Comedy Zone brings five of Australia's sharpest emerging comedians to the stage for a comedic medley of styles, backgrounds and perspectives.
Celebrating its 26th year, Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Comedy Zone has a proud tradition of introducing the country’s next wave of comedy talent to audiences, and this year’s lineup is no exception.
Five comedians from across Australia are bringing wildly different styles, backgrounds and perspectives to the stage, all united by one thing: they’re genuinely funny, and the rest of the country is about to find that out. Comedy Zone’s alumni list reads like a who’s who of Australian comedy, previous years have welcomed Hannah Gadsby, Ronny Chieng, Aaron Chen, Danielle Walker and Celia Pacquola.
In 2026, Comedy Zone features Peter Josip, Bahaa Dabbagh, Stella Wu, Jack Knight and Kushi Venkatesh, a mix of observational comics and dark storytellers. One refreshingly honest comedian goes so far as to describe their style of comedy as swift, brutal, blunt force trauma to the cranium.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Comedy Zone
- Where: Trades Hall – Quilt Room
- When: 26 Mar to 19 Apr
- Tickets: here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Comedy Zoners
Peter Josip
Peter Josip is a Melbourne boy through and through, a Northcote Plaza regular with a musical theatre background and a martial arts training history that absolutely informs how he walks into a room.
After taking out RAW Comedy at the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and landing a spot in the So You Think You’re Funny final at Edinburgh Fringe, he decamped to Canada to work the top comedy clubs across North America.
Sharp, observational and Greek-Cypriot-Italian to his core, Josip has a gift for finding the ridiculous in the everyday. He’s been featured on SBS, ABC and in The Guardian. His comedy in three words? Summer of Pete.
Bahaa Dabbagh
Bahaa Dabbagh grew up in Syria and has turned that life experience into some of the most fearlessly honest comedy on the Melbourne circuit. Drawing on displacement, racism, cultural identity and survival, his sets are dark, witty and land harder than you expect.
Beyond the stage, he runs Refugee Thoughts, a digital project using humour, podcasts and writing to shift the conversation around refugees. His debut solo hour, My Refugee Disorder, hit the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2025, and he’s a RAW Comedy Victoria State Semi-Finalist for that same year. He prepares for shows by testing material on his refugee cat. She is, by all accounts, a brutal critic.
Stella Wu
Stella Wu walked away from a career in corporate banking to do stand-up full time, which either sounds like a nightmare or the dream, depending on who you ask.
The Hong Kong-born, Sydney-based comedian is a 2024 RAW Comedy National Finalist who has been gigging across Australia and New Zealand, earning a reputation for confident delivery and a globally informed perspective.
Her sets move fluidly between cultural observation, immigrant experience and social commentary, and she’s built a fast-growing following along the way. Comedy in three words: fun, funny, funnier.
Jack Knight
Jack Knight is from Queensland, has not made eye contact with another person in eight years and conducts himself, in his own words, like a 40-year-old divorcee busting up a pallet. His comedy is blunt, unpredictable and has been compared to a Datsun 120Y backfiring directly into your skull.
He has supported Mel Buttle, Sam Campbell and Dan Rath, and is reportedly known to ASIO. Preparation for Comedy Zone involves longnecks of stout, a dark bathroom, no music and extended periods of staring at the wall until something gives. Comedy goals? Getting under people’s skin. Fair enough.
Kushi Venkatesh
Kushi Venkatesh is a South Australian student, content creator and TV reporter who has been granted official parental permission to pursue comedy as a hobby. That permission is being stress-tested. A two-time RAW Comedy SA State Finalist, a 2023 Class Clowns National Grand Finalist and a 2025 nominee for the SA Young Australian of the Year Awards, Venkatesh is one of the youngest and most promising voices coming through the Australian comedy scene right now.
Her long-term goal is a spot on Taskmaster. The stand-up, she’ll tell you, is basically just admin.
Five acts, one stage and 26 years of Comedy Zone putting its Melbourne International Comedy Festival reputation on the line. This year’s lineup makes a very compelling case that the institution knows exactly what it’s doing.
Comedy Zone is proudly supported by Lancemore Crossley St.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
