Australia's biggest comedy competition

You

Entry at all times remains at the sole discretion of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. However, the Festival operates along the following guidelines:

  • You need to be a permanent resident of Australia.
  • You need to be at least 17 years old on the date of your first heat. If you're younger, think about the Festival's Class Clowns competition.
  • You cannot have earned or won or sold tickets worth more than $500 or equivalent value from performing live comedy, ever, as of the date of your first heat. If you're entering as a group, this limit applies to your group.
  • If you've been in RAW before, you can enter again, but only 3 times in total. That is, you can enter RAW in up to three different years.
  • Once you've been in the National Final, or if you've been in 2 State Finals, you can't enter again.
  • You can only enter in a given year, once. That is, you can't enter in different states in the same year.

Your spot

  • Stand-up, music, sketch, all forms of live comedy are welcomed.
  • Your spot must be no longer than 5 - F I V E - minutes.
  • Your spot must be totally original.

Finals

  • We programme all the Finals with the best acts we've seen up to that point across the whole competition. That means if you 'win' a heat you're not guaranteed a spot in the next stage, but it's a pretty good indication. It also means we will wild card people from time to time.
  • If you're from a regional centre, you are responsible for your own travel to your state capital city for the State Final. This includes transport from Canberra to Sydney for the NSW/ACT Final.
  • The Comedy Festival takes care of your flights to Melbourne if you get into the National Final.

Other Terms and Conditions

  • By entering you agree to the Comedy Festival recording your spot for later broadcast on ABC Radio's triple j, and/or RAW Comedy podcast. You agree that the Comedy Festival may edit your spot for broadcast or podcast. You promise us that you're not using any material or writing (e.g. music) in your spot that you're not allowed to, or that we can't broadcast or podcast in turn.
  • You may not record your spot yourself without the express permission in advance of the
    person running your gig. Regardless of which you agree not to publicly
    or otherwise distribute or broadcast any recording you are permitted to
    make, including you agree to not put it on a website anywhere, ever
    without express written permission of the Comedy Festival.

Frequently Asked Questions

Click here to read the frequently asked questions.

Judging Policy

Click here to read the judging policy or click here to see what
the judges say.