Ahead of the 2026 Melbourne Fringe Festival, hilarious trio Holly Bohmer, Mario Hannah and Taylor Griffiths sat down with me to discuss their show Nosebleeds, which is playing at The Improv Conspiracy during the festival from October 1-18.
More information and tickets via melbournefringe.com.au/nosebleeds
Holly, your new Melbourne Fringe Festival show, Nosebleeds sees you collaborating with two other comedians, Mario Hannah and Taylor Griffiths, what has it been like working with Mario and Taylor on this project?
Holly: Amazing! Such a nice change from doing solo stuff. I love having people to bounce off and I trust these guys so much. Mario is one of the best writers I know and Taylor is so inherently funny.
Taylor: And Holly’s just a massive weirdo.
Holly: Rude.
Taylor: In the best possible way of course!
Mario: We’ve been improvising and mucking around together for years and doing silly bits so doing a show just kind of felt like a very natural progression.
What can audiences expect from the show?
Holly: A macabre, absurdist sketch show inspired by and sprinkled with horror.
Mario: Yeah horror but make it sketch.
Taylor: Just a fun, bloody good time, ya know?
Nosebleeds blends absurdist comedy with a lot of horror elements, what is it about horror and comedy that they seem to go so well together?
Holly: Comedy is all about the build and release of tension, kind of similar to a jump scare in a horror movie. Naturally the two genres complement each other really well.
Mario: Horror movie characters take everything so seriously. It’s very easy to introduce an absurd element in there and make it hilarious.
Taylor: Yeah, it’s the contrast of the darkness and fear that really makes a joke pop.
What sort of horror movies or stories were an inspiration to you when coming up with the show?
Holly: We were mainly drawn to movies from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
Mario: Movies like The Innocents, Suspiria, Don’t Look Now, The Shining, Possession, The Wicker Man … Not the Nick Cage version obviously.
Holly: That one’s strictly for pleasure not creative inspiration.
Mario: Also a lot of non-horror but more gothic/suspense films like Alfred Hitchcock‘s Rebecca and Black Narcissus.
Taylor: Films with a really strong atmosphere and sense of foreboding. Themes of psychological isolation and sexual repression being reflected through horror. All that good shit!
Holly: Yummy!
Are you drawn to darker comedy in general?
Holly: Oh absolutely! I’m a huge fan of Julia Davis and she’s about as dark as you can get.
Mario: I mean of course when it’s done badly it can be cringey and awful. Maybe that’s the difference between being dark and being edgy.
Taylor: We are not edgelords! [Laughs] I think darker themes just ground the more absurd elements and make the jokes pop harder. It gives the show a sense of reality and mortality, if that makes sense? Gives it some stakes.
You all have many years of experience doing improv and I was curious as to how much improv you’ll be able to do in Nosebleeds?
Holly: Oh, there’ll be some improv for sure.
Mario: Yeah, it’s a scripted show but there’s already some sketches we’ve designed to have space for that.
Taylor:
Even when you have a script in comedy you’ve always got to be listening to the audience and finding little things in the moment based on what they’re responding to.
Holly: Yeah, often different things get different responses every night and you’ve got to have the flexibility to adapt to that in the moment.
What are some of the things you love about the Melbourne Fringe Festival? Have you had much experience performing at Fringe in the past?
Holly: Oh yeah, we’ve all done a bunch of shows in the Fringe. Taylor was actually nominated for ‘Best Comedy’ in 2023 with her and Matt Jenner’s show Latchkey.
Taylor: Yeah and Holly’s done a bunch of stuff and so has Mario. Ya gotta do the Fringe!
Mario: Melbourne Fringe is great because it’s weirder than MICF and grittier than Adelaide Fringe. It’s the perfect festival for dirty little gremlins like us.
Holly: Gobble gobble.
What other Fringe shows would you recommend people check out this year?
Holly: I love alternative comedy. Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again is one of my faves! Also James Ward, Emmerson Brophy, Ash Apap, Jett Bond and Taylor Whelan.
Mario: Hannah Camelleri, Lucy Rees and James Colopy are always great.
Taylor: I’m directing Kirsten Law’s comedy show Spring which is gonna be a banger. Also highly recommend Ece Mustafof’s beautifully sweet show Tomato Queen.
And finally, what is the scariest thing about being a professional comedian?
Holly: I’m a very shy person. I’m a freak but a shy freak. I hate being myself at the best of times so I have a lot of anxiety around doing gigs and putting on shows but once I’m onstage in character that all goes away. That’s why I love it so much.
Mario:
It’s a really scary thing to be vulnerable and say ‘I think this is funny’ knowing that someone could turn around and say ‘No it isn’t.’ But without that vulnerability you’re not going to make anything good.
Taylor: Honestly, public transport. Getting to and from gigs is a bitch.
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Nosebleeds is playing at the Melbourne Fringe Festival from October 1-18 at The Improv Conspiracy, 1/19 Meyers Pl, Melbourne.
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