Australia's biggest comedy competition
RAW Comedy is Australia's biggest and most prestigious open mic comedy competition. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been running it since 1996, and past RAW winners and finalists include Chris Lilley, Josh Thomas, Hannah Gadsby, Wil Anderson, Peter Helliar, Claire Hooper, Mike McLeish (Keating the Musical!) and Tim Minchin. RAW runs nationally every year between January and April.
What is RAW Comedy?
- RAW happens in every capital city in Australia and in some regional centres.
- You enter your details and your preferred heat date here.
- You go and do a 5 minute spot of new, original comedy material at the heat.
- Heats are compered by a professional comedian and are open to the public.
- The best acts from the heats go on to State semifinals, then to a State Final.
- The best acts from all the State Finals go into a National Final.
- The National Grand Final is held in the Melbourne Town Hall as a feature event of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and recorded for broadcast by ABC television
The ultimate National RAW Comedy winner jets off to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - the world's largest and most awesome annual comedy fun time!
What are we looking for?
The judges are invited and drawn from industry, performers, media, and other local identities. There is no formal, structured way of 'marking' or 'scoring'. Judges are instructed to identify performers with potential for creative achievement. Some of the things they look out for are quality and originality of material, performance skills and audience response.
Click here to read the Judging Policy.