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As Melbourne International Comedy Festival perennial Arj Barker noted, this year weâve hosted the biggest comedy festival on the planet, baby.
Hopefully youâve made the most of it. Our reviewers certainly did â here they pick the festivalâs best acts, best jokes and their tips for âif you have to see one more act this weekend before itâs too late, make sure you see.â
Jude Perl, Nath Valvo and Dilruk Jayasinha.
Credit:Simon Schluter
Tyson Wray: Anna Piper Scottâs
Queer & Present Danger was a heartfelt and hilarious exposition of Scottâs transition. Sheâs doing a return season at The Butterfly Club in May, donât miss it. Ben Knightâs
A sleazy, late-night soap opera proves a comedy festival hit
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By Age reviewers
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Comedy Republic, until April 17
Emmaâs Debutante
My Deb Ball was fairly uneventful, save for showing off my Scandinavian girlfriend and mum scolding me for not getting my scruffy hair cut. Frankie McNair and Emma Holland take the premise of a Deb Ball and go turbo.
Respectively, they play a dysfunctional mother and daughter preparing for Emmaâs big night with a revolving cast all keen to make speeches.
Tonight, the Canberra-raised, Melbourne-based comedians rope in talent such as Randy Feltface who bursts out side of stage, disconcertingly close to a crowd member and does a great bit on âspelunkingâ his way to lamp switches.
Winners are grinners: we review the Comedy Festivalâs shortlisted shows
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April 13, 2021 â 5.00am
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The nominations are in for most outstanding show at the 2021 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Hereâs what our reviewers thought of the acts.
Nominees for most outstanding show
Luke Heggie,
â â â â â
Is there an award for Most Improved Player? Last time I saw Heggie he was solid, now heâs utterly extraordinary.
The deadpan Sydney stand-up gets straight into it and delivers as many jokes per minute as fellow blue chip performer Rhys Nicholson, targeting police, vegan-haters and unisex toilets: âThis is the future weâve all fought for.â
âDisillusioned feministâ wins next-gen comedy crown
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Melbourne Town Hall, April 11
After 64 heats and finals and a record 1183 entrants, Australiaâs largest open mic competition had finally whittled down the shortlist to 12 aspiring comedians to see who would join the RAW Comedy alumni such as Hannah Gadsby, Ronny Chieng and Celia Pacquola.
Prue Blake, winner of RAW Comedy.
Credit:Jim Lee
Hosted by the jovial Dane Simpson, Mathew Hespe kicked things off and set the bar with material on a reciprocal problem-sharing psychologist and Tiger Woodsâ infidelity; Kelly Gulliver followed with more commonplace stories of the problems of being of a single mother; and Jayde OâBrien (one of two acts to receive a special mention from the judges) floored the room with a blistering set of growing up ignorant of her familyâs poverty, li