it’s just as delicate and just as sophisticated.”
Frank Woodley, The Australian

“If the Wiggles are the Eagles then The Listies are the Sex Pistols.”
Dave O’Neil, The Age

“Australian duo The Listies have conquered children’s comedy through deep respect for their audience, with a focus on the subversion of the adult desire for control — with hilarious results.”
Sue Giles, The Australian

 “The Listies know all the right buttons to push to make children shriek with laughter.”
The Guardian

 “If your kids have never been to the theatre before, do them a favour and make this their first experience. It’s something they will never forget.”
The Scotsman

GREEN PROGRAMMING

The Listies create delightfully clever and irreverent work for families with a trademark ‘DIY’ aesthetic, which is both integral to the artistic vision of their shows and has an extremely low emissions footprint. This is due to the small touring party of 3 and the ‘suitcase touring’ model, which sees the entire set fit in 7 suitcases – particularly important for international touring. In 2024, The Listies’ tour of Make Some Noise comprised 9% of the total number of performances presented across AOT’s Touring Program, yet was responsible for only 1% of total emissions - just over 10T CO2e. As such The Listies' new show, 110% Ready, is one of five productions in our 2025 Touring Program under AOT’s Green Programming banner. AOT seeks out productions that have been made according to sustainability principles; utilise a low emissions touring model; and/or communicate environmental themes to audiences.

“Australian duo The Listies have conquered children’s comedy through deep respect for their audience, with a focus on the subversion of the adult desire for control — with hilarious results.”

ABOUT 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, and have never looked back (plus the hours are heaps better). 

To date, they have claimed to have written nine-ish award-winning & critically acclaimed live shows, collaborated with most major theatre companies and festivals in Australia, toured three continents, recorded four albums, and published two books with Penguin - and they have four books on the way. Though we only have their word for it. Oh, and their podcast has over 220,000 downloads but most of them are Matt’s Dad trying to work out how to use the internet.

On Australian television you can see them on ABC with their shows Art Blast, What’s With The Listies, The Listies Work For Peanuts, and occasionally in the background of outside weather broadcasts.

They performed over 120 shows a year to tens of thousands of people all over Australia and the UK. Nearly all of them stayed awake and only some of them vomited. Recently, in what may have been an administrative error, they won the Best Children’s Show at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

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 International Comedy Festival, (and they are still the only kids act to have been nommed for the Comedy Festival’s ‘Best Show’ award).

For more information visit www.thelisties.com

Touring 2025

Melbourne International Comedy Festival, VIC | Land of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People
5-19 April | BOOK

Kerang Memorial Hall, VIC | Land of the Wamba Wamba People
18 June | COMING SOON

Geelong Arts Centre, VIC | Land of the Wathaurong (Wadawurrung) People
21 June | BOOK

The Round, Nunawading VIC | Land of the Wurundjeri-Balluk People
24 June | BOOK

Seymour Centre, Sydney NSW | Land of the Gadigal People
26-27 June | BOOK

Manning Entertainment Centre, Taree NSW | Land of the Biripi People
1 July | BOOK

Jetty Theatre, Coffs Harbour NSW | Land of the Gumbaynggirr People
3 July | BOOK

Performance Arts Culture Cessnock (PACC), NSW | Land of the Wonnarua People
8 July | BOOK

Theatre Royal, Hobart TAS | Land of the muwinina People
10-11 July | BOOK

Princess Theatre, Launceston TAS | Land of the tyerremotepanner, panninher and the leterrermairrener People
15 July | BOOK

Illawarra Performing Arts Centre – IPAC, Wollongong NSW | Land of the Dharawal (Thuruwul) People
18-19 July | BOOK

Redland Performing Arts Centre, Cleveland QLD | Land of the Quandamooka People
24 September | BOOK

Darwin Entertainment Centre, NT | Land of the Larrakia People
26-27 September | BOOK

Wyndham Cultural Centre, Werribee VIC | Land of the Wathaurung, Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung People
1 October | COMING SOON

Bunjil Place, Narre Warren VIC | Land of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People
3 October | COMING SOON

Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool VIC | Land of the Gunditjmara People
7 October | BOOK

Portland Arts Centre, VIC | Land of the Gunditjmara People
9 October | BOOK

Goulburn Performing Arts Centre, NSW | Land of the Gundungurra People
21 October | BOOK

The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, NSW | Land of the Ngambri and Ngunnawal People
24-25 October | BOOK

The Art House, Wyong NSW | Land of the Darkinjung People
28 October | COMING SOON