Comedian Dave Hughes has never been afraid to put himself on the line for a laugh, and after a year filled with mishaps, misadventures and near-disasters, he has no shortage of material for his latest comedy show, Cooked.
Hughsey is heading to Cobar next month as part of his 2026 tour and will appear at the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club where he’ll share his trademark take on getting flattened on the football field, a near-death experience and family antics—and that’s just his new stuff!
In an interview with The Cobar Weekly last week, Hughesy said he lives by a motto on a poster in his daughter’s bedroom, ‘I do it for the plot’.
He said that’s how he ended up playing in the AFL Legends Charity Game last August where he was the oldest celebrity to gain a guernsey.
“It was a charity match, and it was meant to be a bit of fun,” Hughesy said.
“I ended up with five broken ribs and a punctured lung, because the opposition coach conned his team of ex-AFL legends to target me when I thought I was just the comic relief.
“He said he was joking, but I said, mate they’re footballers, they don’t get a joke.
“I ended up in hospital, made a lot of news around Australia, and the story, it’s all true, and it’s ridiculous, and it’s funny, ‘cause I didn’t die,” he said.
“It would be funny if I had of died, as well, but, you know, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it.”
Hughsey limped off the field injured from that game but not before he’d kicked a goal and, true to form, he even made it to the after party.
“I was close to death and still getting some of the biggest laughs of my life,” Hughesy said.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Hughesy said organisers want him back for this year’s AFL Legends game, but he reckons he’ll have to ask his wife first.
The AFL Legends match is just one of a long list of celebrity appearances throughout a career spanning more than three decades across stand-up, television and radio.
While stand-up comedy remains his passion, Hughesy said his parents were less enthusiastic when he gave up university to pursue a career in comedy.
After finishing as dux of his school, they had high hopes for him.
“At first they thought they might have to pay my rent for the next 50 years,” Hughesy joked.
“They helped me out financially early on, but I paid them back.
“They didn’t disown me and, once they realised it was going to become financially viable, they eased back on those ‘go back to university and finish your degree’ talks.”
He never returned to study, having discovered he loved being on stage.
“I love the full attention of a room, hopefully.”
At his stand-up shows, Hughesy always keeps a clock on stage because time seems to pass so quickly.
“It seems like I’ve been on for seconds. I look at the clock and think I must be 15 minutes in, and I’m an hour in and still have to tell the rest of the story in, like, three minutes.
“And I’m only a third of the way through.
“It’s always fun. I love it.”
Hughesy said he also enjoys radio and television work, anything that puts him in the spotlight, including interviewing the Dalai Lama on The Project.
“I love the Dalai Lama because I like his attitude, where he just laughs at everything,” Hughesy said.
“I think it was a Buddha saying, or maybe a Dao saying: the truly wise just lift their heads to the sky and laugh at the silliness of it all.
“I’m into that.”
Hughesy moved into radio in 2001, joining fellow comedians Kate Langbroek and Dave O’Neil on a weekday breakfast program.
He later worked alongside Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan.
Asked whether his long list of radio co-hosts was because everyone wanted to work with him or because he was difficult to work with, Hughesy laughed.
“A lot of people say they like working with me.
“I don’t know what they’re saying behind my back though.”
His appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in early 2025, where he lasted 25 days before being eliminated, was another eye-opener.
He admitted he initially thought the director would call “cut” at 4pm and everyone would head back to their hotels.
That, however, was not the case.
The experience, including serving as a “guinea pig” for a challenge that almost broke his leg and earning the nickname “Pregnant Greyhound” from eventual winner Sam Thaiday, provided plenty of fresh material for his stand-up routines.
His appearance as a guest judge on The Masked Singer (where he wore a variety of ‘out there’ suits definitely for “the plot”) led to an invitation to the London wedding of his co-judge, singer Mel B, better known as Scary Spice.
“I wore black tie,” Hughesy clarified.
As for future television appearances, he reckons shows such as MasterChef or Dancing With The Stars are unlikely.
“I’m probably a worse dancer than I am a cook.”
And after the AFL Legends game and his stint in the jungle, Hughesy said he would not even consider SAS Australia.
His current tour, Cooked, which began in January, has taken him around the country, with a number of performances selling out.
Asked which comedian he would pay to go and see on stage, Hughesy replied: “I would think me.”
“If I were to name one, every other comedian would get jealous, because I know what they’re like, I’m like that.”
Hughesy is looking forward to meeting his Cobar audience next month when he performs at the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club.
