Melbourne Student Comedy Revues

In 2012, the Foundation entered into agreements with Monash University and the University of Melbourne to support innovation, experimentation, and high production standards in the student comedy revues. These revues have been the breeding ground for a large proportion of Melbourne’s comedy talent over the past thirty years, providing early exposure for many members of Fast Forward, The D Generation, Frontline, Australia You’re Standing In It and others. This support aims to encourage talented performers to actively participate in Student Revues in a variety of roles, to identify outstanding performances and performers and provide opportunities for the talent to be showcased and developed. It also enabled the Universities to act as an incubator for talented performing artists and encourage active participation in performing arts.

This support enabled a wider range of performance and production options, and the Foundation also provided an experienced professional performer to mentor, coach and guide the students in all aspects of development and production. In particular, the students derived great value from script writing and performance workshops that were held annually for five years. Presenters at these workshops included many leading professional comedy writers, performers, and producers, and proved to be an invaluable way for the students to rapidly develop new skills and fresh perspectives on the arts of comedy. The project contributed to a highly successful string of Revues from each campus, with audience numbers, awareness and the overall quality of sketches and performance increasing steadily over the six-year period of the Foundation’s support. Several participants in these shows have now commenced professional careers in radio and TV comedy.