Festival of Critical Comedy offers up a variety of non-censored senses of humour

 

This is the third year that the festival has been run by Awkward Giraffe, a not-for-profit organisation established in 2019 to support comedy that sticks its neck out.

The eclectic smorgasbord of multidisciplinary acts this year include: experimental and anti-historical reenactment theatre, meta comedy theatre (comedy about comedy), comedy game show improvisation, clowning, musical comedy, absurd and surreal spoken word, subversive stand-up, moving image, live art, anti-comedy and political satire.

Awkward Giraffe has curated a non-censored line-up of comedians who revel in living on the fringe of Melbourne's mainstream comedy crucible. Many of them are revered and reviled in equal measure for kicking against the pricks and being damned funny while doing it.

“What makes us laugh is as universal and diverse as what makes us human.” 
- Creativity’s Midwife

List of performers
An amazing line-up including: Ridiculusmus, Doppelgangster, Greg Fleet, Sofie Prints, Yobbo The Clown, Liz Skitch, Ross Purdy, Tristan Haze, Justin Mclean, Louis Nicoll, Des Netanyahoo Tuddenham, Marc Oszhka, Shiralee Hood, Brendan Atherton.
MC’s are Sofie Prints, the dark queen of Melbourne stand-up, and Tony Magnuson, the inexhaustible source of life hacks.

Audiences can expect to feel they have joined a weekend-long resistance movement. The community of comedy comrades comprises like-minded and respectfully different-minded people who refuse to be told by the respectability police what is or isn’t deemed as funny.

In a society fragmented by tribalism and distrust of anyone who challenges our beliefs and identity by daring to be an “other”, the weekend will provide a refreshing, stimulating and fun gathering of people who enjoy laughing and making other people laugh.

Can comedy be critical? 

Can laughter make the world a better place? Or is it, in the words of Awkward Giraffe’s Jeremy Dixon, "the opiate of the defeated"?

Can critical comedy be the scalpel that slices through the viscera of our hypocritical humanity to expose the universal truths of our existence?

Find out for yourself by joining in this celebration of our humanity, delightfully subversive and yet respectful of differences in beliefs, genres, performance styles and senses of humour.

Free entry.
Awkward Giraffe is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes comedy that sticks its neck out.
Donations on the day or online are welcome to help cover the cost of running the event.

Headline acts and highlights

Notorious UK/Australia Doppelgangster present A Sound Like Thunder, a hilarious and experimental theatre show about meteors, UFOs, and tales of buried gold in an extremely fictional town called Shepparton.
(doppelgangster.com/)

Sat 29/11, 3.30pm (90mins)

Multi-award-winning theatre company Ridiculusmus (UK/Australia) (David Woods and Jon Haynes) return to Melbourne with their new work, A Tragic Blip, which will involve re-performing classic psychology experiments on a clown.

(ridiculusmus.com/)

Sat 29/11 and Sun 30/11, 5pm

Comedian, actor, radio show host and author Greg Fleet returns to the festival to present his show, Greg Fleet is Really Sorry This Time. Australia’s bad boy of comedy takes an introspective look at himself and the comedy scene in which he has worked for 30+ years.

(gregfleet.com/)

Sat 29/11, 3pm 

Sun 30/11, 7pm

The festival features the world premiere of In the Comedy Hot Seat game show.

Like the love child of Trivial Pursuit and Mastermind, In the Comedy Hot Seat will have you teetering on the edge of your seat with bewildered laughter. Featuring local performers, Pauline Sherlock, Duff Gregfield and Louis Nicoll, and hosted by quizmaster Jack Brady, this is one introspective game show where the audience is the only winner.
Presented by Creativity’s Midwife.
Sat 29/11, 7pm

Festival of Critical Comedy
Saturday 29 November 2025, 2pm - 10pm
Sunday 30 November 2025, 1pm - 8pm

Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church
110 Grey Street, East Melbourne

Next to Fitzroy Gardens and close to public transport. Wheelchair accessible, hearing loop equipped.
Some food and drinks will be available at venue.
OK to BYO.

Bookings and program details:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/festival-of-critical-comedy-2025-tickets-1741080862729?