Bold women join Sydney Comedy Festival’s emerging talent – The Sydney Morning Herald

Thao Cao's comedy career was born out of fear. Several years ago, the Sydney stand-up was working in a corporate admin role when she found herself paralysed with terror in a staff meeting. "I had to speak in front of about 15 peopleand I was stuttering and shaking," she says.

To build her confidence, Cao signed up for public-speaking courses, and noticed she enjoyed making audiences laugh.

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Now, after three years of positive reviews on the Australian comedy circuit, she's performing on May 17 at Sydney Comedy Festival (April 24 toMay 21) as part of the "Fresh"line-up of emerging talent, with her show Appropriately Inappropriate. As the name suggests, Cao's humour wades into delicate territory racism associated with her Vietnamese background (her family emigrated to Sydney when she was two), cultural and gender issues, and her own insecurities.

"I've only ever had one person walk out," she says cheerfully, "but I am politically incorrect and I find humour in subjects that are not normally funny."

She shares the Fresh line-up with other women who venture where others fear to tread. Frida Deguise draws material from her experience as a Sydney Muslim woman, finding laughs in traditionally divisive subjects, and Sophie Long's preoccupation with gothic horror mythology makes for gloriously dark humour.

Fear and comedy are natural bedfellows, Cao says, and perhaps more so for female comedians, who have had to fight harder over the years to break in. "It wasn't so long ago women couldn't even get into Toastmasters, where I did my speaking courses," she says. "It's been tough."

As for her own jitters, they're vanquished almost. "I still get nervous. But if you're not taking risks and you're not afraid, you get bored."

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Bold women join Sydney Comedy Festival's emerging talent - The Sydney Morning Herald