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March 28th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda If you can’t raise a laugh in Melbourne over the next month then you’ve clearly misplaced a funny bone.
With more than 400 events spread over 100 venues, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is promising side-splitting fun to an estimated half a million visitors.
The festival opened on Wednesday at the Allstars Super Show launch in the Palais Theatre, boasting a line-up of comedy and cabaret from dozens of festival favourites, including Wil Anderson, Mark Watson and Jimeoin.
International highlights over the coming weeks will include a series of shows from Wanda Sykes, who stars in the comedy TV series Curb Your Enthusiasm and famously ‘roasted’ President Obama at a White House correspondents dinner, and debut performances by British stand ups Simon Amstell and Mark Thomas.
The festival numbers around 1000 comedians and has grown into one of the biggest comedy get togethers, alongside Edinburgh Fringe and Montreal Just For Laughs, but in Melbourne the big hitters come to play in a more relaxed mode.
“The pressure is off to some extent because you’re not at home, so if a show goes well then great, and if not then no one’s going to kill you,” says English comedian Mark Watson.
“Edinburgh is so hyped and rightly or wrongly it can feel like the be all and end all so the pressure can feel quite stifling but here it’s just a lot of fun.” Made up almost 90 per cent of Australian talent, the festival offers rising comedians a stepping stone to develop new audiences and receive that all important first review.
For more seasoned funny men and women, performing on home soil can be an opportunity to launch new shows, as Frank Woodley and Judith Lucy are this year.
“There may be a relaxed vibe but there are a lot of reasonably stressed comedians around,” says Melbourne International Comedy Festival director Susan Provan.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from or how big you are this festival is a very important showcase.” Critics have accused the Melbourne festival of focusing too heavily on overseas talent and failing to adequately promote Australian performers.
But organisers claim the contrary, suggesting the likes of Wil Anderson and Dave Hughes will be among the biggest ticket sellers this year.
“They have massive and very dedicated fanbases,” says Provan.
Since its opening night in 1987, the festival has grown steadily with the global boom in demand for quality stand up.
Access to comedy on the internet and a new generation of sophisticated talent, including performers playing in Melbourne such as Daniel Kitson, Tim Key and Dave Gorman, are boosting interest.
“Everyone can watch comedy on YouTube and Facebook and podcasts and all the technology has expanded the audience’s access to the best comedy around the world and developed people’s appetites,” says Provan.
“But in the end nothing beats sitting down and watching a comedian in a theatre.”
For more visit comedyfestival.com.au
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