Gathering on the steps of the Melbourne Town Hall, the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award nominees for Most Outstanding Show and Best Newcomer have been announced.
A bumper list of 9 nominees have been revealed for the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show:
- Gary Starr – Classic Penguins
- Flo & Joan starring George Fouracres – One Man Musical
- Ahir Shah – Ends
- Olga Koch – Olga Koch Comes From Money
- Lou Wall – Breaking the Fifth Wall
- Brett Blake – Little Turd
- Greg Larsen – Geggy
- Rahul Subramanian – Who Are You
- Scout Boxall – God’s Favourite
Best Newcomer nominations for performers doing their first full Festival show are:
- Anisa Nandaula – You Can’t Say That
- Ethan Cavanagh – Bond, Lost My Bond
- Jessica Barton – Dirty Work
- Kura Forrester – Here if you Need
- Meg Jäger – Renaissance Woman
- Rapha Manajem – The Salmon Was Good
- Robyn Reynolds – What Doesn’t Kill You
The Golden Gibbo – in memory of the late, great Lynda Gibson – is aimed at finding a local, independent show that pursues the artists’ idea more than it pursues commercial gain. The 2025 nominees are:
- Kate Dolan – The Critic
- Andy Balloch – The Wedding
- Taylor Griffiths – Sublime Avenue
- Conor Lynch – Chimp
- Sugar Bits – Feminist Trash
- Charlie Lewin – Frogaccini
Winners will be announced on Saturday with additional awards bestowed including;
- Directors’ Choice, awarded by the Festival Director in consultation with festival programming colleagues to a show they think deserves to be celebrated;
- The People’s Choice Award for the most popular show of the Festival as determined by the ticket buying public;
- The Pinder Prize, honouring Festival co-founder John Pinder, and supporting a performer to travel to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe;
- Piece of Wood comics’ choice award, selected by past winners and presented to a peer literally for doin’ good stuff ‘n’ that.
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival continues to 20 April 2025. For more information, visit: www.comedyfestival.com.au for details.
Image: 2025 Best Newcomer and Most Outstanding Show Nominees – photo by Nick Robertson