You may know his voice from triple j, or you’ve seen him on ‘The Glass house’, but Justin Hamilton is a hard-working comedian, and it’s clearly more than a job to this talented man from South Australia.
From his early days in a duo act called the ‘Bunta Boys’ in Adelaide’s close-knit comedy world, Justin Hamilton has learned the ups and downs of the trade, eventually honing his skills to the self-sustaining position of full-time comic. It’s a luxury that Hamilton finds weird within the Australian scene; every UK comic he …

What the hell is a Barry? It’s the award given to the best show of the Festival each year, named as such in honor of the first patron of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Barry Humphries.
This year, the nominees are;
Daniel Kitson
If you don’t know who he is then we don’t think you really care about this article. He’s nominated, and if you’ve seen him before you will know why.
Tim Minchin
After the Best Newcomer Perrier in Edinburgh, Minchin has returned to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a killer show …

Hello everyone!
Three weeks in, three issues of The Pun and time for some disagreement! It is time to throw a bone amongst the dogs and watch everyone tear each other apart as they try to be the King Bitch of the litter. But who amongst us would ever dare such a thing? Why I, your humble writer of this column, a bon vivant sheep wrangler with an axe to grind. Feel free to disagree with everything I write, but please have an opinion??preferably your own.
It was with quite a bit …

You know that moment of excitement when you first find out this year’s Comedy Festival line-up, and there’s one act that you really, really can’t wait to see? Well, I’m sad to say that for me, that moment came when I read two words: Pauly Shore.
Of course, nobody I know seemed to share my excitement. I was all, ‘Come on! Don’t wee-eeze the jui-uice!’ and, ‘Buuuuuuddy!’ and, ‘He dated Kylie Minogue during the filming of Bio-Dome, you know.’ But no biscuit. It doesn’t help that Pauly’s playing Little Vegas, aka …

Familiar faces and voices abound in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Here’s just a bit of info to help you place where you’ve seen and heard them before.
Andy Muirhead‘That happy chappy from ‘Collectors’ is also an incredibly talented stand-up comic. His show, Andy Muirhead is??Perky shows off his day job.
Dave Callan‘Surely you’ve heard his dulcet tones on triple j? Part Irish, part mad (in the best possible way), Callan returns to the festival this year with The Sunshine Factory (Part Two). Considering Part One was hailed as quite the success, …

Staging the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is no laughing matter. This year the Melbourne International Comedy Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary, with 233 individual events included in its broad program. For four weeks, international and local comedy superstars will rub shoulders with unheard-of hopefuls in a range of venues across the inner city, from Footscray Community Arts Centre to Federation Square.
Organising an event of this magnitude is no easy task, explains Susan Provan, the Festival director, and there’s certainly no time to relax once things are actually under way.
“The Festival …

What’s it like doing a solo show in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for the first time? It’s a nightmare, but a nightmare where you wake up and realise that a peanut butter sandwich wanting to give you a massage is not as scary as you once thought.
The first week of the festival has been a bit surreal. I am also working full-time as a manager at King Pin bowling at the Casino. This means I’ve been doing the show, then going to work and finishing at eight in the …