Estonian-born comedian Angelina — performing under the stage name a.v.dane — brings her comedic skills to Sydney show in Marrickville on 10 December at 7pm, inviting the community to an evening of sharp humour, life stories and the kind of honesty only a fellow immigrant can deliver.
For many of us, the journey to Australia begins with wide eyes and a backpack. For Angelina, it began with a working holiday visa, a hay farm, a forklift licence and a deep desire to escape the rigid nine-to-five life she’d lived in Estonia. She arrived in Sydney, and proceeded to work everywhere from vineyards to warehouse floors — a contrast to her professional background in IT, which remains her day job today — all while figuring out what life here could be.
But her story took an unexpected turn some years later, when a spark she hadn’t been looking for found her: stand-up comedy.
Finding comedy — and a stage that fit
Angelina admits she had never been a stand-up comedy fan. She rarely watched specials and wasn’t convinced it was “her thing”. Instead, she dipped into improvisation courses at Improv Theatre Sydney, curious about performance but not yet pulled toward the microphone. What changed everything was a stand-up course — a structured environment where, for the first time, she felt something click.
She recalls: “For the first time, I felt like this is exactly what I’m meant to be doing.”
Suddenly, all the side-quests made sense: the short films she’d tried making, the background acting roles, the acting courses, even the years of collecting stories from long shifts and odd jobs. Comedy became the place where she could use all of it. And she was hooked.
Carving out a space in Australia’s comedy scene
Angelina is no stranger to stages nor performances. She has been in smaller acting roles both in Estonia and Australia, including a longer stint in an Estonian series Viimane Võmm (“The Last Cop”).
Angelina tells us that Sydney’s stand-up circuit isn’t easy. She describes it as tight-knit, small, political and entirely dependent on persistence. You put your name in a bucket, wait for your five to ten minutes, and hope someone remembers you next time. Few earn money; most perform simply because they love it.
Angelina writes constantly — jokes, story fragments, moments of absurdity caught on the train, even late-night flashes of inspiration she forces herself to jot down before they vanish back into what she calls “the ether of ideas”. By day she works in IT — a world of structure, screens and problem-solving — which makes the freedom of comedy all the more appealing.
She prefers storytelling over one-liners, and her material often reflects life as an immigrant, an observer, and a woman navigating Australia one unusual job at a time. Her vast experiences and realistic yet playful outlook on life give her a uniquely fresh voice in the scene.
“I want to tell stories, so people have a great time and forget their worries for one evening,” Angelina says.
And perhaps that is what makes her comedy special: it comes from someone who has carried boxes, driven forklifts, crushed grapes, survived office fatigue, navigated migration, and rebuilt her life through art, courage and a very Estonian stubborn streak.
Next performance
📅 Wednesday, 10 December 2025
⏰ 7:00 pm
📍 329 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204, Australia
🎤 Featuring: a.v.dane (Angelina) at Kookies Comedy Show
🎟️ Book your ticket: https://events.humanitix.com/wethree/tickets
The show promises sharp observations, immigrant humour, and that unmistakable Estonian ability to turn hardships into dry, delicious comedy. If you’ve ever worked a strange job, moved countries, questioned your life choices, or simply enjoy the feeling of cheering on a fellow Estonian finding her voice — this is a night not to miss.
P.S. You can see Angelina perform a few times a month, so if you can’t make it this time — catch her next set by keeping an eye on her Instagram account here: https://www.instagram.com/a.v.dane/
