1977 – and is considered by many to be a non-performing founding member. He guaranteed their first bank loan, and Circus Oz enjoyed a long running season at the Last Laugh. 1980s In 1987, Pinder sold the Last Laugh to an employee, Rick McKenna, who ran the venue for a time with his sister Mary Tobin. While McKenna went on to become executive producer of hit Australian comedy show Kath & Kim, which stars his wife Gina Riley, Mary Tobin now produces and tours comedy acts around the world. The decision to move on from the Last Laugh was aided by Pinder’s role, that same year, as co-ordinator of the very first Melbourne International Comedy Festival at venues across Melbourne, including the Last Laugh. In 1988, Pinder developed a package of 50 Australian performers to appear under the banner Oznost in the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Most of the shows were comedy productions and several travelled to other European festivals under the Australian Bicentennial banner. Pinder subsequently moved to New York City, spending the end of the decade developing a music venue based in Harlem. 1990s A return to Sydney in the early 1990s gave Pinder the opportunity to develop a series of festival venues, including The Starfish Club for the Adelaide Fringe Festival, where Stomp and the Tokyo Shock Boys had their Australian debut. He followed up his fringe successes with Red Square, a vast outdoor arena build from 150 sea containers, for the 1996 Adelaide International Arts Festival, and The Starfish Club for the Sydney Festival and Sydney Theatre Company – which saw the return of Stomp from Off Broadway and the premier of the Australian international hit Tap Dogs. The 1990s also saw Pinder move into television, initially as a consultant on Steve Vizard’s Tonight Live (Rick McKenna was that show’s executive producer). Pinder’s services had been secured by Nick Murray who, at the time, was the general manager of Vizard’s company, Artist’s Services. When Murray moved on to become the founding CEO of Foxtel’s The Comedy Channel, he took Pinder with him to serve as a creative consultant. John continued to discover new talent such as Rove McManus, whom he cast as one-half of the comedy puppets “Short and Curly”. 2000s In 2001, Robert Love, Director of the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, asked Pinder to create a comedy festival around the Riverside Theatres