About
Multi-award winning comic Celia Pacquola (also known as that lady from ABC’S Utopia and as seen on Live At Apollo and Never Mind the Buzzcocks) has cemented her position as one of the most in-demand comedians both in Australia and the UK. Charming audiences and critics alike with her honest, high energy, and joyful comic style, Celia has garnered loyal fans at shows and festivals with the type of easy to watch comedy that isn’t afraid of getting deep down and personal.
2016 was quite a year for Celia; she co-created, co-wrote and starred in the smash hit sitcom Rosehaven with Luke McGregor for ABC-TV, performed at the renowned Montreal Just for Laughs Festival and on the BBC’s Live At The Apollo. She also recorded her own hit stand up special “The Looking Glass” after it’s string of successful runs at Fringe World Perth, Brisbane Comedy Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Festival.
Celia has been back on small screens in 2017 as an actress, as well as continuing to perform live stand-up. Her latest solo show, All Talk, has fired up even the most cold-hearted of critics with Time Out warning other comics to stay away: “Pacquola writes, performs and inhabits herself so utterly, you’ll feel only envy. Almost everyone else will feel grateful.”
Watch Celia Pacquola: The Looking Glass
Prepare to grin from ear to ear as Australia’s comedy darling Celia Pacquola takes you on her critically acclaimed solo voyage around 30 something womanhood and single-dom in the 21st century. Personal, sharply observed and always cleverly constructed, Celia’s looking glass most definitely reflects the real, honest humour in life.
See Celia Pacquola Live
Information on Celia Pacquola upcoming gigs and live shows can be found here
Bio
As a 10-year veteran of the stand-up comedy circuit, Celia is recognised as much for her writing and acting skills as her comedic ability. Growing up in Victoria’s rural Yarra Valley, Australia, as the youngest of 3 girls Celia was a shy, bookworm of a child struggling to fit in at school. Despite idolising The Young Ones‘ Rik Mayall, she didn’t understand that a career in comedy could ever be an option. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald she reflects: “I was never the real clown, I wasn’t really a funny kid. My mom would say I was a real sensitive kid. A lot of comedians are like, ‘I loved getting the laugh’, whereas I was way more quiet.”
Despite doing well academically, Celia always felt somewhat out of place at the posh girls’ High School she attended. Aged 18, Celia left home to hang out with the “arty weirdo types”, studying writing and Drama at Deakin University in Victoria and waitressing to pay the bills. Beginning to find her passion for writing theatre scripts and sketch comedy, she found herself making the finals at the Raw Comedy Awards in 2006, performing in front of over 1000 punters. To her surprise, the gigs kept coming and her audiences grew too. Speaking to Broadway Baby she reminisces “A boyfriend signed me up for an open-mic competition as a surprise. Turns out at the time he was cheating on me, but I came second in the competition which kick started my career and he’s not doing comedy anymore. I say we’re even.”
Over a decade later, and Celia’s stand-out solo festival shows All Talk, The Looking Glass, Let Me Know How It All Works Out, Delayed, Flying Solos and Am I Strange have all garnered rave reviews wherever they’ve been performed, from Melbourne to Edinburgh. In 2014 Celia was nominated for the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for the best show and won the Amused Moose Laughter Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2016, Celia became the youngest woman to host the Oxfam Gala for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival/Network Ten. Celia is also a talented actor with roles in the acclaimed ABC1 drama The Beautiful Lie, the AACTA award-winning Laid, Logie Award winning drama Offspring and in Working Dog’s series Utopia, for which she won an AACTA Award in 2015.
Internationally, Celia has been a guest on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Chelsea Lately and The Rob Brydon Show. She was also handpicked to support John Oliver on his 2015 Australian Tour. Following this, Celia was invited to the 2016 Just For Laughs festival in Montreal to perform as part of the Carrie Fisher Gala, and then to London for an appearance on Live At The Apollo.