Part of Wollongong Comedy Festival, on June 28 at the ‘Side Door Theatre’, an intimate venue tucked away behind Crown Street in Wollongong, 50 or so friends, relatives and comedy-lovers gathered to hear 'The Queen of Oversharing' do her thing. 

Diana McLaren has a unique flavour of sassy stand-up comedy. She provides a captivating monologue that could be described as a commentary on society, with themes mostly revolving around how flawed she is – we all are – and how misogyny and dysfunction reign supreme in the modern world.

Her jokes aren’t for people who are looking around at society thinking, “This is perfect.”

Diana says, “My shows are filled with secondhand therapy, and it's definitely cheaper than seeing an actual therapist!

“If you're looking around the world right now and you're like, ‘yep this is exactly what I think we should be doing’, then my comedy is not for you. But if you're looking at the world and thinking 'this isn't right' and 'I don't feel right in it' then please come to my shows, I've got some laughs and love waiting for you.” 

This is the essence of Diana McLaren.

“Every time I’m on stage I have the time of my life, that’s where I’m happy.”

“There’s no greater silver lining in life than being in an awful situation and there’s a tiny part of my brain thinking ‘I can write a joke about this’.”

As an Australian with an American accent, Diana uses her varied life experiences and unique viewpoint to fuel all of her creative endeavours.

Born at Shellharbour hospital, Diana lived in Kiama Heights till she was four, when her family moved to Riversdale Road, a small farm on the border between Kiama and Jamberoo. They lived there till she was eight and then they moved to a small town called Armonk outside New York for her mother's work with IBM. 

Moving back when she was 12, Diana went to school in Sydney but spent all of her weekends in Kiama until she left for university in Wagga Wagga. 

“I came home to Kiama every summer to work and when Uni was done, I moved to Kings Cross for work,” Diana informs. “When I was 25, I came back to Kiama and was just planning on moving away when Covid struck and instead I ended up staying in Kiama for the last lock-down and moving in with my dad in Jamberoo, which is where I currently reside”.

Diana tried moving to Melbourne last year, but it didn't go well, life-wise saying that “everything went wrong”, but “the comedy scene down there was awesome”. 

How did she start off in stand-up comedy? 

Diana studied acting and television production at school so has always been a performer and a storyteller. She loved to tell jokes so always wanted to try stand-up comedy.

She reveals, “One night I was in a bar telling stories from my day and the table behind me laughed. They asked where they could come see my comedy and I was like, ‘I'm not a comedian’”. 

A ‘very long story short,’ she lost a bet to that group of friends and ended up trying stand-up comedy and was immediately addicted. 

“I loved every second of it,” Diana said. “Unlike acting and music where there is a gap between you and the performance, or it's someone else's writing, or maybe the audience doesn't like this kind of music, stand-up comedy is just you, your humour, your words, your performance, and it's raw – you can't rehearse it as you can the others!”

One particularly clever joke she told was about the Amish: “If you could get rid of the organised religion, rampant misogyny and matching outfits I'd be in. But then again, I say that about our society!”

Diana’s main audience demographic 

Of her mixed audience Diana says, “I get 20-somethings right up to retirees and everything in between. I do probably slightly skew towards women but only by a percent or two.”

She captures such a large breadth of audience members because her subject material is very relatable and very unifying. 

“I'm opposed in many ways to the concept of generations, I think it's just one of the many ways we unnecessarily divide ourselves and create opposition,” Diana declares. “We have a lot more in common than we have differences and while generational grouping is a helpful tool for marketing or understanding the background of an individual and how their world experience may affect their outlook, it ends there.”

Diana maintains that the classification of different generations is used by the media to make us think that we're enemies or we need to fight each other when in fact we need to unify and create change. 

“I think I get a full range of people because my humour is about being human, it's about our collective current experience and hopefully it's comforting, whether it’s because you're glad you're not me or because I've shared something that you have felt and now you feel less alone in the world. Plus, everyone loves a naughty joke and I never run out of those!”

Feedback from fans

Diana reveals that she has had quite a few fans tell her that she’s helped them recognise that they are bisexual, “which is always fun”.

“Lately I get the feedback a lot that I've inspired people to seek a support group or go to therapy because a lot of my current jokes are very targeted at addressing these insane ideas we have as a society that those things aren't normal and often essential to our ability to function and be happy.”

She’s had a lot of people tell her that she’s helped them feel seen. Today, Diana says, “My phone was inundated after the show last night with messages from other ADHD types and those in therapy telling me that my current show makes them feel seen and ‘got’ in a way that they haven't before, which is lovely.”

Across the board in all of her shows the feedback she gets is, “you’re wild”, “you’re hilarious”, “tell me that didn't actually happen” and “I can't believe you'd tell that story on stage!” 

Diana’s friend Bryce Roberts sent her this, "Solid show tonight  thanks for sharing all of you. It really does make us all feel less alone and sometimes even a less bit crazy. Who wants to be normal anyway?"

Thanks Bryce – I think that really sums up Diane’s particular brand of comedy and humour!