Claire Hooper hosts The Callback, a new Melbourne International Comedy Festival podcast digging into the moments that made careers.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival has just launched The Callback, a new weekly podcast hosted by Claire Hooper.
Each episode of The Callback brings two comedians together around a single shared moment in their careers. Not a highlight reel chat, but a proper dig into the specific stuff: the first meeting that led to something huge, the gig that nearly broke them, the random encounter that rewired their whole trajectory. Hooper gets into all of it before flipping the lens and asking each guest what they’d tell themselves back then, armed with everything they know now.
It’s the kind of conversation that usually only happens after the show, when the mics are off.
The Callback – Melbourne International Comedy Festival
- Available now on all major podcast platforms
- New episodes every Thursday from 12 February
- Full video episodes on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival YouTube channel
- Melbourne International Comedy Festival runs 25 March to 19 April 2026
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Two episodes are out right now, starting with Sammy J, then Janty Blair and Wes Snelling. New episodes drop every Thursday and run through to just after the festival closes, 12 in total across the season. If podcasts are more your speed than video, it’s on all the usual platforms. If you want the full visual experience, complete episodes are up on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival YouTube channel each week.
Produced by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with support from OPPO, The Callback is part of the festival’s year-round content programme that keeps things running well outside the annual April window.
It is a genuinely good companion piece to the live shows, and a solid way to get across the festival’s world if you are new to it.
With hundreds of shows hitting Melbourne from 25 March to 19 April 2026, there is plenty of time to get your bearings before the festival kicks off.
For more information, head here.
