Australian comedy podcast TOFOP has announced a series of live recording dates this November, marking the show’s first live performances in over six years.
The podcast, which is co-hosted by stand-up comedian Wil Anderson and actor Charlie Clausen, has been running since 2010, and has previously hosted a number of live recordings and minor tours, both in Australia and internationally.
Clausen and Anderson will be holding two shows at the Basement Comedy Club in Melbourne on 11 November - one of which has already sold out - and a further performance at The Comedy Store in Sydney on 25 November.
“Six years since we last did a live show, dropped those microphones, pledged that we would never come back,” Anderson said. “Entertainment demanded that we would never come back, but in your face, entertainment industry - we’re back, baby!”
TOFOP, along with other podcasts from the pair such as FOFOP, Wilosophy and AFL show Two Guys One Cup, is part of Australian podcast platform Listnr, after signing with the company last year. Clausen also co-hosts parenting podcast DadPod with Australian TV personality Osher Günsberg, which won Silver for Best Parenting Podcast at last year's Australian Podcast Awards.
Podcasting has become a big business in Australia, hitting record high listenership figures earlier this year with an estimated nine million people tuning in every month, according to Edison’s Infinite Dial Australia report.
Live podcasting has also become increasingly popular around the world, with many podcasters launching tours and live recordings as a way to engage with fans and diversify their revenue streams. Multiple events around the world have been launched to cater for this, including The London Podcast Festival, which is taking place this month, Canada’s Hot Docs Podcast Festival in October, and the Cheerful Earful comedy podcast festival in November.
“When we started doing live shows, John [Robins] and I realised that the audiences were very different to the kinds of audiences I used to get as a stand-up comedian,” award-winning comedian and podcaster Elis James said in a previous episode of PodPod. “They were far more loyal and they were far more engaged. And you didn't have to introduce yourself, because they already knew you because of your work.”
