In previous years, RAW Comedy finalists have included Ronny Chieng (2010), Hannah Gadsby (2006) and Sam Simmons (2003). It’s a great opportunity for Australia’s up and coming comedians and also one of the main highlights each year on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival lineup. The always-affable Adam Hills played MC for the night, starting with a great rant about the ignorance and generally low intelligence of Reclaim Australia supporters.
Sam Taunton from Victoria had the tough job of opening the competition, but did spectacularly well at warming the crowd by discussing relatable topics such as heavy drinking and wasting money on worthless university courses. “Melancholy hipster” seemed to be the method of choice for most comedians on the night – with most of them trying their hardest to sound monotone and depressed throughout their act. The first of which was Angus Simpson from Queensland, who pulled the shtick off well and delivered some humorous anecdotes.
The animated Arnamarg from ACT offered some clever word play, but her jokes sounded a little too rehearsed and therefore affected the delivery. Rohan Ganju from Victoria avoided this by simply reading from cue cards. His delivery was exceptional and the jokes were the perfect mix of absurd and clever. Amy Hetherington mostly joked about her home state of Northern Territory, playing a game with the audience to replace the word “croc” for “cock” on headlines from their daily newspapers. Similarly, Ismail Ali started by paying out his home town of Werribee and shared his recent experience of wielding a gun in Africa.
With a brief intermission we got to hear from the winner of RAW Comedy India, Ruchir Ash. The young and very talented comedian impressed the room with stories about his life in Kolkata, pressure to succeed from his dad and Christopher Nolan films.
The competition resumed with Charlie McCann from New South Wales. He also went for the odd-ball act, but provided some hilarious observations. Jess Perkins was also an absolute highlight, giving us insight into the thought process behind Miley Cyrus’ career choices.
South Australia’s Nicholas Huntley probably had the most “Aussie” style of humour, discussing everything from visiting Bali to how your choice in dips ultimately determines your socio-economic status. He received the loudest chuckles for the night.
David McNevin from New South Wales looked extremely awkward, and appropriately talked about acting awkward in already awkward situations. He was probably overshadowed by a similarly awkward but much creepier approach, coming Western Australia’s Cory John Rist. Last but not least was Tasmania’s Jono Mastrippolito, who carried himself with a lot of confidence and natural stage presence. He spent an awful lot of his time talking about his sister’s boyfriend.
While the judges voted we were treated to a few high concept sketches from UK duo Lazy Susan. It’s a weird brand of humour that puts the audience in some utterly bizarre scenarios – but their dedication to the craft is admirable and engaging. Adam Hills returned to reveal the winners. Special mentions were given to both Sam Taunton and Jess Perkins, runner up went to a much-deserving Rohan Ganju, while the top prize went to Queensland’s Angus Gordon. As the RAW Comedy National Champion, Gordon will be sent to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
