DATE: Saturday 6th March & Sunday 7th March
TIME: 7 PM
VENUE: The Convent Daylesford (Entry via Altar Bar)
BOOKINGS: (03) 5348 3211 or info@theconvent.com.au

Pre-show cockails in The Altar Bar!

Gay Conversion School Drop Out

Direct from a sell-out season at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival… Anthony Menchetti in Gay Conversion School Drop Out

“Brilliantly funny.” - Threeweeks (UK)
“Gay or straight, you’ll laugh your head off.” - Scotsgay (UK)
“You’ll float home.” - The Age
“One of the top 10 performers at Edinburgh Fringe Festival” – The Times (UK)

Gay Conversion School Drop Out is a hilarious stand-up show that takes us behind the scenes of what really happened when Anthony’s wacky parents sent him to a Christian gay conversion school to rid him of his homosexuality. We meet the colourful characters who inhabit Anthony’s story including his fellow students, the hapless recidivist facilitators and, not least of all, the people who sent him to Gay Conversion School in the first place… his passionately evangelical, born-again German mother and his unconventionally Roman Catholic Italian father. Gay Conversion School Dropout tells the story of one man’s journey to find spiritual peace within the conflicting worlds of religion and sexuality. The show explores and exposes the ironies of an organisation that, amongst other absurdities, attempts to cure homosexuality and promote abstinence by placing a group of sexually frustrated gay men together in a room to discuss their sexual fantasies and then insist they remain celibate!

Anthony describes the would-be conversion process as similar to a Quit meeting, like AA. Anthony recalls joking on his first day: ”My name is Anthony Menchetti, I’m gay but I’m trying to quit. Down to one fag a day ….have one every morning with my coffee!” Since being crowned National Winner of Raw Comedy Anthony Menchetti’s star has continued to rise. After being picked for Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s showcase of rising stars The Comedy Zone his festival hit The Art Of Schmoozing performed to rave reviews at the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His 2003 solo show was chosen by The Times among the top 10 shows of Edinburgh. Anthony maintains a regular position on Foxtel’s thecomedychannel as both featured comedian and presenter of documentaries and interviews. He has recently returned from performing his latest show ‘Ants Pantz’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where he was chosen out of thousands to audition for a spot on the famous “Late show with David Letterman’ in New York. Most recently Anthony made it through to the American heats in NBC’s internationally successful TV show ‘Last Comic Standing’. He is a columnist for the glossy international gay magazine DNA and regularly tours all over Australia performing in festivals, comedy clubs and special events. As one reviewer in Edinburgh said: “If you are gay, you’ll relate to this open, honest life story. If you aren’t you’ll understand your gay friends better having seen this show. And, gay or straight, you’ll laugh your head off!” Anthony Menchetti in Gay Conversion School Drop Out