Class Clowns is Melbourne International Comedy Festival's development program for young people around the country.
After a competition has been held across the country, heats, semi-finals and then finals are run in each Australian state and territory, with the winners of the state finals competing in the Grand Final in Melbourne. The Grand Final is held during Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the Forum Theatre (previously held at Melbourne Town Hall and Malthouse Theatre).
Professional comedians who have hosted the grand final include Tom Gleeson and Nath Valvo. Special guest comedians perform a headline set; in the past, these have included Peter Helliar, Tripod, Ross Noble, and Judith Lucy.
Notable comedians who have performed as entrants in Class Clowns include, Josh Thomas, Tom Ballard, Joel Creasey, Rhys Nicholson, Aaron Chen, Velvet Winter, Lauren Duong, Mia Timpano, and Imaan Hadchiti.
Class Clowns National Grand Finalists
[edit] | Year | Winner | Other |
| 2000 | Fat Chicks Bite Back (Jess Shanahan, Hayley Robinson, Paul Saunders & Adam Weller) | - Kane Baltetsch
- The Shakespeares
- Shane Jameson
- Popsticles
- Michael Connell (2nd Place)
- Shane Stackpool
- Josh Gurgiel
- Danny McGinlay (3rd Place)
- Michael Williams & Steven Watts
|
| 2001 | Paul Saunders | |
| 2002 | Goibon Hanastende | |
| 2003 | Fred Sterer | - Fat & Skinny (Ric Bourke & Travis Tyszkiewicz)
- Scenes from a Supermarket (Kelly Bush, Jauren Jiear, David Messina, Marty Thomas and Nick Valois)
- Arthur (Jordan Fogel)
- Crispy Strip (Joseph McCarthy) Scotch Finger (Jouline Winter & Elise Dorian)
- Short Suited (Tully Hansen & Evan Dowling)
- James Meehan
- Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machine (Jeremy Laing and Scott Winterton)
- Rebecca Gomo
- Technically Challenged (Stefan Popovic & James Robertson)
- Andrew Ryan
- The Mike & Stan Trio (Tristan Lintern, Geoff Stone, Kye Elliot-Moyle)
|
| 2004 | Stephen Brooks | - Fraternity
- Amelia Hester
- Poison Palace
- Dylan Cole
- Story Sage
- Tommy Starbucks (runner-up)
- The Suicide Elevens
- Lachlan Murphy
- Catchy & Anna
- Stirling Sam
- News on Fire
|
| 2005 | Imaan Hadchiti and Tobey Duncan | |
| 2006 | Adam Knox | - Luke Middleton
- Emalee Mielsels
- 'A Lesson In Morals' (Chris Morecroft & Andrew Readman)
- Mitch Lia
- Dankee Tinyee
- David Bakker
- Jack Druce (runner-up)
- Hannah Marlarksi (runner-up)
- Stuart Harper
- Dylan Cole (runner-up)
- M to the Acbeth (Ben Stevenson, James Stevenson & Michael Byrne)
|
| 2007 | 'H2WOAH!' Jacob Machin and James Seamark | - Serenade (James Stevenson, Ben Stevenson & Michael Byrne
- Theo Harper
- Maiji Hilakari (runner-up)
- Heidi Stoll
- Down n Dirty (Caderyn Gotiji & Lloyd Ninnies)
- The Doners (Shane Halliwell, Gavin Hallam & Glenn Keane)
- Sean Bailey
- Finding Emo (Tim Hurd & Ruby Grant) (runners-up)
- Lisa Mack
- Daniel Nour
|
| 2008 | Tom John | |
| 2009 | Neel Kolhatkar | - Emmett Redding
- Leon Osborn
- Riti Rivita
- Dominique Neal
- Callum Stewart
- Alexandra Gordon
- Lock & Stu
- William Brennan
- The Red & The Black
- Zach Drury
- Jaelen Hurst
|
| 2010 | Matthew Ford | - Ned Hirst (runner-up)
- Try Harder (Keiran Browne, Hayden Browne & Luke Carroll)
- Mitch McCann
- May Kavelin
- Josh Roach
- Felicity Purdue
- Annie Louey
- Sausage Fest (Alessandro Pennini, Lucy Pellegrino & Rohan Bruce)
- Tasmin McFarlane and Polly Maudlin (runner-up)
- Scratch Me Happy (runner-up)
|
| 2011 | Tom Matthews | - Velvet Winter (runner-up)
- Stephen Power
- Elaine Watkins (runner-up)
- Ned Hirst
- Patrick Collins
- Madeline Lidbetter
- Rowan Thambar
|
| 2012 | Aaron Chen | - Laura Stewart
- Dan Tidswell
- Alistair Baldwin
- Jordan Sharp
- Gianluca Noble & Jonathan Darby
- Scarlett Groom-Ransom
- Matt Wallace (runner-up)
- Elyza Day (runner-up)
- Blake Everett
- Josh McKenzie
- Amy Spurgeon & Niki Hrstic (ACT)
|
| 2013 | James Warren | - Edwards Gates
- Holly Wulf
- Daniel Borghesi
- Freddie Young
- Lachie Clarke (runner-up)
- Luna De Lara
- Emma Hogan (runner-up)
- Rory Gillen
- Sam Perry (runner-up)
- Michelle Meng
- Esther Doherty
- James Warren
- Brandon Boccola
|
| 2014 | Gergor Tarrant | - Elijah Fragomeni
- Duke Howard
- James Lleonart
- Mabita Makwaza (runner-up)
- Rachel Durand
- Sunny & Paloma
- Dan Hirst
- Grace Bruxner (runner-up)
- Chyna Hayden
- Miles Glaspole
- Angela Prendergast
- Jack Keenan (runner-up)
|
| 2015 | Will McKenna | - Alex Lowes
- Jacob Mackenzie
- Jason Sarossy
- Ethan Cavanagh
- Marie Claire Ridgeway & Alice Noonan
- Ryan Dixon
- Jackson M. Canny
- Harley Davidson (runner-up)
- Peter James
- Douglas Lee
- Zoe Christiansen
- Caleb Linder (runner-up)
|
| 2016 | Lauren Duong | - Ashley Dunn
- Chance Dixon (runner-up)
- Danica Jenner
- Gregg Andrews
- Jack Busuttil & Patrick Kennedy
- Jackson Canny
- Lillian Gonzalez & Mehad Al-Bijawi
- Morgan Carter (runner-up)
- Morgan Furst
- Will Gibb
- Yvette Dragar-Pizzolato
|
| 2017 | Daniel Reeve | - Alana Stewart
- Anzel Van-Niekerk
- Bhavika Sharma
- Bryn Inglis (runner-up)
- Callum Fisher
- Demetri Spyropoulos
- Jaxon Mitchell and Jamie Roberts
- Kate Wilkins
- Lana Pigeon
- Mireille-Francoise Renzaho
- Sirak Keeghan
- Solomon Lancini
- Vincent Meyrick (runner-up)
|
| 2018 | Liam Adam, Carlin Carruth & Kyle Bennett as 'Awkward' | - Casey Clark
- Colleen Mukonorwi
- Daniel Caldicott
- Dusty Diddle as 'J-Dog' (runner-up)
- Fahran Anwar
- Jett Bond
- Laura Magao
- Luna Grzan
- Lynden Hughes
- Nicholas Doring (runner-up)
- Nina Cowley-Moushino & Shiloh Rea (runners-up)
- Sammy Elgarhey
- Tom Newton
|
| 2019 | Patti Fawcett | - Ben Depoma, Cyrus James-Hankin and Soren Pryor as 'whose my parents? (runners-up)
- Billie Hoban
- Ethan Gallagher
- Isaac Loom
- Jack Soden
- JD Talty
- Keaton Jones
- Luke DeBuhr
- Madi Garcia-McShane
- Nic Doring v
- Rerose Roro
- Samuel Allison
- Tyler Howie
|
| 2020 | NA due to COVID19 | NA due to COVID19 |
| 2021 | Dhruv Rao | - Angus Pickering
- Emma Armitage-Ho
- Ethan Gallagher
- Ethan Kirk
- Jai Uhlmann (runner-up)
- John Wing
- Kate Snashall
- Louis Prandolini
- Mali Hawke
- Nicholas Champion
- Sophia Marosszeky (runner-up)
- Stella Hall
|
| 2022 | Erin Almeida | - Arikki Soo (runner-up)
- Emma Armitage-Ho
- Emma Hughes
- Hardy Croucher (runner-up)
- Hugo Foxworthy
- Rex Forsyth
- Richmond Johnson
- Shayla Keane (runner-up)
- Tamsin Savery
- Williem Hoffmann
- Zeki Jeffreys
|
