What a wonderful day for me. I was there, today, amongst the who’s who of the Melbourne comedy industry when Justin Hamilton changed what comedy can be. Not just Melbourne comedy, this boy changed comedy.
The official MICF awards for this year are done.
Daniel Kitson won the ultimate honours, walking away with The Barry which is the highest award given at this festival.
The award decided by comedians was presented by the man who first instituted the award, Greg Fleet. The Piece Of Wood award (perhaps the most coveted award amongst comedians) was won by “Andy Zaltzman”:comic.
The Newcomer award was won by the 2005 winner of the RAW comedy competition, Josh Thomas.
The Age Critics’ Award went to Lawrence Leung.
The Golden Gibbo, which is named in honour of the late comedian “Lynda Gibson” and which celebrates comedy which dares to be different, found the nominee: “Alzheimers the Musical: A Night to Remember”. The ultimate spoils however went to “The Glass Boat”.
“The Festival Directors’ Award”, which give the recipient an opportunity to take their show to Edinburgh, went, quite rightly, to Justin Hamilton with his superb trilogy.