The Melbourne International Comedy festival arrives each year with tents, ferris wheels, stars and stars-to-be, and a swag of awards to be foisted upon unsuspecting recipients. Never ones to pass up an opportunity for a good foisting, The Groggy Squirrel is proud to announce the return of The Squirrel Grip Awards, now with added pizzazz – not one but two tasty nutty cheek-pouchin’ goodies.
The first is The Groggy Squirrel Critics’ Award which, in the interests of promoting local comedy, is open to Australian acts only. After much discussion the squirrels would like to make special mention of these wonderful shows: Damian Callinan has Spaznuts; Judith Lucy – I Failed; Michael Chamberlin and The Ten Commandments and Sammy J’s 55 Minute National Tour. And, it’s our pleasure to announce our fellow-furred winner, Sam Simmons’ Tales from the Erotic Cat.
We also have also added a new award this year, the Subscribers’ Choice Award which has been voted upon by loyal subscribers to The Groggy Squirrel and is open to all of the acts who appeared at this year’s festival. We logged over three hundred votes in our Subscribers’ Choice Award and coming very close to the mark were Kent Valentine’s Be My (Kent)Valentine; Daniel Kitson ; Lawrence Leung: The Marvellous Misadventures of Puzzle Boy and Tim Minchin. The ultimate spoils however went in a two-way tie to Andrew McClelland’s Mix Tape and Sammy J’s 55 Minute National Tour.
Our congratulations and thanks to all the winners and special-mentionees.
Before I sign off I want to thank the squirrels who worked through this festival, for their amazing work. None of these guys get paid for what they do and they spend so many hours dedicating themselves to covering comedy with integrity, and they do it year round. These people deserve commendations. I would like to thank Ron Bingham, Lisa Clark, Colin Flaherty, Julia Hay, Claire Sinton and Daniel Sheppard. Without you guys and the many people who have contributed to the squirrel, it wouldn’t be what it is today. Thankyou.