At 95, Liz Hicklin may be Australia's oldest 'sit-down standup' comedian, but her extraordinary life story goes far beyond the stage. Sitting in her retirement village on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, dressed impeccably in a pink jacket with pearl buttons and magenta-framed glasses, she eagerly asks: 'Do you want to see my Harry Styles cardigan?'
Before a response comes, she is off with her walker, returning moments later with a burst of colourful knitted wool. Inspired by the patchwork cardigan worn by Harry Styles, she spotted a similar one at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. When a cousin sent her the pattern, she knitted her own version. Her granddaughters were meant to wear it to a Styles concert, but the 40C heat stopped them. Their loss became her gain: Liz wore it on stage instead.
A Late Start in Comedy
The idea of performing live had been on her bucket list for years, alongside a dream of dancing a foxtrot with an Englishman. At 92, worried that her life was slowing down, she entered the poetry slam at the 2023 Clunes Booktown festival—the only nonagenarian in the competition. Believing strong language was required, she was also the only contestant who swore on stage. She won.
That victory gave her the confidence to pursue standup comedy, or as she calls it, 'sit-down standup comedy.' She now performs at festivals and comedy clubs across Victoria. Her current show is titled 95 and Still Alive, and she is already working on the follow-up: Sylvia Plath Stole My Boyfriend.
'I've always enjoyed writing funny poems and entertaining people,' Hicklin says. 'Ever since I was a little girl, I liked to make a bit of a noise.' On stage, she jokes about ageing, death, grief, and sex, drawing authority from nine decades of lived experience. 'I've had lots of lives,' she adds.
A Life of Reinvention
Before comedy, Hicklin was a nurse, a pet shop and lottery agency owner, a porcelain doll-maker, a poet, a memoirist, and a novelist. Born in England, she was sent to elocution lessons by her strict Methodist father and often performed poems at family gatherings. As a nine-year-old wartime evacuee, she learned to adapt early—a skill that defined her life.
She raised three children, buried two, migrated from England to Australia, and dated the future British poet laureate Ted Hughes while in Cambridge. 'He led me into literature: birds, wind, countryside. An electric shock went straight to my heart when I first saw him.' He called her Bunny, the same nickname he later used for Sylvia Plath. When their relationship ended after 18 months, Hicklin kept his letters, eventually selling them to the British Library for £10,000. 'Two women he loved took their own lives,' she says. 'Yet I still have mine.'
Loss and Resilience
Hicklin's life has also been marked by profound loss. Both of her daughters died by suicide, seven years apart. At her younger daughter's funeral, she noticed a tiny parachutist drifting through her paintings—a symbol she later used in a children's book, Peter the Parachute. 'My life's not been cushy,' she says. 'But it didn't do me any harm. It did me good. It's turned me into the person I am today.'
She is clear: her life began again at 90. Before that, it was relentless work, little money, and grief. 'Now, I am free,' she says. Asked if she considers herself extraordinary, she pauses. 'I'm beginning to think I am.' Only just at 95.
Health and Attitude
Hicklin credits good health for her second bloom. She does aqua aerobics, eats light, and attends a local writers' group where members are mostly half her age. She recently spent $1,300 on a lightweight pink walking frame and turned it into part of her act. 'How do you like my walker?' she asks audiences. 'Sexy, isn't it?'
For her, comedy provides a reason to keep moving. 'I've got to have a project,' she says. After a recent performance at the Generation Women storytelling event, the response caught her by surprise. 'The applause was so overwhelming, I thought, 'Oh, perhaps I am a bit unusual.'
Hicklin refuses to behave as expected of a 95-year-old. On a flight to Sydney, an attendant asked if her friend and agent was her daughter. 'Oh no,' she corrected him. 'She's my lover.'
Now that she has fulfilled her dream of standup comedy, she has rewritten her bucket list. At the top: an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. 'But will they have the budget to fly me over?' she wonders.
Liz Hicklin's show 95 & Still Alive will appear as part of the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival on 27 June 2026.
