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 will open for business in February 2009. In the meantime, wander around the site to get advice and ideas for your act, and get across the new format for this year.
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!
At a Class Clowns gig, students who have prepared up to 5 minutes of stand up comedy, a group sketch, musical parody, or something else inbetween, participate in a workshop with a professional, practising comedian, before presenting their act at a real, live, public performance.
The performance is judged, and the winners of these local heats go forward into state finals, and the winners of each state are flown to Melbourne to perform at the National Grand Final in Melbourne.
The Grand Final winner receives $1000 cash for their school and a $1000 budget to buy themselves something nice, too!
Registration and Preparation
- Participants sign up for a local heat!
- Participants prepare their acts. This happens before Class Clowns hits town. You can do almost anything: stand-up, sketch, physical theatre, musical comedy, clowning, whatever feels good. Please keep in mind that Class Clowns is not a circus competition – pure acrobatics or stunts probably won’t get too far.
- Confirmation of your registration and specific instructions about the heat will be sent to you by your local copresenter.
Local workshops and heats
- You attend the workshop in which you’ve registered.
- At the workshop a professional, practising comedian will run through each act, offering tips and advice.
- After a break of varying duration (at some venues it’s lunch, in others it’s the weekend) your act is showcased at a public performance.
- The Local Heat is a publicly ticketed event, often in the evening at a performing arts centre, compared by the workshop host. An Expert Panel of Judges selects a Heat winner.
State Finals and National Finals
- Heat winners then go through to the State Final in their capital city, and the winner of each State Final goes through to the National Final in Melbourne.