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Since March this year the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been hunting down the funniest teenagers across our wide brown land for its annual Class Clowns Competition.
We've been tracking a rare breed of teen - witty, smart, in Years 9 to 12, willing to perform five minutes of original comic material in front of a crowd and most importantly, they had to exhibit freakish levels of hilariousness!
Taken under the wing of some of the Festival's finest comedians at group workshops, scores of Class Clownists were given the chance to polish up their stand-up routines, sketches, musical acts and other shenanigans prior to performing in heats around the country.
After a series of heats, finals, semi finals and state finals, the cream of the teenage crop has been selected - and are ready to be unleashed - at the Class Clowns National Grand Final.
Twelve of the nation's sharpest school-aged comic acts will battle it out for their chance to not only be crowned the most hilarious teen act in Australia, but to also pocket $1000 in cash plus and another $1000 for their school.
Class Clowns is the flagship event of the Comedy Festival's education program. Since its inception in 1996, the competition has been developing the art of comedy amongst the nation's teenage comics from Darwin to Hobart, Perth to Launceston and in over 20 centres in between. The program is supported by teachers' notes and online resources, as well as year-round developmental and professional workshops.
Class Clowns alumni include Tom Ballard (Triple J), Josh Thomas (Talkin' Bout My Generation), Danny McGinlay, and Kynan Barker (writer for Rove).
