cassie workman

Cassie Workman, award-winning comedian, writer and performer, provides a truly unique voice in Australia’s comedy scene. Cassie entered the public eye after winning Triple J’s Raw Comedy national open mic competition in 2009, and has gone on to write and perform shows at the Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2016, Cassie came out as transgender and began transitioning - we spoke to her about how it has influenced her stand-up material and comedy writing, and what audiences can expect at her upcoming Wollongong gig.

Words Kate O’Mealley Images Tom Wilkinson

For Cassie, the last few years has seen a huge shift in her life, dramatically influencing her comedy work. Previously writing and performing under a different name, her transition came after many years of success on the stage, and on and off the screen as a sketch performer and comedy writer.

In 2011, she performed her first full length show ‘Humans are Beautiful’ to packed audiences, winning the Best Newcomer award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival before touring the show around Australia and then to the Edinburgh Fringe. For the next five years, Cassie created award-winning shows and solidified her status as one of Australia’s leading storytellers and stand-up comedians. But it was post-transition and her show in 2018, ‘Giantess’ that really made waves. Using music, comedy, storytelling and illustration, she explored the anguish of coming to terms with a gender identity that doesn’t match your body. A deeply personal piece, it has created an opportunity to shine a light on trans issues.

“Things have moved far along already and there are changing attitudes,” says Cassie. “I came out in 2016 – attitudes are changing, line-ups are more balanced [to include more women] and there are lots of opportunities that weren’t available previously.”

Appearing on-screen in It’s a Date and Die On Your Feet (Ch10), it’s behind the scenes that Cassie is also finding success. Since early 2017 Cassie has focused on comedy writing, working on ABC’s Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, John Conway Tonight, Aaron Chen Tonight and as a regular contributor for the Tonightly Show with Tom Ballard with her series ‘So You Think You Can Trans’. Although a great opportunity to share her work, writing work in Australia is hard to come by, “the seasons are much shorter in Australia and difficult to get.”

In the meantime, Cassie continues to create her own opportunities, with more touring and a one-woman monologue in the works. “Wollongong audiences can expect to see both some new and old material. I’m also working on a dramatic piece for the end of the year, a monologue called ‘Aberdeen’. It’s quite different to my other work – it will be an hour-long poem, in rhyming couplets. It’s about time travel and Kurt Cobain – it’s different!”