After a long series of heats, the RAW Comedy National Grand Final is now imminent. Triple j breakfast host Matt Okine was a finalist back in 2004, having only performed stand-up three times previously – all during the preliminary heats of the competition. Okine, who once cut his teeth in the revered comedy competition, continues to be a massive supporter and ambassador for the event and its importance to the world of comedy.
“It gives people a safe place,” he says. “Open mic nights can be goddamn jungles. I’ve been to pubs where the audience is literally looking at the greyhounds on the screens playing over your shoulder. RAW lets you jump onstage with a group of people who are often giving it their first crack too. The audience is mostly family or friends, or people who actually respect comedy and know how confident – read: deluded – you need to be to give it a go.”
One wonders how Okine, who was 18 at the time, found the RAW experience.
“Terrifying,” he says. “I only told two friends. One I needed to borrow a T-shirt from and the other I wanted to drive so that I could, err, ‘calm my nerves’. It all turned out pretty good though. I ended up winning my heat and ended up in the local paper. Thankfully I was wearing a decent shirt.”
As it turns out, Okine wasn’t the only comedy hopeful who embarked on the RAW journey from an incredibly young age. Plenty of young folk with zero experience enter the heats, which is something that Okine encourages.
“Every heat has at least four or five newbies,” he says. “And there’s absolutely zero judgment, because everyone else has been there before. You get to sit down with the organisers and MC beforehand, and are given a run-through of how it all works, and where the nearest bathrooms are before your nerves take over and make you wee more than a 21-year-old who is 14 schooners deep. There’s nothing to fear.”
The entertainment industry at large is notoriously difficult to break into, and even more so when you start venturing into the realm of niche genres such as comedy. From the outside looking in, the Australian comedy scene seems to be quite tight-knit. I’m curious as to whether there is a lot of support for Raw comedians after the competition has been run and won.
“Of course,” Okine says. “At the end of the day, nobody cares who wins or loses – unless, of course, you win.”
Being a comedy competition, you can expect Okine has experienced some pretty hilarious moments over the years, on and off the stage. It turns out that one of his most memorable recollections involves just a tiny bit of hubris.
“There was a 17-year-old kid in the Queensland final in 2005 and I didn’t even watch his performance because I thought I had it in the bag. Nek-minnit, the 17-year-old kid wins. He turns out to be Josh Thomas. He’s since gone on to destroy at everything he does, so at least my loss was deserved.”
By Tegan Jones
Venue: Melbourne Town Hall – Main Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, CBD
Date: Sunday April 10
Time: 5pm
Tickets: $29 – $39.50
