Top Picks for the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is back and bigger than ever – featuring a diverse and dynamic mix of international superstars, beloved Australian comedians, and exciting emerging talent.

Running from 26 March to 20 April 2025, the Festival promises to be an unforgettable celebration of comedy. From stand-up and sketch to improv and musical comedy, line-up shows, special events, talks and laughter-filled nights out. With so much on, Australian Arts Review takes a look at twelve shows worth checking out:

Arthur Hull: FLOP
Members Lounge – Arts Centre Melbourne: 8 – 20 April
Arthur Hull uncovers some of the best songs from the worst musicals ever written. The neon lights aren’t always bright on Broadway, for every hit there are 50 flops. This show is a love letter to the rollercoaster world of musicals and the people who make them – people who need people. From commercial and critical failures to obscure and forgotten gems, Arthur sets out to prove that every musical can be proud of at least one song. Maybe. Since graduating from the famous Flying Fruit Fly Circus in 2023, Arthur made it all the way to Adam Lambert’s Top 3 on The Voice Australia, won the two top awards at the National Busking Championships, and was a Judge’s Pick at the Melbourne Fringe.

Bob Downe: Choose Bob! 40 Ridiculous Years
The Capitol, Melbourne: 11 & 13 April
Aussie Comedy Icon Bob Downe has been making us Laugh and Singalong for 40 Ridiculous Years! But lets face it kids,” says Bob. “I’m not getting any older!” Celebrate with the still fresh Prince of Polyester in his brand new show featuring a bunch of Classic Hits with an unnaturally big-haired, shoulder padded, 80’s feel. From power ballads to bangers, you’ll walk IN humming the tunes! 40 Ridiculous Years! Features fabulous music from Music Director Bev Kennedy, special guests, fun memories, and a lotta laughs. Choose Bob!

Brown Women Comedy
fortyfivedownstairs | Fitzroy Town Hall: 9 – 20 April
Brown Women Comedy is back and bigger than ever!
Laugh your heart out to an award-winning, bold and besharam (shameless) line-up of Indian & South Asian Australian comedians. No topic is too taboo, and these women are not afraid to push boundaries. Between family drama, societal expectations, and relationships, we’ll be trauma bonding over life’s little absurdities. Your parents may not approve – but when has that ever stopped you? With over 3,400 people attending in 2024 and sold-out shows across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, you definitely won’t want to miss this one! Featuring Daizy Maan, Kru Harale, Guneet Kaur, Niv Prakasam and Ramya Ramapriya.

Circus Oz: Non Stop
Melbourne Town Hall: 16 – 20 April
Circus Oz returns to the iconic Melbourne Town Hall for a strictly limited season. See them now before the show goes on the road from Shepparton to 42nd St. New York City! Witness the Non Stop energy in a fun-filled extravaganza, performed by a multi-generational ensemble for a multi-generational audience. A collision of comedy, clowning, acrobatics, muscles, live music, flying trapeze, juggling, slapstick, crazy antics and daredevilry by the hand of an eclectic ensemble spanning six decades. The infectious joy this ensemble brings is a sheer delight that will leave you breathless, laughing and screaming for more.

Geraldine Quinn: Bastard Joy
The Motley Bauhaus: 25 March – 6 April
Look out Melbourne. The high priestess of underground music comedy is medicated. Following up her sold out MICF hit The Passion of Saint Nicholas, Geraldine Quinn (Spicks and Specks) draws from the bottomless well of music industry ego-projects to present Bastard Joy – a mash-up of concert and (imaginary) legacy that would inspire Cher and make J-Lo embarrassed by her own pathetic efforts. Coinciding with her 20th year of Melbourne International Comedy Festival, get front-row access as Geraldine – the recipient of four major comedy nominations and over 35 Green Room Award cabaret nominations – explodes onto the stage in a night to remember. Weaving a history of slippery veracity about the definitely real impact of Geraldine – an electro-clash melding of ‘documentary’ and live music parody of a legend that never was.

Isabelle Carney: The Moment
The Improv Conspiracy Theatre: 10 – 20 April
Written and performed by Isabelle Carney, with direction by Pat Mooney, The Moment is a playfully anarchic carousel of surreal stories, lessons and reflections. A brainy blend of sharp wit and sheer absurdity, Isabelle invites comedy lovers and punters alike to enter her mind palace, where high brow meets low, and forms one zany, untameable mono. Isabelle cut her teeth as the youngest sketch writer on Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell (ABC), and now writes for Hard Quiz (ABC) and the soon-to-be-rebooted Talkin’ Bout Your Generation (Network 10).

Jessica Barton: Dirty Work
The Motley Bauhaus: 24 march – 6 April
Wipe the wee from the toilet seat and pick up your dirty undies, because your favourite nanny is back this Comedy Festival to teach all the little boys – and girls – a thing or two about running a prim and proper household. Returning home from a two-year creative sabbatical in France and London, Australia’s Jessica Barton combines a spoonful of song, dance, clowning, and deep-cleaning to present a skanky and empowering homecoming Comedy debut. Expect Julie Andrews meets a silent Fleabag… Created in response to living with her 26 year-old boyfriend, his 18 year-old brother and their equal-in-size greyhound dog, what was promised to be an equal, job-shared household swiftly melted into a reflection of heteronormative 1950’s dynamics.

Kate Hanley Corley: Nervous Breakdance
Limerick Arms, South Melbourne: 9 – 12 April
Comedian Kate Hanley Corley is always looking for the funny side of life’s darker moments. In her Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, Nervous Breakdance, Kate jokes about the isolation of motherhood, the loss of identity, difficult toddlers and psychotic teens, post-natal depression, sex, ageing, marriage and menopause. Kate’s shows marry brilliant and incisive comedy with hilarious songs to create a magical atmosphere. In her latest show, Kate sings about a stint at a clinical trial so she can have a break from parenting while another song is about having an irrational crush on your obstetrician. Motherhood is not the only subject she covers. Kate also sings about a high-tech sex doll, long-term marriage and foreign accent syndrome.

Maren May: Reads Between No Lines
Tasma Terrace: 7 – 20 April
Directed by acclaimed comedian Claire Hooper, Between No Lines explores the everyday battle of decoding social subtext and those awkward moments where it feels like everyone else got the memo – except you. Whether it’s navigating cultural misunderstandings, missing subtle cues, or questioning the logic behind everyday interactions, this show finds humour in the challenges of seeing the world differently. Maren May, who is exploring her own diagnosis with autism, offers a deeply relatable perspective for those who identify as autistic or are in the process of seeking a diagnosis.

Mike McLeish: Pensive like the Fox
The Butterfly Club: 24 March – 20 April
In a festival overflowing with stand-up comedians, seasoned stage and screen performer Mike McLeish is mixing it up with his brand-spanking new one-man show, Pensive Like a Fox. A blend of satirical wit and idio(syncra)tic musical storytelling, Mike takes the audience on a chaotic ride of stand-up, storytelling and original songs, covering everything from practising French on the toilet to the joys of ageing and long-term relationships; from needing stitches after a pillow fight to what it means to think like a fox Pensive Like a Fox will be directed by Mike’s 21-year-old daughter Finn, who has been cutting her teeth in stage management, working for companies including Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre and the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Reuben Kaye: The Kaye Hole
The Malthouse – Merlyn Theatre: 18 & 19 April
Late night, done right. The Kaye Hole is the hottest, queerest and loosest late-night variety show on the festival circuit. The show is a safe space of love, queer joy, queer protest and freedom of expression. Hosted and curated by Reuben, and backed by a live band, the night will feature an incredible line-up of artists across circus, comedy, cabaret, burlesque, aerial, singers and dancers. With sold-out runs across the UK and Australia, this is not a night to be missed!

Sweeney Preston: Culture Reporter (A Story of Breaking News & Broken Hearts)
Theory Bar, Melbourne: 9 – 20 April
For nearly three years, comedian-journalist Sweeney Preston (Writer for Spicks and Specks, Sold Out Season Edinburgh Fringe 2024) wrote relationship and dating articles while his own love life was in the toilet. Now, with the clarity of hindsight, Sweeney relives the most hysterical intersections between his own life and the articles he was writing at the time – some of which have been read by over 100,000 people. Sometimes, we all just want someone to tell us what to do. But when the person giving the advice has no clue either… Can those who can’t do even teach? From radio interviews gone awry, to a couples getaway attended solo to an ending that might have you questioning every piece of advice you’ve ever been given, this hilarious, surreal and poignant debut solo hour is an uplifting celebration of mistakes told the only way Sweeney knows how – through jokes, stories and a big f#%ken PowerPoint.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival runs from 26 March to 20 April 2025. For more information and full program, visit: www.comedyfestival.com.au for details.