Not Bad Credentials for Someone who doesnt know a Pick from a shovel
No comic is more in demand for everything from after dinner speaking to product launches, sports hospitality, awards ceremonies and any manner of corporate, fundraising, sporting or public event. Vince performs around 200 shows a year in Australia and overseas. There is only one comic or hosting option for premier events – Vince Sorrenti.
Vince Sorrenti is an outstanding comedian who is continually in the media. He has appeared on almost every variety and light format program of the last decade, including satirising sport on Channel Nine's "Wide World of Sport". He has been a reporter on A Current Affair and has performed on "MTV" and "Face the Press".
Vince has been an Australian Day Ambassador every year since 1991 and is a feature guest writer for The Sydney Morning Herald as well as appearing regularly in the prestigious Spectrum and Good Weekend Magazine. But more importantly, Vince Sorrenti's comedy routine and MC work is regarded by many to be one of the best in this country.
Vince Sorrenti is one of Australia’s best known and leading comic entertainers. No comic is more in demand for everything from after dinner speaking to product launches, sports hospitality, awards ceremonies and any manner of corporate, fundraising, sporting or public event. Vince performs around 200 shows a year in Australia and overseas. There is only one comic or hosting option for premier events – Vince Sorrenti.
Vince has a long history of experience, cutting his teeth in Architecture Revues in the early 1980s and in the burgeoning stand up comedy scene that he helped create. After graduating as an Architect in 1985 he threw full weight behind his real talent and has performed to ecstatic crowds on thousands of stages all over the world. He has hosted TV programs in Australia and the United States, appeared in movies, released comedy albums, performed in festivals, and been a guest on countless talk and variety programs. He has thrice won the Mo Award as Australia’s best comic.
Vince Sorrenti is a gifted screenwriter. He has won a Gold medal at the New York Film Festival for his documentary No Laughing Matter in which he also starred (playing all 7 characters !). His feature film script Gino won full FFC funding in 1990 ($2.5 million). Vince has also written hundreds of feature articles for publications including The Bulletin, Sydney Morning Herald, The Weekend Australian, Vacation, etc. He is currently a featured opinion page writer for Australia’s largest selling newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Sorrenti has demonstrated his versatility over the years being everything from a sports commentator on American Superbowl to a debating captain on shows like Good News Week. This has been the key to his popularity on live stages at a blinding array of events. Vince is hilarious as hundreds of testimonials and a staggering amount of repeat work Vince testifies. Since immersing himself in the world of corporate entertainment Vince has become the yardstick all corporate entertainers are measured by. Can you afford not to use Vince ?
Vince Sorrenti's career is incredibly diverse and he is undoubtedly one of Australia's favourite personalities. A Graduate of Architecture from Sydney University, Vince has worked literally everywhere, including Darwin, Venice, Tokyo and New York. He has shared the stage with talent such as Robin Williams, Midnight Oil and Barry White.
Vince has hosted a national youth talk show on American MTV and won the International Starsearch competition on American network CBS. In Australia, Vince has been a resident humorist for the ABC's Report and Nine's Current Affair. In short, Vince has appeared on virtually every program that has guests, from Face The Press to The Footy Show.
As well as his achievements in the entertainment industry, Vince has also been a guest columnist and written features for various publications such as The Sydney Morning Herald, Inside Sport and Sydney Weekly. Vince has appeared on numerous commercials and has been a national spokesperson for the federal government's Get It Together and Go For It campaigns, educating school leavers and the unemployed on the CES and training opportunities.
What was your first job?
Shop boy in a panel beating shop at age 14. Love that fibre glass dust!
How did you break into your industry?
Whilst studying Architecture at Sydney Uni, in the infamous Architecture Revues.
What challenges did you face early in your career?
Performance fear was never a problem. Time was. Juggling my studies and the comedy circuit.
Do you have a career mentor?
Rodney Rude was the only stand-up I have ever seen before (5 minutes) I stood up. These days I look up to Clive James, Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Dave Letterman.
How have you balanced your professional life with your personal life?
Very badly. I do about 300 shows a year and of course they are usually at times when people socialise. Forming a relationship with an entertainer is an interesting emotional exercise.
What are the most important skills you've learned through the years?
Communication with a broad cross section of people. Not only from a performance view but in doing business and liasing with myriad ancillary people.
What would you do differently professionally if you could do it all over again?
There have been moments when I've caved in to pressure when I could have acted in my own interests more forcibly. Perhaps though I wouldn't be where I am today without those compromises.
Where will you be in 5 years?
Dividing my time between performing and writing. The latter possibly overseas.
Where will your industry be in 5 years?
The comedy and speaking circuit has shown no signs of slowing down. The good comics will continue to be inundated with work. What is your advice to young people starting out? Have no fear
The past 12 months have continued to find Vince Sorrenti at all of Australia’s most prestigious speaking events. He facilitated major conferences in Australia and abroad including The Liquor Marketing Group’s Mediterranean Conference in Europe, Tower Life’s Queenstown New Zealand Conference, and on behalf of the City of Brisbane, the Asia Pacific Cities Summit in Seattle U.S.A.
On TV and radio Vince continued to show his value as an entertaining guest on such programs as the AFL Footy Show, Surprise Surprise, Women’s Weekly Xmas Special, Good News Week Debates and so on. He again co-anchored the Nine Network’s national New Year’s Eve broadcast from the Opera House Lord Mayor’s Ball which he also hosted.
From PBL to the Property Council, a list of all the high profile companies Sorrenti has spoken for in the last year alone would take an entire page, as would the list of political and celebrity speakers with which he rubs shoulders. He again featured prominently at the Crown Grand Final Breakfast, the corporate and political landscape’s biggest annual showcase. Vince is a sought after Master of Ceremonies at events as varied as industry awards nights, political occasions, The 2001 Mo Awards, the Norton Street Festa and the Italian National Day Celebrations.
If you or your company attended a major sporting event in 2001, chances are Vince Sorrenti was there. Whether it was the AFL or NRL Grand Finals, The British Lions Rugby Tour, The Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup matches , the One Day Cricket Finals, The Melbourne Cup, the Greg Norman Golf Challenge, or many others.
Vince lends himself to a large number of charity organisations most notably the Spastic Centre, the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, Youth InSearch, and the NSW Cancer Council. Annual fundraisers for InSearch, and the Cancer Council’s Posh Ball are deeply indebted to his patronge and drawing ability.