The 1812 Theatre has welcomed top comedian and media identity Lawrence Mooney as its Patron, in recognition of his strong ties to the company and his long and successful career.
The board of management recently made the announcement, saying it “looks forward to a long and fruitful relationship” with Mooney.
The renowned comic’s affiliation with The 1812 Theatre in Upper Ferntree Gully runs deep.
In 1984, Mooney walked into The 1812 Theatre in Rose Street and was immediately put to work on constructing a set for a show called ‘Veronica’s Room’.
This was one of the first times he had gone to live theatre, so the next year he decided to see what theatre was all about and went to an audition for the first show of 1985.
Jon Lowe, chairman of the company, welcomed him and immediately cast him in a comedy about cricket called ‘Outside Edge’ that he was directing.
Mooney was cast and while he didn’t have a main role, he did have his own cricket pads and bat.
As with all seasons at the 1812, the rehearsal went for six weeks and there were 20 shows over four weeks, so Lawrence quickly fell under the spell and smell of the ‘greasepaint’.
Over the next few years, Mooney was cast in several more plays but the highlight was being part of The 1812’s production of ‘Such is Life’ a play about Ned Kelly that was taken to Monaco as part of the 1985 World Amateur Theatre Festival.
The 1812 had been invited to attend as Australia’s representative company.
Mooney very nearly didn’t go to Monaco because he “was saving for a house”.
But he was soon convinced that was “so bourgeois” and that at his age he should be “seeing the world” … so he did!
The company took some 20 people that were involved in the production, along with several friends/relatives.
Mooney and the rest of the company performed on the opening night in the Salle Garnier Theatre, which is part of the Monaco Casino building and there was a full house of over 500 people including Princess Antoinette, sister of Prince Rainier!
Clearly, Mooney was ‘hooked’ on performance.
On his return, he was part of a few more shows at The 1812 before he decided to try and break into the professional scene as a stand-up comic.
The rest is history, as they say.
Since then, Mooney has become a stand-up comedian and is widely regarded by fans and peers as one of the funniest of the funny.
His brutally honest and hilarious insights have earned him Best Show Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 and a Barry Award Nomination for Best Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2015.
Mooney is well-known as the host of Dirty Laundry Live that ran for three seasons on ABC TV and his sitcom pilot ‘Moonman’ also aired on ABC TV in 2016.
ABC viewers would already be familiar with his work on Agony Uncles, Agony of Life and Agony of Modern Manners.
He moved to commercial television in 2016 as host of the Rio Paralympics and will be seen as the ringleader on the new Seven Network series ‘Behave Yourself’.
Mooney is heard throughout Australia on Triple M being our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, as well as a regular on the drive show Merrickville.
