Melbourne International Comedy Festival

The Melbourne Town Hall serves as a hub for the MICF, as well as a venue for many performances.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. It is generally regarded as the least commercial and most relaxed of the three major comedy festivals. Established in 1987, it takes place in Melbourne, Victoria over three weeks in April, typically opening on April Fool's Day (April 1). The Melbourne Town Hall has served as the festival hub since the early 1990s, but performances are held in venues throughout the city.

The MICF plays host to hundreds of local and international artists; in 2008 its programme listed 1,765 performers in 298 separate shows. Although it is mainly a vehicle for stand-up and cabaret acts, the festival has also included sketch shows, plays, improvisational theatre, debates, musical shows and art exhibitions. The televised opening night Gala is the festival's flagship event, showcasing short performances from many headline and award-winning comics. Other popular events include The Great Debate, a televised comedy debate, and Upfront, a night of performances exclusively featuring female comedians.

History

According to the festival's co-founder, John Pinder, the idea of holding an international comedy festival originated in the early 1980s. It was inspired by a season at Melbourne comedy venue The Last Laugh, which featured a large number of overseas comics. In 1986, Pinder persuaded the Victorian Tourism Commission to fund an overseas trip in order to visit other international comedy festivals and investigate the possibility of holding a festival in Melbourne. Pinder became convinced it would work, and after his return wrote a report for the state government, which they accepted.^[1] The following year, the first annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival launched with the backing of the Victorian Tourism Commission, which remains its principal source of government support.^[2]

The festival usually opens on April Fool's Day (April 1), and runs for roughly three weeks.^[2] Its first year, in 1987, featured 56 separate shows, including performances by the Doug Anthony All Stars, Wogs Out Of Work, Gerry Connolly, Los Trios Ringbarkus and Rod Quantock. By 1999, it contained over 120 and was being attended by some 350,000 patrons annually.^[3] In 2008, it played host to a record 298 shows and 1,765 performers both local and international, including artists from the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and China. In addition, it achieved an attendance of over 455,000 and its highest-ever box office revenue of over AU$9.7 million, ranking it as Australia's largest cultural event.^[4] Activities were originally centred around the Universal and Athenaeum Theatres but in the early 1990s the MICF shifted its epicentre to the newly-refurbished Melbourne Town Hall, which has remained the festival hub. Soon after this, it spread out further to include a strong program at the Melbourne Trades Hall as well.^[2]

The MICF is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world, behind Edinburgh's Fringe Festival and Montreal's Just For Laughs. Each of the three festivals has its own particular style; Melbourne is generally regarded as the least commercial and most eccentric.^[5] Australian comic Peter Helliar says that performing in Melbourne is more fun for comedians because there is less pressure involved than in Edinburgh, where there is greater competition to gain an audience.^[6] Journalist Simon Fanshawe describes Melbourne as "the festival where the comedians go to play ... the most relaxed, least fevered and probably the most audience friendly of all the festivals."^[7]

Pinder says the festival tends to be more diverse than others of its kind.^[8] Although it is mainly a vehicle for stand-up and cabaret acts, its programme has also featured sketch shows, plays, improvisational theatre, debates, musical shows and art exhibitions.^[2][9] Pinder also notes a tradition for experimenting with unusual comedy venues, such as Rod Quantock's "Bus" tours and the similar "Storming Mount Albert By Tram", which used buses and trams respectively as mobile theatres in which the audience members were also passengers.^[8]

Following the end of the festival in Melbourne various local and international comedians join the MICF Roadshow, which spends several months touring regional Australia.^[10]

Special events

In addition to the hundreds of nightly shows which play during the festival there are a number of special one-off events. The best-known of these is the Comedy Festival Gala, the opening night show, which showcases short acts from many headline and award-winning comedians performing shows at that year's festival. It has become known as the festival's flagship event and typically sells out weeks in advance. The Gala is filmed and broadcast at a later date during the festival on Network Ten.^[11] Since 1995 the Gala has been a charity event, with all proceeds from the live performance and the screening going to Oxfam Australia.^[12]

The Great Debate has been an annual event since 1989 and has been televised variously on the ABC, Channel Nine and (as it does currently) Network Ten.^[13] The comedy debate features two teams of comedians facing off loosely in the structure of a formal debate over humorous topics such as "Laughter is Better Than Sex", "Coming First is All That Matters" and "Reality is Better on TV". The winning team is chosen by audience applause.^[13][14][15] Since 1994 the festival has produced Upfront, a night exclusively featuring female comedians which routinely sells out.^[16]

Awards

Each year, the MICF ends its Melbourne run by recognising the most outstanding shows and performers with a series of awards. The most prestigious of these is the Barry Award, which recognises the most outstanding show of the festival. It has been awarded since 1998, when it was introduced as the Stella Award, and was renamed in 2000 in honour of Barry Humphries, one of the festival's founding patrons.^[17] Past recipients of the Barry Award include Kristen Schaal, Nina Conti, Daniel Kitson, Demetri Martin, Keating!, Maria Bamford, The Mighty Boosh and Ross Noble.^[18] Also introduced in 1998 was the Piece of Wood Award, the comics' choice award "for doing good stuff 'n' that". Its recipient is selected by a committee of past winners. Literally a piece of wood, it is traditional for each winner to bite the award.^[18]

Melbourne Airport sponsors the Best Newcomer Award, which is presented to the festival's best first-time performer, as a part of its Emerging Talent Program. The winner receives a trip to the Brighton comedy festival in the UK.^[19] The Age Critics' Award is presented to the best local act, as selected by the reviewers of Melbourne newspaper and festival sponsor The Age.^[17] The Golden Gibbo, which is named in honour of Australian comedian Lynda Gibson who died in 2004, celebrates a local, independent act that "bucks trends and pursues the artist's idea more strongly than it pursues any commercial lure".^[18] The newest award, the Directors' Choice, has been presented since 2005 and recognises an outstanding show that missed out on any other prize. It is awarded by the MICF director, in consultation with other visiting festival directors.^[18]

Advertising

Each year since 2006 the advertising posters and other material for the festival has been based on a design by cartoonist Michael Leunig and a Metcard (public transport ticket) has been issued in an adapted design.^[20]

See also

• List of festivals in Australia

References

External links

• Official Melbourne International Comedy Festival site