Download the 2009 Class Clowns calendar here (1.8MB)
Class Clowns is a national secondary school comedy competition and workshop programme, run by the Melbourne Comedy Festival since 1996. Class Clowns holds workshops and performances in every capital city and important regional areas, and brings the funniest school aged acts to Melbourne for a spectacular, sold-out Grand Final every year.

Class Clowns 2009 is open for registrations now! Click here for the national schedule and to sign up. In the meantime, wander around the site to get advice and ideas for your act, and get across the new format for this year.

PLUS! Watch out in 2009 for a special event spectacular: the Class Clowns Teenage Gala! The Class Clowns Teenage Gala is a brilliantly funny showcase of the best comedians in Australia younger than 20, the cream of the Class Clowns crop!

April 24 is the day for this precocious partner of the Festival's grown-up Gala, an L-plated clusterthunk of embarrassingly talented Clownists from around the country. Tickets for the Class Clowns Teenage Gala are onsale right here.

Don't be afraid to email us with any questions, and make sure to pester your teacher to get on board. We mean, really pester.

See you at a gig!

The Melbourne Comedy Festival will hold Class Clowns competition heats (ie. performances) in capital and regional cities all over Australia in Term 2, often as we follow the touring Festival Roadshow around the country. From all of these gigs, the best acts from each state are flown to Melbourne to appear at the National Grand Final on the main stage of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Entry is open to anyone in Years 9 to 12 or between 14 and 17 years old. No need to have completed a previous workshop or been involved with Class Clowns before.

ARE YOU A COMEDIAN? IT’S A SERIOUS QUESTION!
Since beginning in 1996, Class Clowns has been the starting point for dozens of professional Australian comedians:


  • Kynan Barker (1996) has been writing for Rove McManus since 1999.
  • Tom Ballard (2004-06) has his own show on radio Triple J on Saturday mornings.
  • Josh Thomas (2002-04) just got back from the Montreal Comedy Festival after winning the 2007 Melbourne Best Newcomer Award.
  • Elbow Skin (1997) toured the Comedy Festival Roadshow in 2005.
  • Danny McGinlay divides his time between a stand-up comedy career in the UK and Australia.




Are you next? Let’s find out. Registrations for the 2009 competition are now open
Click here to sign up.

Class Clowns charges a nominal registration fee… and that’s it.
The Comedy Festival and your local co-presenter pays for the workshop, the heats, assists with travel costs for regional heat winners to attend their State Final, and pays for State Finalists to travel to Melbourne for the Grand Final.