Scout endured a harrowing night in a small town. Then they wrote an award-winning show

A couple of years ago, comedian Scout Boxall had a harrowing sleepless night in a small town while attending a LARP (live-action role-playing) wedding. Stranded without their medication for bipolar disorder for the first time in a decade, they experienced the nightmarish effects of withdrawal.

Yet Boxall could see a bright side to that experience almost immediately.

“I sent a message to my friend Dylan [Murphy], who ended up directing the show, and said: ‘I’ve just had the worst night of my life; I reckon this will be a festival show in six months!’,” Boxall says.

“It was just so absurd and grim, it was like something good had to come out of this. It felt like a bit of a relief to put it on the page.”

The resulting show, God’s Favourite, tells the tale of that night, interspersed with stories from Boxall’s time in the LARP scene and misadventures with cryptocurrency, along with insight into living with the bipolar disorder, with which the comic was diagnosed as a teenager.

A word-of-mouth hit, its immersive hybrid of theatre and comedy was nominated for Best Show at the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

“Every time I stage it in a different place, it gets a new lease of life, which I love,” Boxall says.

“It’s like this weird little cat with nine lives.”

Boxall says they didn’t have any hesitation sharing their story on stage.

“To be honest, it was all stuff that I’ve lived with, and have been processing for a very long time.

“I’m not an advocate for bringing out your trauma completely unfiltered or unprocessed; I don’t think that’s fair on the audience or the performer. But to be honest about something that’s happened to you and has made you realise something about yourself and the world? I think that’s really beautiful.

“Audiences are very generous and will meet you where you’re at as long as you can deliver the jokes. If you don’t have that second bit, well, good luck to you, leave it for the memoir.”

In addition to the sharp, consistently funny writing, God’s Favourite also incorporates other elements such as costumes, pre-recorded voiceovers, and atmospheric lighting to add depth to the story.

“I didn’t think it would quite turn into the beast that it has,” Boxall says.

“In its first iteration, it was just my director doing all the other voices and playing the other parts. At one point, I was considering having a detailed and beautiful set, and then my management went bankrupt, so we had to shelve that, but I imagined it being a little bit theatrical.”

Boxall says the show’s music, written by Luke Warlow, brought the work to life.

“It was an element that I was reluctant to add; I thought it was going to be too much. But I’m glad I did; it’s beautiful music – weird, unsettling and immersive. The first time I heard it, I cried.”

Boxall, who has also written for TV shows Crime Night and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering, came into comedy in an unexpected way. They had planned to be an academic specialising in early modern English, and a tutor suggested they join a Shakespearean improv comedy troupe.

While Boxall’s brand of comedy today is a long way from Bard-themed improv, those early experiences were seminal.

“I love improvising in a stand-up setting, and that has probably transferred over from the Shakespeare stuff. That, and an inoculation against any kind of self-consciousness or cringe. Once you’ve done fake Shakespeare shows in your little outfit with a man playing a mandolin, it’s hard to ever be embarrassed doing stand-up.”

Scout Boxall’s God’s Favourite, Factory Theatre, Marrickville, February 18-19 and Trades Hall, Melbourne March 26 to April 5.

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