The Raw Comedy National Grand Final 2018

By Hooi Khaw 

After judging more than 1000 entrants, Raw Comedy brings 12 national finalists to the stage to compete for the opportunity to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Raw Comedy National Grand Final is hosted by the amicable Ivan Aristeguieta who is warm and personable, and keeps the energy high for all of the contestants throughout the show.

Gavin Sempel starts the show, immediately getting the audience onside with commentary about his slender appearance, moving onto humorous anecdotes from his life. Having seen his set at the state finals, there is something in his delivery that is still joyfully entertaining to watch the second time around.

Sian Smyth follows next, with some polarizing punch lines. The topics span from social work, to porn, to Gandhi, and she provokes both cheers and groans from the audience at different points.

The third contestant is Jane New, whose distinctive stage persona could be easily attributed to nerves. She distinguishes herself as a writer, rather than a comedian, and she gets sprinkled laughter as the crowd warms to her particular brand of humour.

Alex Hall-Evans starts the second bracket speaking of sexiness, and his humour seems typically millennial. Hall-Evans interacts well with the crowd, and generously applies hyperbole to get the laughs.

Next up is Emma Holland who uses a paper fortuneteller to warm up the crowd. She succeeds with weirdly specific questions, and the genius is in the deliberately warped assumptions inherent in those questions. Holland then moves onto translating emojis for the crowd, and the explanations get progressively more absurd as she cycles through them.

Scout Boxall follows next, specializing in earnest set ups, which are then contrasted with on the nose absurdity. The laughs come from hitting the target of the criteria that Boxall has set, but also from the weird exploration of the themes, and the contrast between them. Boxall is a standout, closing her set with the only musical number of the show.

Bronwyn Kuss is deadpan in discussing body image and self esteem, but there is something unconvincing in the delivery that the audience struggles to relate to.

Next, Emo bursts onto the stage with a strong stage presence, interacting with the crowd, and mining themes of race, and sex for comedy. Although the material is not the most original from the night, Emo gets the crowd laughing with his charisma and classic jokes.

Ryan McArthur follows with his set focused on awkward experiences. The first example lands well, and the audience audibly relates. From there it starts to feel more like someone venting about experiences that they can’t let go of, and the audience is unwilling to follow McArthur down this path of indulgence.

Matthew Vasquez starts the last bracket with some racial humour relating to his South American heritage. Vasquez’s style is distinctive, in that he seems to say a punch line, and hold for applause or laughter. It’s surprising to see how often this pays off, and you can hear the audience catching up with Vasquez’s thoughts as pockets of laughter start bursting in the crowd during the pause.

Bec Melrose delivers one of the more varied sets of the night. With cleverly constructed jokes, Melrose explores issues of gender, politics, and productivity with a clear point of view.

The last contestant for the night is Kevin Jin, who speaks mostly about race and dating. Although these topics are frequently visited in stand up, Jin is still able to surprise and delight with his take on these. Jin has an affable style, and his comedy is easy to enjoy.

Without spoiling the big reveal for when the Raw Comedy National Grand Final is aired on SBS, it is safe to say that there was fierce competition this night, and throughout the state level heats. Although only one lucky winner gets the prize of a trip to Edinburgh, it’s clear that there is a bright future ahead of all of these brave, funny, and clever stand ups.

Raw Comedy National Grand Final was on April 15 at The Melbourne Town Hall.

RAW Comedy Applications

RAW is an open mic competition open to comedians from all over Australia. Heats of the competition are held in each state every year and the grand Final takes place  on April 14th during the 2013 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. All heats are judged by famous comedians and top people in the industry with the first qualifying heat  starting in Melbourne in early January.

Taking part in RAW is pretty much seen as a right of passage in the comedy world in Australia. Most comedians have their RAW stories and agree that even if they don’t win, the learning experience is invaluable and can lead to successful careers. There are even working comedians who’s very first stage experience was at a RAW heat.

Applications for RAW have now opened and forms can be found on their website. The RAW heats will be held in 10 locations between January and March 2013.

Some basic rules include that you must be at least 17 years old at your first heat, must have earned less than $500 from comedy and that your 5 minute spot must be totally original. The full guidelines are on the website.

Last year’s winners were Lessons with Luis who not only won Best Newcomers at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival but have also been granted a Moosehead Award for their 2013 show.

Previous winners include Josh Thomas (2005), Hannah Gadsby (2006), Neil Sinclair (2008) and Michael Workman (2009).

Previous contestants who did not win the grand final include Tim Minchin, Chris Lilley, Peter Helliar, Tom Ballard, Claire Hooper, Mike McLeish, and Ronny Chieng.

A full list of winners can be found on our Awards page.

Details about RAW Applications can be found at the Raw Website

Grand Final RAW Winners

And the Winner of RAW is Lesson’s with Louis (and his family) in Luis Presents Kidney Kingdom

In case you missed its now finished, short run, Luis Presents Kidney Kingdom can be likened to a play put on for you by your strange cousins when you visit them in their suburban home. The execution is superb, the characters perfectly defined and delightfully daggy. The three characters are; the star Luis, his ever supportive dad Len and his quietly suffering little brother Luelin. The family took us to the moon, through the jungle and under the sea in search of a new kidney for Len.

They also brought down the house when they performed at The Shelf during the Festival.
Here is their website where you can find videos of their work

http://www.lessonswithluis.com/

Runners Up at the RAW Grand Final were

Cameron James (NSW)

Amos Gill (SA)

RAW Comedy is Australia’s biggest and most prestigious open mic comedy competition and previous winners and finalists include Michael Workman, Neil Sinclair, Nick Sun, Nelly Thomas,  Josh Thomas, Hannah Gadsby, Peter Helliar, and Claire Hooper.

It is a pity that the RAW (or MICF) website provides no information about heat winners, which makes it hard to follow how things are going during the heats. One would think that providing easily accessible, up to date information online would be fairly simple in this day and age.
You shouldn’t have to subscribe and give over private information to find out.

Two days later there is still no news up on either The  Raw Comedy 2012 or MICF websites of the Grand Final winners.

http://comedyfestival.com.au/raw/

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/raw-comedy-national-grand-final/

MICF 2012 Shows on sale now

Tickets are now on sale for shows in this years Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

The Comedy Festival Gala is being hosted by Sammy J & Randy and has already sold out, but there are still tickets available for some of the festivals biggest events including the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow, RAW Comedy National Grand Final, The 23rd Annual Great Debate Upfront and more!

Highlights in 2012 include American comedy legend Wanda Sykes, the return of UK based comedians Dave Gorman, Shappy Khorsandi, Glenn Wool Tim Key and Aussie born Sarah Kendall. Simon Munnery’s two shows, including his conceptual restaurant ‘La Concepta’ which we tasted a sample of during his show last year and, as always, a new one from Daniel Kitson. Four of Australia’s best comedians are getting together to perform a live silent film; Andy Mclelland, Asher Trelevan, Celia Pacquola and Sammy J in Tie her to the Tracks. Interesting pairings include Bob Franklin and Steven Gates (of Tripod) in Stubborn Monkey Disorder and the husband and wife team of Mike McLeish & Fiona Harris in …..Plus One. There is also Rod Quantock’s Mystery Comedy Tour which is garanteed fun if you don’t mind walking and don’t forget to try something new. You might discover the next big name! Of course there are many, many more shows happening, so get to it.

To get in early and secure your seats, check out the full list of shows on sale here. New shows are being added as they go on sale.