---

Every hall has a story to tell, and Damian Callinan is happy to eavesdrop.

Using his skills as a comedian, storyteller, he’ll pull back the curtain on his own tour stories & examine the quirks, traditions & characters of rural Australian halls and meeting places. With specific focus on the history & characters of the Woodleigh Hall, Damian will deliver a hilarious show & later deliver a podcast to document the halls story.

There is barely a bakery in regional Australia, that hasn’t had one of Damian Callinan’s show posters blu-tacked to its window. In Hall Stories, the celebrated actor, comedian and creator of the hit film The Merger, combines his skills as a storyteller, stand-up and character actor, to pull back the curtain on his own tour stories and examine the quirks, traditions and characters of Australian halls and meeting places. In this particular show, Damian will also be spending time with the local community to delve into the history & characters of Woodleigh Hall, and the role that it plays in the broader community.

 As well as the show, he will later deliver a podcast to document the story of Woodleigh Hall Hall Stories is Callinan doing what he does best, where he does it best. He knows how to talk over a bubbling urn; wind up when the CWA head into the supper room and stack the chairs in 5’s at the end of the night. You just let him know where to get the hall key, and he’ll do the rest.

About Damian:
Damian Callinan is an acclaimed comedian, actor & writer. A three time nominee for Most Outstanding Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. TV & film audiences may recognise him for his roles in Skithouse, The Newsreader, Backyard Ashes & The Merger, the beloved film adaption of his award-winning solo show of the same name.

The dual AACTA nominated film about a rural, Australian Rules football club who recruit refugees to make up the numbers, was awarded Best Film & Screenplay at the Ozflix Awards & is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Callinan has toured prolifically with a suite of live shows including The Lost WW1 Diary, Swing Man, Mayor for a Day & The Wine Bluffs. His most recent solo show, Double Feature, based on his mum's 1946 diary, won the Perth Fringe Comedy Award & is currently being adapted as a screenplay.

Since 2020, Damian has worked with NEMA touring to halls in isolated, disaster impacted communities with What A Relief: It’s Damian Callinan. It’s this project, combined with his play, The Hall Committee, commissioned by the Wagga Civic Theatre & Create NSW, that was the inspiration for the Hall Stories project. A silver medalist at the Australian Podcast Awards for his cult Bodgy Creek Community Podcast, his latest podcast is Unlikely Friends, an improvised chat show with comedians playing disparate historical characters. Recorded live at festivals across Australia, it is currently in early development as a TV format.

Like all comedians, he is contractually obliged to have written a kid’s book. Weird School (Penguin Random) was shortlisted for the 2023 State Library of NSW Russell Prize for Humour Writing. Damian also hosts Stranger Than Fiction, the cult, monthly, storytelling night at Comedy Republic. Damian’s new solo show, Spoons, premieres at the 2026 Melbourne Comedy Festival at Arts Centre Melbourne.

Damian Callinan | Multi award-winning comedian, actor & writer