John Pinder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Pinder is an Australian comedy producer who is occasionally referred to as the father of Australian Comedy.
He co-founded The Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant in Melbourne in the 1970's. This venue discovered and featured many comedians who later formed the television comedy boom to come out of Melbourne in the late 1980s and early 1990s through such shows as The Comedy Company, The Big Gig, Fast Forward and The Late Show.
In 1987 he co-ordinated the very first Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant featuring British comedians The Young Ones, French and Saunders and Alexei Sayle.
In the 1990s he moved to Sydney and became a creative consultant for Foxtel's the Comedy Channel working alongside television executive and producer Nick Murray. There he continued to discover and give opportunities to new talent like the comedy ensemble Chop-Socky, and a young Rove McManus whom he cast as one half of the comedy puppets Short and Curly.
Pinder is currently Festival Director of Sydney's Big Laugh Comedy Festival which began in 2001, and in 2005 he brought The Goodies out to Australia for a successful sell-out tour.
