Melbourne International Comedy Festival

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Melbourne International Comedy Festival

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is held each April in a number of venues across Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

1 History
2 Special Events
3 Awards
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third largest comedy festival in the world, pulling up just behind Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival.

An annual event, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival literally takes over Australia's comedy capital, Melbourne, each autumn with an enormous program of stand-up comedy, cabaret, theatre, street performance, film, television, radio and visual arts.

The Festival was launched in 1987 by Barry Humphries and Peter Cook. The festival averages attendances of over 400,000. With an average ticket price of just $22, the Comedy Festival is not only a hugely popular event but an extremely accessible one. When the Melbourne Town Hall precinct is converted into a giant comedy hub, there is something for every comedy lover, from the very best local and international comedy acts in venues of all shapes and sizes.

At its heart, the MICF consists of hundreds of shows - 282 shows in 2007 - most of which perform six nights a week for the four weeks of the Festival. Shows range from local comedians performing to a few dozen people to major international acts performing to packed theatres.

In its early years, the MICF invited special guests of international repute. The very first was the British comedian, Peter Cook, whose participation is commemorated in the name given to the temporary bar that is set up in the Town Hall each year. As a major event, the MICF now attracts dozens of international performers from the UK and North America. Regular international performers over the years have included Dave Gorman, Arj Barker, Rich Hall, Daniel Kitson, Maria Bamford, Demetri Martin, Ross Noble and Henry Rollins.

The MICF also draws together Australia's own comedic talent and has provided a launching pad for many successful careers. Regular local performers over the years have included Dave Hughes, Fiona O'Loughlin Wil Anderson, Adam Hills, Paul McDermott, Tim Minchin, Judith Lucy, Greg Fleet, Lano and Woodley and Rod Quantock.

The festival also consists of several other annual events. Raw Comedy is a nationwide competition for amateur comedians. The finalists perform their material in front of a live audience, which is then recorded and broadcast on Australia's public broadcaster, the ABC. The winner and often other finalists usually get a festival-sponsored and promoted gig the next year. In a similar vein is Class Clowns, a festival-sponsored competition to find the Nations funniest secondary school student.

342,204 tickets were sold to the 2006 Festival, bringing in ticket revenue of $7.6 million. This makes the Festival the second most attended event in Melbourne, behind the Australian Open. ^[1]

[edit] Special Events

The main event and also the opening of the festival is the Comedy Festival Gala, a showcase of short performances by many headline and award-winning comedians. Held at the Regent Theatre until 2008, when it was held as an arena spectacular at the Vodafone Arena. The Gala is performed and recorded on opening night of the Festival and broadcast during the festival not long after, currently on Channel Ten. Performers give their time for free and a large proportion of the money raised goes to Oxfam, with regular requests for donations made by the comedians during the broadcast.

In 1989 was the first of many, the fantastic Great Debate, a televised comedy debate which is usually held at the Regent Theatre. In the past it has featured such names as Campbell McComas, Andrew Denton, Fiona O'Loughlin, Jason Byrne, Claire Hooper, Greg Fleet, Jean Kittson, Rove McManus and Meshel Laurie. Also with Paul McDermott and Stephen K Amos have been regular candidates as team captains and Corinne Grant as moderator. The 2008 Great Debate also featured Patton Oswalt, Cal Wilson, Julia Morris and Hamish Blake. The theme in 2008 was "Reality is Better on TV" with past themes being, "That Coming First is All that Matters" and "Ignorance is Bliss".

Each year the festival holds a number of special one-off events. Since 1994, the festival has produced Upfront, a night featuring the best of Australia's female comedians. In some past years this has been broadcast on the ABC, but was not filmed for TV in 2008. In 2008 it featured many fantastic new and also established comedians such as Rebecca De Unamuno, Nina Conti (UK), Hannah Gadsby, Corinne Grant, Maeve Higgins (IRE), Claire Hooper, Josie Long (UK), Fiona O'Loughlin, Celia Pacquola, Terri Psiakis, Geraldine Quinn, Kristen Schaal (USA), Nelly Thomas and also featured Ali McGregor performing in a live band, The Kylie Moles.

A newer addition is The Roadshow, which sees a number of comedians tour around regional centres where people may not have had the opportunity to visit the festival itself.

A The 20-hour Comedy Lock In special event was planned in 2006 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the MICF. Sadly, due to legal difficulties, it had to be truncated to a shorter event, beginning at midnight and finishing at 7:00am. In the HiFi Bar, the audience was kept entertained by MC, Daniel Kitson, and a stream of local and international comedy acts.

[edit] Awards

The award for the best performer at the MICF is the Barry Award, named for Barry Humphries. There are also awards for Best Newcomer and the Piece of Wood Award, which is voted for by performers. The 2008 recipients of The Barry Award were Nina Conti and Kristen Schall.