Rees-ently, Australian comedian and former Giggle and Hoot star Jimmy Rees announced his upcoming tour — Let’s Get Regional.
Following the success of his two previous tours, which had stop-offs at capital and major cities, Jimmy decided to take it rural with his third.
“Last year, I went out for my first time outside of Giggle and Hoot, which went really well,” Jimmy said.
“I went around the big cities last year and again this year, so the previous two years haven’t been regional.
“I think the main thing is that my content appeals to everyone, and it’s not so pointed at one thing or one group of people, and I try to include rural Victoria in my content, not just the big cities.
“So I wanted to take it to the places where a lot of people are, but it makes sense to do a regional tour on its own. Otherwise, I’d spend a lot of time away from my wife and three young boys.”
Jimmy decided to tour the regions of Australia, hitting up 17 towns across the six states — and it was audience feedback that chose the towns.
“It’s peer pressure really, ‘Why aren’t you coming here?’ being commented whenever I post a new tour date,” Jimmy said with a laugh.
“It’s funny actually, the first comment I got under my tour announcement was ‘Why aren’t you coming to Ballarat?’, which, if you look, is the first town listed.”
Jimmy said he believed regional towns should be a part of tours for entertainment despite the challenges organisers might face.
“Absolutely, regional towns should be represented in entertainment and we’re seeing it more and more,” he said.
“The thing is, however, that the logistics are more complicated the more rural you go.
“We’ve got to think about things like if the venue can actually hold all of my sets and props and characters.
“With our tour map, to make it as easy to get to for the most amount of people, there’s a bit of a centre where people even more regional than those bigger towns can travel to come to see the show.”
Audiences can expect a similar experience to what they’ve seen in his online content, as he plans to bring out his characters, props and sets.
“It’s the silly characters you’ll see on social media but there’s no editing; online, you can be really perfect, but you can’t do that in person, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes,” he said.
The regional tour holds a bit of excitement for Jimmy, as he said the unpredictable and unplanned were often his favourite parts of a show.
“Every town is different and the audiences are all different,” he said.
“Every show is different from the last and that all depends on how the audiences react, and typically, the more regional, the more fun.”
Jimmy Rees will be at Shepparton’s Riverlinks Eastbank on Friday, April 26.
Tickets go live on Riverlinks’ website at noon on Wednesday, November 22.