Comedy awards Zoe Coombs Marr wins Barry Award

ZOE Coombs Marr has won the prestigious Barry Award for most outstanding show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Nominees talk What will you do if you win the Barry?

What will you do if you win the Barry?

ALL seven comedians nominated for the prestigious Barry Award for most outstanding show at the Comedy Festival share their jitters with Mikey Cahill.

Marriage equality Comics to ‘marry’ live on stage

Comics to ‘marry’ live on stage

THEY can’t marry their partners, but they can marry each other. Barry Award nominees Rhys Nicholson and Zoe Coombs Marr will get “hitched” on Friday night in a show of support for marriage equality.

Comedy Festival ends, Roadshow begins

Festival roadshow Gags galore fuel comedy road trip

AFTER putting on more than 6500 shows, performers at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival are ready to take the laughs to the rest of the country.

Latest Reviews

Paul Foot

4 Stars Paul Foot

Foot loose and lively in a show that cherry picks material from previous shows.

Pajama Men

4 Stars Pajama Men

Greatest hits set for Barry Award-winning surrealists.

Tommy Tiernan

2½ Stars Tommy Tiernan

Irish veteran puts on an epic show, but questionable content and manic performance makes it a long slog for nonbelievers.

2016 Deadly Funny

3½ Stars 2016 Deadly Funny

It was obvious some of the finalists were not stage-ready, but those who were killed while the special guests provided a truly deadly finale.

5 For 5 At 5

3½ Stars 5 For 5 At 5

With a constantly shifting line-up of top-shelf drawcards, this is easily the best value for money gig at the festival

Michael Griffiths

4 Stars Michael Griffiths

A hour of songs, lyrics and lashings of fun in tribute to the Queen of Pop.

Reuben Kaye

3 Stars Reuben Kaye

Conceited and camp cabaret that outstays it’s welcome.

George & Pam

1 Star George & Pam

Spend your money on something else.

Simon Godfrey

2½ Stars Simon Godfrey

Turbo-charged comedy that doesn’t ever quite leave second gear.

Anthony Jeannot

3½ Stars Anthony Jeannot

As a baby-faced man in the big wild world, Anthony Jeannot explores what it means to grow up, and how hard it actually is.

James Acaster

4½ Stars James Acaster

Impeccably structured stand-up set from a self-hating Englishman made even more impressive by disruptive audience members.

Magic Steven

1½ Stars Magic Steven

The spoken-word performance from this long-form anecdotalist is like a stand-up routine in reverse: slow, dull and almost totally without laughs.

Evan Hocking

3½ Stars Evan Hocking

Look up Port Douglas in the dictionary (a real one, with a cover) and you’ll find a picture of Evan Hocking. Well, he’s probably the funniest man to have lived there.

Kyle Kinane

4 Stars Kyle Kinane

He may look like a slacker, but this is far from slack. Exceptionally smart and unaffected fare from one of the US’s most brilliant comic minds.

Zanzoop

4½ Stars Zanzoop

MAYHEM ensues, madness unfolds, Weet-Bix is flung ... and that’s all in the first 30 seconds.

Paul Culliver

4 Stars Paul Culliver

Straight, young, white, male ... privileged and apologetic, but not really. Paul Culliver is naughty and nice, cheeky and charming. You could take your mum to his show, but she might want to take him home.

David Boyle & Miles Milson

3 Stars David Boyle & Miles Milson

A slice of straight-up pub comedy offers a chalk-and-cheese double act that comes served with a dash of strangeness.

Raw Comedy 2016

3½ Stars Raw Comedy 2016

The Holocaust. Concentration camps. Stalking. Mass shootings. Incest. Sexism. Racism. White guilt. Some dark ideas from this crop of newbies. Thankfully they were also bloody funny.

Butt Kapinski

4 Stars Butt Kapinski

Murder, mystery and speech impediments collide in a chaotic noir-inspired romp.

Martin Dunlop

3 Stars Martin Dunlop

Satirical love-story murder mystery featuring a beautiful daughter, a gardener, a beast and a breast milk pump.