Ally Morgan is a new kind of supernova performer. In her 2026, Melbourne Comedy Festival show, If You’re Hearing This, she swoops us up and takes us on a whirlwind tour for the ages.
Morgan starts her show with a burst of optimism and the idea that things out there can be really, really good, even when they are clearly not that good at all on home soil. She’s fashion forward in a suit that is halfway between a Nasa 1950’s and something that the babes from Wet Leg might wear, showing her preparedness to get down and rock her world with some serious songwriting and lyrical talent. Morgan’s departure from earth is on a fast paced countdown. She’s on a do it yourself mission to save herself from Armageddon. Planet Earth is in a right pickle so the logical thing to do is eject herself into the atmosphere and take a chance — interplanetary Survivor style.
There, in the outer limits of space Morgan finds she has a lot of time on her hands so what better way to keep her sanity and her cool zeitgeist narrative alive than by doing an up to the minute broadcast on the space airwaves — even if no one’s listening. Her set is simple but effective. She knows how to transform a space. Musical instruments, a keyboard, a DIY screen, a squishy gold helmet and she’s away.
The brilliant songs allow Morgan to address all sorts of crisis points and her talent and skill in nailing where we all are right now lies in leaving no stone unturned. She pans manosphere podcasters, references the lost innocence of the early 2000’s, and employs visual gags from major film makers to billionaire asshats, as well as giving us a running commentary on news and politics. Morgan sings folk tinged songs that Joan Baez would be proud of. Her songs are at once poignant, hilarious, urgent and ironic. Her transitions from mother earth guardian, to digital information purveyor includes themes on life and death; the point of relationships and human connection; the vagaries of big C, Capitalism; tales from her youth and neurodivergent ways of being.
She calls out the force with which man tries to destroy everything good and calls out her own ambivalence when called to action as well. If anything the themes are so wide reaching and profound that maybe a slight edit would serve the overall project? But Morgan sings, moves and delivers ballads as sweet as The Sundays juxtaposed with political fight-the-power style black and white documentary narration that nevertheless ignites us all. She asks us to think deeper about how we got to a time when a girl who just wanted to have fun lost all that in Black Mirror-esque way we live our lives now.
Morgan shows us that even though innocence has been washed away by a zillion screen time hours and the “encyclopaedia” of ChatGPT use, that in fact, love is still what humans want. It’s a very savvy well written show filled with modern day ennui. But is anybody really listening? Is Morgan just screaming into the void? Will she ever be saved? Her teabags and fuel are running low and she’s scared and utterly alone…well, for a while at least.
To book tickets to If You’re Hearing This, please visit https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/if-you-re-hearing-this/.
