Anthony Morgan has been working as a stand up comic since 1982. Anthony has performed his conversational stand up across Australia, as well as in London, Manchester and twice at the Edinburgh Festival.
Anthony’s stand up seeks to come to grips with the simple matters of domestic, political and social life. He does this by making these matters unimaginably complex then seeking to explain them to himself and the audience members. The result is ultimately satisfying but thoroughly confusing.
Anthony is a consummate live performer and has received awards at both the Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals. He presented a show at every Melbourne Comedy Festival until 1998 and constantly produced new live work in Melbourne and around the country.
Most people know Anthony for his television work. This started in 1991 as a regular on The Big Gig (ABC) and spots on Hey, Hey It’s Saturday and Tonight Live. In 1994 Anthony became the Melbourne correspondent for Denton (Seven Network). This more than anything else brought Anthony to the public’s attention. Anthony’s regular crosses saw him boxing against world champions, proclaiming his love to Kylie Minogue and getting a tattoo of Lenny Bruce on his back. Anthony also appeared on the Melbourne Comedy Festival debates shown on both the ABC and the Seven Network in 1994, 1995 & 1997. Most recently, he’s appeared on the ABC’s Spicks & Specks, as well as on Statesmen of Comedy on The Comedy Channel.
In the 1996 Melbourne Comedy Festival Anthony produced Ink, Pink, You Stink, selling out the Melbourne Town Hall three times over. In 1997 more fans again flocked to see Anthony with his five piece band, Ron.
In 1998 Anthony stunned the comedy industry – and his management – by announcing, on stage and before 2000 people, that he was retiring. Anthony’s retirement lasted until 2000, when he returned to the stage, notably in a reprise of his 1994 Melbourne Comedy Festival hit, Morgan’s Bar and Grill, at the Comedy Festival. Later that year, Anthony launched Bag of Nails at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. He followed up with a self-titled at the next Melbourne Comedy Festival.
In 2006 he returned to the Melbourne Comedy Festival, travelling from his new home in Tasmania, and again the following two years with the shows Sackful of Bullfrogs and Unrepentant.
