In a special ceremony hosted by Josh Thomas, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has announced the 2026 Award winners.
The winners, Celia Pacquola, Nathan Chin, Kitty Flanagan, Lizzy Hoo, Bron Lewis, Laura Davis, Nath Valvo and Kate Dolan, have demonstrated the most exciting and diverse comedic talent in this year’s program.
Over the 26-day run, the 40th anniversary festival presented 9100 performances, across 200 performance spaces, with an additional 280 shows added due to demand.
From first timers to household names, over 2000 comedians took to stages, back rooms of bars and warehouses, delivering an incredible mix of stand-up, sketch, clowning, improv, cabaret and everything in between.
Out of a shortlist of 10 shows which were announced last week, the 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Most Outstanding Show was awarded to Celia Pacquola for Gift Horse.
The People’s Choice Award for the most popular show of the Festival, as determined by the ticket buying public, went to Kitty Flanagan who filled the Regent Theatre 13 times for her crowd pleaser Glad Game.
The Best Newcomer Award, for the best solo performer or group of performers doing their first Festival show, went to Nathan Chin for Chinese Comedy Party.
The Directors’ Choice Award, decided by the Festival Director Susan Provan in consultation with festival programming colleagues to a show they think deserves celebration went to Nath Valvo for Homebody and Kate Dolan for Trout.
The Pinder Prize, honouring Festival co-founder John Pinder and awarded in collaboration with Assembly Edinburgh will support Lizzy Hoo to travel to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with her show Says Hoo?
Drawn from a vast field of Victorian performers at this year’s Festival, the newly created VicScreen Greenlight Award was awarded to Bron Lewis for her show Chaos – which stood out for the originality of its voice, the strength of its storytelling, and its clear potential to translate to screen.
The Golden Gibbo – celebrating the legacy 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. This year, the award went to Laura Davis for their protest show Swag.
The Piece of Wood comics’ choice award, selected by past winners and presented to a peer literally for “doin’ good stuff ‘n’ that” was awarded to Nikki Britton for her show Not To Be Dramatic…
Earlier this month, the 2026 Funny Shorts Winner was awarded to The Agreement, directed by Jemma Cotter; runner-up was Virginia, directed by Isabella Lovett Pawsey, while the Funny Shorts Outstanding Comedy Performance Award went to 2 Black 2 Strong, directed by Nurdewi Djamal.
The Audience Award votes have been tallied, with I Fell in Love with My Sleep Paralysis Demon (Dir. Matthew J. Thompson), the clear winner.
The 2026 Melbourne International Comedy Festival took place across the City from 25 March to 19 April. For more information, visit: www.comedyfestival.com.au for details.
Images: Celia Pacquola – photo by Nick Robertson | Nathan Chin – photo by Nick Robertson | Nikki Britton – photo by Nick Robertson