It goes without saying that domestic violence is no laughing matter.
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But that doesn't mean it can't be tackled with comedy.
"I think what comedy does is it puts a spotlight on issues when society's not necessarily ready to talk about it," says comedian Juliet Moody.
"The element of drama is you can't have tragedy without comedy - that's why the drama masks go together. So in a way they have this unique relationship. You can't feel anything unless you can see the other side of it."
As one half of Canberra comedy duo Sparrow Folk Moody knows more than most about the affects of family violence, having fled her own situation 10 years ago.
"I was a young mum in Canberra, escaping this awful situation and I ended up being quite a frightened person," she says.
"I was quite removed because it - it's very confronting. I think I suppressed the reality of what had happened to me. It was a very different time then, we didn't have the Rosie Battys, we didn't have people who were out there saying 'this happens and we need to accept that these people are living in our community'.
"I kind of slowly rebuilt, creating this other life outside of my past experience, which I guess I found myself in comedy. I mean I've always had that bent to make the funny out of situations but I think comedy's a really great way of processing things - it's a survival tool in some ways.
A decade on, Moody had completely rebuilt her life. Together with comedic partner Catherine Crowley, Sparrow Folk had gone viral thanks to their hit Ruin you day about breastfeeding, which garnered international attention.
But she still couldn't connect the dots between what had happened in her past, and her present life.
"I realised that I couldn't live 'this' life without accepting 'that' life. And so for me, there came a moment where I went, 'why can't I be one in the same person, why can't I just accept that this has happened to me?' I'm not in that situation anymore but I can still connect back to that."
"I felt that if I had this platform or I had this opportunity to speak out about it, maybe it would help other people. So maybe this opportunity to actually do something, to help other people, would help me process through what had happened to me as well."
Seeing a gap in the market for a charity comedy event, Moody launched Fearless Initiative as a way to both raise awareness and funds around domestic violence. The first fundraiser is the Fearless Comedy Gala on August 18 at Canberra Theatre Centre, which is planned as an annual event.
Getting on the phone to those who the duo had met during their comedy career, Moody was able to lock in Jean Kittson, Catherine Deveny, Gretel Killeen, Jason Chong, Adam Richard, Vanessa Conlin, Sammy J and Penny Greenhalgh, who are all donating their time for the event. They will, of course, be joined on stage by Sparrow Folk.
"It was incredible the amount of support and even more so, the number of people who'd been impacted themselves in some way, either with family members or themselves as kids and so they felt passionate about donating their time for it."
"I'm not stupid to think that this one event is going to fix the problem, but I'm also not stupid to think, 'oh well it's too big I'm not gonna do anything'."
All funds from the ticket sales will go to the Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS) ACT.
"In my situation, I wasn't as aware of the services that were available and I think that that's one of the wonderful things about social media and things like Facebook is now that you can easily access that information in a rather subtle way rather than having to pick up a phone or go in and pick up a pamphlet.
"I was one of the fortunate ones that could escape to family so I think my support systems were sort of in place and I think what DVCS and other organisations do is they kind of stop that gap where those other elements aren't there. And there are a lot of people in that situation, in particular in a place like Canberra. And it's frightening the number of people that cannot get shelter overnight in Canberra because they don't feel safe."
The money will also provide financial assistance to those restarting their lives, which can often be a huge burden to those already dealing with a traumatic situation.
"That was the biggest kind of confronting realisation for me, was I felt that when I got out of the situation that things would just get better and that stuff would stop. But then when you go into the family court system and the legal process, it's almost like a whole new battle all over again and it's tens and tens of thousands of dollars that you end up forking out just to get your safety back," she says.
"So you're trying to get your head around the emotional and physical scarring of it, and then you're realising that you're living with the ongoing financial burden of it as well."
Speaking out about her own situation, Moody struggled with the idea that despite what had happened to her, her story wasn't "bad enough" to warrant attention.
"There is this kind of almost, 'oh but my situation wasn't as bad as this'. I don't know if it's a reverse tall poppy thing of you can't have the most wonderful life but there's you can't have the most tragedy - it does seem strange," she says.
"And I was conscious as well that I was one of so many other people that have gone through this, so I didn't really want to focus it on me because it's really about those people that are going through it now, and the people who have gone through it but still need that support. Cause the thing is it's a lifelong journey in a way."
Together with the stellar lineup of Australian comedians, Moody hopes the gala shines a light on the seriousness of domestic violence, but also provides a beacon of hope.
"We wanted people to know that you could move beyond a situation like that and rebuild your life and have hope and be fearless and do things like comedy," she says.
"I think that for people who are living in those situations, sometimes it feels so helpless, they live in so much fear and they hear stories of the terrible tragedies of it ending in death and ending in homelessness and things like that, which is a reality for so many people, and way too many people.
"But I guess what we wanted to do was try and put a bit of hope into that and say there are stories of people that can get out of those situations and actually rebuild their lives, hoping that would be a message for people as well, that there is life beyond this."
The Fearless Comedy Gala is on August 18 at Canberra Theatre Centre. Tickets available at fearlessinitiative.com.