Raw Comedy, stylised as RAW Comedy, is an Australian annual competition for emerging stand-up comedians held by Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

History and description

The Raw Comedy competition was established at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 1996. In 2011, there were 1,100 contestants. The competition is supported by national youth radio station Triple J. the competition attracts around 1,000 entrants annually from all over Australia, and is the largest open-mic comedy competition in the country. A series of heats take place in major Australian cities through January, February and March. State semi-finals and finals are held in the state capitals in March. Judges select the most impressive state-finalist/s to compete at the Raw Comedy grand finale, which held as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the Melbourne Town Hall in April and is televised later in June/July of the same year. 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