Melbourne International Comedy Festival announces 2021 award winners
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19.04.2021

Melbourne International Comedy Festival announces 2021 award winners

Geraldine Hickey with Adam Hills - image by Jim Lee Photo
Words by Tom Parker

The best of the best recognised after an incredible three-and-a-half weeks.

After three-and-a-half weeks of laughs, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has come to a close for 2021. With that comes the announcement of the festival’s 2021 award winners.

Geraldine Hickey has taken home the gong for Most Outstanding Show – What a Surprise won rave reviews for being a triumph of low stakes, high reward comedy. She was recognised alongside the likes Aaron Chen, David Quirk, Ivan Aristeguieta, Luke HeggieMichelle BrasierNikki Britton and Reuben Kaye – the other nominees for the accolade.

Check out all the latest comedy news and reviews here.

Charlie Zangel has won the Best Newcomer Award with his show, Cockatiel. He had been nominated alongside Anna Piper Scott, Chris Ryan and Scout Boxall for the award, while Nat Harris & Hannah Camilleri were honoured with The Golden Gibbo – an award that recognises a local, independent show that “bucks trends and pursues the artist’s idea more strongly than it pursues any commercial lure”.

Scottish superstar Daniel Sloss is the winner of the People’s Choice Award while New Zealand talent Melanie Bracewell has been recognised for her fantastic show, The Rumours Are True, taking home the Directors’ Choice Award.

Elsewhere, Greg Larsen has won The Piece of Wood – a comics’ choice award, selected by past winners and presented to a peer literally for “doin’ good stuff ‘n’ that”. His show This Might Not Be Hell drew plenty of praise.

This year’s recipient of The Funny Tonne is Bren Carruthers, who’s been recognised for his incredible efforts of viewing and reviewing shows at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Carruthers wrote 52 reviews during this year’s instalment – each of which were posted to the festival website throughout the three-and-a-half weeks.

Find out more about all the award winners and nominees here.