Summer Music Festivals Melbourne

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2016

This year, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is turning 30, and pulling out all the stops to celebrate. In three decades, it has grown from a program of 56 shows across 33 venues to last year's record of 550 shows in 145 venues, becoming one of the world's largest and most respected comedy festivals. If you've decided that this is the year that you finally make the most of the Comedy Festival, don't let the sea of names in the big, fat program overwhelm you. Here's what to see if you like: Aburdist comedySo you like weird comedy. No shame there. In fact, it’s a well-known truth that sometimes the sharpest insights into human behaviour come in the form of non-sequiturs and ridiculous juxtapositions. You’ll be in great hands with the likes of Sam Simmons (Forum Theatre, Mar 24-Apr 3), Paul Foot (Melbourne Town Hall, Apr 12-17), Frank Woodley (Melbourne Town Hall, Mar 24-Apr 17) and Demi Lardner (Victoria Hotel and Melbourne Town Hall, Mar 24-Apr 17). Observational comedySO. TRUE. You’re living your best MICF life when you’re slapping your thigh at a joke that could have been taken straight out of your daily life. At best, on-point observational comedy is revelatory and deeply satisfying. We’ve got our money on Charlie Pickering (The Comedy Theatre, Mar 31-Apr 14), Arj Barker (Palais Theatre, Mar 24-Apr 16), Mel Buttle (Melbourne Town Hall, Mar 24-Apr 17) and Rhys Nicholson (Melbourne Town Hall and Roxanne, Mar 24-Apr 17). Confessional comedyPerhaps the most ubiqu