Felicity Ward (born 26 September 1980) is an Australian comedian, best known for her TV appearances on '' Spicks and Specks'', ''

Thank God You're Here ''Thank God You're Here'' is an Australian television improvised comedy program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on Network Ten on 5 April 2006, and aired for the first three seasons and on Seven for the fourth season. Each ...

'', ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten in ...

'' and as a writer/performer in the Channel 10 Network television programme ''

The Ronnie Johns Half Hour ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'' (full name ''The Ronnie Johns Good Times Campfire Jamboree Half Hour Show (Now on Television)'') was an Australian sketch comedy show produced by Jigsaw Entertainment and the Network Ten, Ten Network, which premie ...

''. She is a part of The 3rd Degree, who made and starred in ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour''.

Early life

Ward grew up in Killcare, a small coastal town on the Central Coast of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Career

Early TV and stage work

She first came to public attention in the Logie-nominated sketch show ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'', especially her character work as six-year-old Poppy, German nihilist Gretchen and lawn bowls instructor Heidi. Ward made several appearances on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''Spicks and Specks'' during its six-year run until 2011. She also hosted The Comedy Hour on

774 ABC Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

. From 2006 to 2009, Ward has performed alongside fellow 3rd Degree member

Heath Franklin Heath Franklin (born 23 December 1980) is an Australian comedic performer, improviser and writer. Career He appeared on ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'' sketch comedy show, ABC TV's ''Spicks and Specks (TV series), Spicks and Specks'', Working Do ...

(as Chopper) in the highly popular comedy festival show "Chopper's Fuckin Bingo". Ward played Chopper's ball girl and drug addict niece, Jenny. It has been performed in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, including Chopper's Fuckin Christmas Bingo in 2007.

Solo stand up success

At the 2008

Melbourne Fringe Festival The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival in Melbourne, Australia, usually over three weeks from late September to early October. Held since 1982, the Festival includes a wide variety of art forms, including theatre, com ...

, Ward performed her debut full-length solo stand-up show, "Felicity Ward's Ugly as A Child Variety Show" to popular and critical acclaim, culminating in her winning the Melbourne Airport Award for Best Newcomer. In 2009, Ward brought her award-winning "Ugly As A Child Variety Show" to the Adelaide Fringe (20 February - 21 March), the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

(1–26 April), the Sydney Comedy Festival (12–17 May) and the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

(7-31 August).Edinburgh Fringe 2009 details
/ref> Produced by Laughing Stock Productions, the show was a commercial and critical hit, selling out shows in all cities. Ward was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2009 MICF and won Mervyn Stutter's Spirit of the Fringe Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In September 2009, Ward appeared at the

with a new show - "Felicity Ward reads from The Book of Moron", a hybrid storytelling/stand-up show with music. She performed the show at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. On 22 March 2010 Ward appeared on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala on Network 10. 2011 saw Ward appear in front of sell-out crowds with her critically acclaimed show, "Honestly," culminating in winning Best Local Act at the Time out Sydney Comedy Festival Awards 2011. She was also named in the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

s Top 10 comedy shows for 2011, was the face of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and garnered four star reviews all over the country. She toured internationally: to Hong Kong and Singapore, with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow, and to New Zealand, with the Comedy Convoy. She also performed a variety style show at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in September 2011 called Felicity Ward's (week-long, ill-timed) Christmas Special. Her new show, "The Hedgehog Dilemma", was performed at the 2012

Adelaide Fringe Festival The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...

and the

with sell-out seasons and nominated Best Comedy at both festivals. It was then performed the

Sydney Comedy Festival The Sydney Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in Sydney. Launched in 2005 as The Cracker Sydney Comedy Festival at a number of inner city venues, the Festival has grown quickly and now attracts 111,000 patrons every year at venue ...

and Perth Comedy Festival where she won Best Australian Act at both festivals. It has now been invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012, and a short run at the Soho Theatre in London following that. Ward performed at

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 ...

in 2014, 2016 and 2019. Her 2018 show "Busting a Nut" was nominated for Best Show at the

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Dave (TV channel), Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival ...

Supporting roles

Ward had a well received supporting role in the 2012 Australian comedy ''

Any Questions for Ben? ''Any Questions for Ben?'' is a 2012 Australian comedy film created by Working Dog Productions, directed by Rob Sitch. It stars Josh Lawson, Rachael Taylor, Felicity Ward, Daniel Henshall, and Christian Clark. It was written by Santo Cilauro, ...

'', created by

Working Dog Productions Working Dog Productions (originally Frontline Television Productions Pty. Ltd.) is a film and television production company based in Melbourne, Australia. It was formed in 1993 by actors Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy (actor), Jane Ken ...

. In 2014, Ward appeared as Lizzie in ''

The Inbetweeners 2 ''The Inbetweeners 2'', is a 2014 teen coming of age adventure sex comedy film and sequel to ''The Inbetweeners Movie'' (2011), which is based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners''. It was written and directed by series creators Damon Beesley ...

'' and in 2015 she appeared as a stand-up guest on ''The

John Bishop John Marcus Bishop (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and former footballer. Bishop formerly played football as a midfielder for Winsford United F.C., Crewe Alexandra F.C., Runcorn F.C., Rhyl F.C., Witton Albion ...

Show''.

Personal life

Ward has been open about her struggles with

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

and is an active advocate for mental health in Australia. She also spoke about her issues with

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a "disorder of gut-brain interaction" characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain and or abdominal bloating and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may ...

in her 2015 show "What If There's No Toilet?" and about anxiety, depression and

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

as part of her

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

series "Appisodes".

References

External links

*
Felicity Ward on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Felicity Australian women comedians Living people 1980 births People from New South Wales 21st-century Australian comedians