The comedy encore for a good cause

Tim Minchin’s last tour raised over $250,000 for domestic violence, animal welfare and mental health charities 

Australian comedian Tim Minchin is back once again making people laugh for a good cause, this time to support struggling independent theatres across the country. 

Following his highly successful 2019 tour, “Back: New Songs, Old Songs, F*** You Songs”, which donated around $10,000 per show to charities based in each city of the tour, Minchin announced the encore tour would go down a similar road.    

While the beneficiaries of the 2019 tour included family and adoption services, mental health support, domestic violence shelters, music programs for underprivileged kids, and refugee support organisations, Minchin said the money raised from this tour would go to independent theatres. 

He said that independent theatres were vital to the cultural health of the country, and that the ongoing cuts to the arts sector had hit small-to-medium organisations hard.  

“Independent theatre is the breeding ground of future mainstream artists,” Minchin said.  

“The huge cultural and economic impact of a big commercial show like Matilda the Musical (to choose just one close-to-home example) would not exist without the independent theatres that let Dennis Kelly and I get our hands dirty in the early days.” 

Money is raised via the VIP charity tickets on sale for $230 – $90 more than the next expensive ticket.  

Minchin thanked his generous audience members for digging deep to buy the “highly inflated” seats. 

More information on the tour and the independent theatres it’s supporting can be found here.