Sean Diao tackles grief with comedy in Fringe debut

Fresh off the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2025 stage, seasoned comedy personality Sean Diao will be stepping into the Fringe World lineup for the first time. A show about love, death and family, Sean Diao: I’m Much Funnier Since My Dad is Dead promises to be smart, silly and darkly humorous and is showing at Ground Floor Comedy at Terrarium from Tuesday, January 27, until Saturday, January 31, with tickets on sale now. BEC WELDON sat down with Sean to hear all about the show.

Hi Sean, thanks so much for joining us! Congratulations on your Fringe World show debut! Sean Diao: I’m Much Funnier Since My Dad is Dead is definitely an attention-grabbing title. What can audiences expect from your show? 

Thanks for having me, Bec. People will definitely have a good laugh throughout the show, though a few might cry at the end. I actually had a lady cry during one performance—I’m not sure if her dad had also passed away or if she just had a great dad like I did. Aside from the heavy stuff, there are plenty of other jokes included, covering everything from travelling in Europe to the little observations in life.

Most people treat funerals as solemn occasions, but you’ve built a comedy show around yours. What inspired you to find humour while attending your father’s funeral in China and create the show?

First of all, I think I was in shock and really distanced myself from reality. My coping mechanism was to go a bit crazy and make fun of the whole thing. Secondly, the funeral itself was actually pretty funny—the whole event felt like a sketch. For example, there was a server supposed to be striking the wooden fish [a ceremonial instrument], but he got bored halfway through and pulled out his phone. I was standing a metre away, but he didn’t care at all! I couldn’t even be mad; that’s the only organisation that does funerals in my town. They are busy all year round!

You joke about the timing of your father’s passing being a ‘warning.’ Do you think using dark humour was your way of grieving, or are you just unable to turn the comedian part of your brain off?

I think it’s as simple as that: I just can’t turn the comedy part of my brain off. Events like this just fuel my brain—like pouring oil on a fire. Or pouring water on a fish. Pouring sky to birds. Okay, that last one doesn’t make sense, but let’s pretend it’s an old Chinese saying. You get my point.

The show was featured at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2025. Did you come in expecting certain audience responses to the show, and were you surprised by any?

Oh yes, besides the lady crying at the end, I was surprised when my wife’s best friend showed up and actually laughed at one of my Hitler jokes. It’s not normal for her friends to come to my gigs because I usually think my jokes are too edgy for the average, liberal-leaning Melbourne crowd, so I never bother inviting them. I would say that is true friendship.

You cover some heavy hitters in this show: LGBTQ+ rights, JK Rowling, religion, and the Chinese government. Do you feel a responsibility as a comedian to push those boundaries, or do you just enjoy the chaos?

If there were important government people in the audience, then I think I’d feel a responsibility to push boundaries in hopes they might change things for the better. But since that’s unlikely. I mostly just enjoy the chaos.

How do you find that balance between dark and more boundary-pushing storytelling and avoiding going too dark for audiences?

Most of the time, I try to soften my words. But then again, I live in Melbourne, where I’m always extremely careful. Now that I’m coming to Perth, I feel very excited to make it darker and see how it goes. I’ve heard you guys can take a joke.

You have an impressive comedy background, including TV appearances on ABC and SBS, working live shows with international stars, and earning millions of views across social media platforms. How do you vary your comedy for so many different mediums, and do you have a favourite format to perform?

I just keep trying different things to see how people react. If the reaction is good, I’ll keep doing it. If the reaction is bad, I’ll still do it—I just won’t publish it. I do that to entertain myself and create an illusion that the audience is just too dumb to understand high art. Eventually, though, I usually accept that they aren’t dumb; I just wrote a bad joke.

The modern comedy scene is constantly adapting and changing, but some things stay timeless. Do you have a favourite classic joke or gag?

Yes. Plastic surgery used to be such a taboo subject. Nowadays, if you talk about Botox, nobody raises an eyebrow.

Thanks again for chatting with X-Press! Let’s wrap up with a final thought. They say comedy is tragedy plus time, but you turned this tragedy into material almost immediately. What do you hope the audience takes away from a show that balances such personal loss with such controversial topics?

I should thank you for this opportunity. I just want the audience to know that taking care of yourself is important—eat healthy, exercise. But it’s even more important to choose a good hospital. To understand why I say that, you’ll have to come to the show and find out.

Sean Diao: I’m Much Funnier Since My Dad is Dead hits Ground Floor Comedy at Terrarium from Tuesday, January 27, to Saturday, January 31, 2026. Tickets are on sale now from fringeworld.com.au