International drag performer Courtney Act and Australian comedian Joel Creasey are set to dazzle and delight as official Ambassadors for the 2018 Adelaide Fringe.

The two compelling entertainers are performing at next year’s Adelaide Fringe and will help promote Australia’s largest arts festival to national and international audiences.

After growing up in Australia, Act now lives in Los Angeles and has spent the last few years touring around the world in the wake of making the top three on US reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Act, who will perform Under the Covers for two nights only on the Fringe’s opening weekend, said she had a lot of respect for the Adelaide Fringe’s inclusive nature.

“As an open access arts festival, the Adelaide Fringe has such a diverse and engaging line-up of artistic talent and I’m always honoured to be part of that,” said Act.

“I had a blast touring The Girl From Oz this year and I’m excited to tour Under the Covers across Australia in 2018. I’ll be stripping down songs and flipping them on their back to show just how gender fluid they can be.”

Meanwhile Creasey will be adding 2018 Adelaide Fringe Ambassador to a long list of achievements over the past year – from releasing his first memoir, Thirsty, to commentary duties at Eurovision and being named GQ Comedian of the Year.

He’ll be performing his new show Blonde Bombshell at the Garden of Unearthly Delights from March 5-11 in which he slices and dices celebrities, pop culture and even himself.

“I’ve been performing at Adelaide Fringe since 2013 and it’s always a thrill to perform there because the audiences are so willing to take risks and give off such a great energy,” said Creasey.

“With everything I’ve had going on over the past year it’s going to be a lot of fun to rip back the curtain and fill everyone in on all the juicy behind the scenes action.”

Adelaide Fringe Director and CEO Heather Croall said securing Act and Creasey as Ambassadors was a major coup for next year’s Fringe. “We’re delighted to have Joel and Courtney on board for the 2018 Adelaide Fringe – they both have a history with the festival and are fabulous entertainers so I’m sure they’ll do us proud!” Ms Croall said.

Ambassador Biographies

Joel Creasey

“Creasey is an unstoppable force and the crown prince of Aussie comedy.” - The Daily Telegraph

At just 27 years old, Joel Creasey is one of Australia's most-popular, acclaimed and charmingly controversial stand-up comedians.

Starting stand up at only 15 years old, Joel has harnessed his outrageous wit, sass and unrivalled story telling abilities to cement himself as Australia's undisputed 'Crown Prince of Comedy' and one of the most-sought after and hottest comedians in the world. Every year Joel’s live show audiences grow, as punters in the know flock for an hour of no-holds-barred belly laughs. He has cemented a reputation for slicing, dicing and smashing through celebrity and pop culture, and himself, with unflinching candour and brutal home truths. Creasey cuts through celebrity spin to tell you how it is with charm, irreverence and the ultimate payoff of epic laughs.

This year has been no exception, as Joel even had to add new shows in each city of his national sell-out tour aptly entitled ‘Joel Creasey – Poser’. His first autobiography is also set for release this November, which he has dedicated to the late Joan Rivers.

Courtney Act

What other artist can say they’ve been voted FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women and Mr Tiny Tot 1987?!

Courtney Act is more than just gender or drag. She is a contemporary artist who embodies the zeitgeist of an era. One of the first artists to show their gender fluidity as well as their natural talents when boy, Shane Jenek, was passed by during the auditions for season one of Australian Idol, he came back the next day as girl: Courtney Act. Courtney showed the judges so much more than her music ability and went on to be one of the most iconoclastic contestants the show has ever seen and was signed to Sony/BMG; embarking on a national arena tour with her fellow Idols.

In 2014 she returned to the television arena as one of the Top 3 in Season 6 of the Emmy Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race. Though she didn’t steal the crown, she did steal the hearts of millions of viewers around the world.

Since then Courtney has been taking on the world – releasing her debut EP, Kaleidoscope, taking on a number of controversial social causes and stories in her award-nominated political series American Act, and touring her original show The Girl From Oz which took audiences over the rainbow and down under across North America, Australasia and the UK.

Courtney can currently be seen in the new MTV International series Single AF, where she and six other celebrities travel the world looking for love. When she isn’t looking for love in a hopeless place, she’s working on her next show for her 2018 world tour, entitled: Under the Covers. She can also be seen as Teen Angel in Grease: The Arena Spectacular in Sydney this January.