Raw Comedy

Raw Comedy is an Australian annual competition for emerging stand-up comedians held by Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It was established in 1996 and is supported by national youth radio station, Triple J. In 2011, there were 1,100 contestants.^[1]

Heats take place in major Australian cities through January, February and March.^[2] State semi-finals and finals are held in the state capitals in March. The final is held as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April and televised on ABC.

The winner of Raw Comedy is sent to the So You Think You're Funny competition at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Three Raw Comedy winners, Drew Rokos, Nick Sun and Demi Lardner, have gone on to win So You Think You're Funny.

Past winners and finalists

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Year	Winner(s)	Other finalists
1996	Adam Spencer (NSW)[3]
1997	Subby Valentine (NSW)
1998	Chris Franklin (NSW)
1999	Chris Wainhouse (Qld)	Adam Rozenbachs (Vic) Gavin Baskerville (WA)
2000	Drew Rokos (Vic)
2001	Emily O'Loughlin (SA)	Alan Rutledge (Qld) Eleven Thh (Tas) Geraldine Hickey (Vic) Luke Whitby (SA) Martin Steel (Qld) Michael Chamberlin (Vic) Penny Tangey (Vic) Robert Nix (NSW) Ronan McChesney (NSW) Ross Janetzki (Qld) Terry North (Vic) Vanessa Hill (NSW) Xavier Michaledes (WA) Yianni Agisilaou (Vic)
2002	Dave Elvins (NSW)
2003	Nelly Thomas (Vic) Steve Sheehan (SA)	Sam Simmons (SA) Jeremy Miller and Chris North (NSW) Shalini Akhil (Vic)
2004	Nick Sun (NSW)
2005	Josh Thomas (Qld)
2006	Hannah Gadsby (Tas)	Michael Williams (Vic; runner-up) Celia Pacquola (Vic; Raw Recruit Prize) Dylan Bennett and Kadek Hobman (NT; runner-up) Bart Freebairn (Qld) Bec Hill (SA) Tom Ballard (Vic) Jeff Hewitt (WA) Danii Johnstone (NSW) Paul Ayre (NSW) Sasha Terranova (Vic) Matt Burton (Tas) Ben Jenkins (NSW) Selina Jenkins as "Beau Heartbreaker" (Vic)
2007	Jonathan Schuster (Vic)	Aamer Rahman (Vic; runner-up) Jack Druce (NSW; Raw Recruit Prize) Xavier Susai (WA) Shaun Conroy (Qld) Ellen Briggs (Qld) Maverick (NT) Aleisha McCormack (Tas) Anyone for Tennis (Vic) The D (SA) Tracy Crisp (SA) Saikim Wan (NT)
2008	Neil Sinclair (Vic)	David Cunningham (NSW; runner-up) Laura Davis (WA; Raw Recruit Prize) Mel Buttle (Qld) Ryan Coffey (Vic) John Conway (WA) Michele Fryer (SA) Scott McGowan (NT) Luke McGregor (Tas) Louise Sanz (Vic) Smart Casual (NSW) Jay Sullivan (ACT)
2009	Michael Workman (WA)	Charles Barrington (Anthony Rogers) (Vic; co-runner-up) Don Tran (Vic; Raw Recruit Prize) Mikey Mileos (NSW) Rhys Nicholson (NSW) Tracey Cosgrove (Tas) Shikhar Thakur (WA) Adam Keily (SA) Nicole Roddy (NT) Pam Rana (Qld) Ben and James Stevenson are The Stevenson Experience (ACT) Ash Walmsley (Qld; co-runner-up) Shannon Woodford as "Adele" (Vic)
2010	Luke Heggie (NSW)[4]	Ronny Chieng (Vic; Special Mention) Geoffrey Windle (Qld; Special Mention) Catherine Hall (Vic) Callan Durlik (WA) Levi Dobson (NT) Moataz Hamde as "Mo-Taz" (SA) James Mullany (WA) David Bakker (Tas) Sam Radford (Vic) Anne Edmonds (Vic) James McCann (SA) Peter Escott (Tas)
2011	Dayne Rathbone (Vic)[5]	Khaled Khalafalla (Vic; runner-up) Tom Gaynor (SA; runner-up) Xenethor (NT) Adam Knox (Vic) Adam Francis (Vic) Tien Tran (WA) Genevieve Fricker (NSW) Laura Hughes (NSW) Sam Campbell (Qld) Ting Lim (Qld) Claire Sullivan (Tas)
2012	Lessons with Luis (Vic)[6]	Amos Gill (SA; runner-up) Cameron James (NSW; runner-up) Andrew Wolfe (NSW) Hayman Kent (Vic) Mitchell McCutcheon (Qld) Georgie Carroll (SA) Mike Nayna (Vic) Dylan Hesp (Stephen) (Tas) Kyle Walmsley (NT) Jon Pinder (WA)
2013	Demi Lardner (SA)[7]	Cameron Duggan (Qld; runner-up) Andy Matthews (Vic; runner-up) Chris Menezies (Tas) Justin Crooks (NT) Sean Conway (WA) Colin Ebsworth (WA) Jay Morrissey (Vic) Megan McKay (Vic) Aaron Chen (NSW) Becky Lucas (Qld) Tim Noon (ACT)
2014	Matt Stewart (Vic)[8]	Katie Burch (NSW; runner-up) Cyrus Bezyan (NSW) Jennifer Burke (Qld) Michael Kelly (NT) Megan McCrea (Vic) Kerri Gay (Tas) Matt Storer (WA) Marc Ryan (SA) Simon Etheridge (WA) Justin Hayward (Vic) Rohan Desai (Raw India winner and special guest)
2015	Angus Gordon (Qld)[9]	Rohan Ganju (Vic; runner-up) Jess Perkins (Vic; special mention) Sam Taunton (Vic; special mention) Jono Mastrippolito (Tas) Amy Hetherington (NT) Anamarg (ACT) Charlie McCann (NSW) Cory John Rist (WA) David McNevin (NSW) Ismail Ali (Vic) Nicholas Huntley (SA)
2016	Danielle Walker (VIC)	Clinton Haines (NSW; runner-up) Naomi Higgins (VIC) Chris Kearney (NSW) Craig Quartermaine (WA) David Woodhead (NT) Emily Vascotto (QLD) James McMahon (ACT) Lewis Garnham (SA) Maedi Prichard (TAS) Michael Shafar (VIC) Squirly (WA)

References

1. Platt, Craig (April 11, 2011). "Raw Comedy won by awkward freak". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
2. "2008 Raw Comedy Competition". PerthNow. 24 January 2008. Archived from the original on 31 March 2008.
3. "Sleek Geeks: Adam Spencer". ABC Online.
4. "Luke Heggie Wins National Comedy Title". Australian Stage. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
5. Platt, Craig (11 April 2011). "Raw Comedy won by awkward freak". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
6. Platt, Craig (15 April 2012). "Raw Comedy and the rise of awkwardness". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
7. "Demi Lardner wins Raw Comedy". The Age. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
8. Taras, Nick (14 April 2014). "Review: Raw comedy up-and-comers inventive and entertaining". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
9. Platt, Craig (13 April 2015). "Raw Comedy 2015 winner: Angus Gordon wins national comedy competition". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2015.

External links

• Raw Comedy on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival website