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. The competition attracts around 1,000 entrants annually from budding comedians all over Australia and is the largest, and most prestigious, open-mic comedy competition in the country. In 2011, there were 1,100 contestants.

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.