Daniel Connell will take to the stage at the 10th Canberra Comedy Festival this week as a well-polished act.
He has come a long way from his early days in the ACT, where he had to overcome the "most terrifying experience" of his life and a gig where the crowd started throwing sheep poo onstage.
"We went out to Wee Jasper one night; it was a gig off the back of a truck outside the old pub there, probably my fifth or sixth gig," he said.
"It was all going well until one of the locals picked up a shovel and started throwing sheep poo onto the stage, which was quite the experience.
"I had no comedy skills to come back at that point; I remember just really trying to not get sconed in the head by a bit of poo."
The comic grew up in Batemans Bay but had moved to Canberra by 2009 when he did his first-ever show at the Irish Club in Weston.
"I thought you just sign up and everybody there was brand new, but I was the only person who was there doing it for the first time," Connell said.
"By far the most nervous I've ever been in my life; I remember there was a door to go onto the stage, and I couldn't even open the door; I had no power in my hands.
"[It was] the most terrifying experience of my life."
Thankfully, things soon looked up for the comedian.
He performed at the very first Canberra Comedy Festival and was glad he got a start in the capital.
"In many ways, it was beneficial to start in Canberra I think, because you got more opportunities," Connell said.
"The 15 to 20 comics, we all knew each other.
"Everyone was really friendly and supportive; it was just a fantastic place to start."
He eventually moved to Melbourne and after many years of hard work, became a full-time comedian.
"Once I moved to Melbourne, I plugged away for a good seven years of just 300 gigs a year, going out most nights of the week and just trying to get my foot in the door," he said
"Then 2017, I did my first comedy festival gala … and I went full-time around that time as well."
Local scene has 'come a long way'
The Canberra Comedy Festival began in 2013 with the headline acts of Stephen K Amos, The Umbilical Brothers, Akmal, as well as a host of local talent, including Connell.
Festival Director Tim Duck said the festival began small but grew as more people kept booking tickets each year.
"It started off we'd been running some shows at the Civic Pub, which was a 70 seater, so we did a run of shows there but also adding ANU Arts Centre Theatre, which was around 250 seats," he said.
The festival has grown from selling around 2,000 tickets at the first event to 12,000 this year, with organisers hoping that will expand to 15,000 by the end of the event.
This year's line-up of Australian comics includes Wil Anderson, Dave Hughes, Cal Wilson, Peter Helliar, Melanie Bracewell and Nazeem Hussain.
Mr Duck said the festival has helped Canberra become a city to which more national and even international guests would tour.
"We had 28 acts in the first year and probably half of those were local; now we're looking at 68 acts and about 20 of those are probably local," he said.
"If you went back 10 years, very few comedians would actually come to Canberra. We've put Canberra on the map as a touring destination.
"We've built a spot in the touring circuit now. The local scene has come a long way in the last decade."
