Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Funny Tonne program – offering fledging reviewers the chance to dive headlong into the program and review the works they see – has been running since 2005. ArtsHub has been partnering with MICF since 2024, signal-boosting the best Funny Tonne reviews by republishing them on our website.
Here, you can read the latest reviews by Funny Tonners Alex Carpi and Joanne Zhou of shows running until the end of the festival this Sunday 19 April. Our first article in this series, featuring reviews by Connor Fantasia-Serve and Maddison Verducci, was published earlier this week.
ArtsHub: Funny Tonne MICF reviews – Dan Rath, Grace Jarvis, Kate Dehnert, Kate Dolan, Lara Ricote and more
ArtsHub’s Performing Arts Editor Richard Watts will be presenting the 2026 Funny Tonne Award to one of this year’s four writers this Saturday 18 April, alongside the awards for Most Outstanding Show, the Golden Gibbo, Best Newcomer and more.
Funny Tonne MICF reviews – quick links
Alex Ward: Literally Anyone
★★★★½
I saw Alex Ward at the Comedy Festival a few years ago, and she’s since joined a rather broad category of ‘gay comedians I’ve seen on the ABC’. I came into Literally Anyone with few expectations, and was treated to a masterclass in structuring a stand up show.
Most of the narrative is about jizz (Ward’s word, which she chose carefully). More specifically, Ward lets us know that she wrote this show so people would stop asking how two women can have a baby. She gives us answers in the most entertaining possible way, with tangents woven seamlessly into the tale as we learn about dyslexia, prosopagnosia and more. As the show unfolds, Ward incorporates callback after callback, right down to the choice of post-show song. Almost every tangent eventually becomes unexpectedly relevant, with the constantly resurfacing threads evoking the feel of sharing an inside joke – one that’s somehow funnier each time.
It all makes for a wildly fun show that left me laughing at every turn, and proved you don’t have to be good at spelling to be good at comedy.
Reviewed by Joanne Zhou.
The Burton Brothers: Tinseltown
★★★★½
Absolute firecrackers from the get go, the Burton Brothers – real life siblings – move seamlessly between characters, across vignettes and through accents in Tinseltown. Two seconds in, I knew this would be a stellar show. Their world-building immediately whisks us away … making us laugh out loud and only occasionally wondering how did they conceive this?!
Their shows are consistently tight but not stifling. You can tell they’ve put the work into developing a well-constructed hour while leaving room for improvisation and play, which the boys deliver in spades. Incorporating more audience participation than ever before is a risk for the Burton Brothers, but one that pays off spectacularly.
Between pitch perfect harmonies, every accent conceivable and some deliciously meta directorial cut-throughs, these masters of expression, gait and voice leave nothing to be desired. Bravo!
Reviewed by Alex Carpi.
Chloe Petts: Big Naturals
★★★★★
Chloe Petts is here and reporting from on English lad culture. Across an hour, Petts delves into the toxic masculinity and emotional repression of the culture that shaped their upbringing. They do so from the viewpoint of a butch lesbian: someone who grew up with those same mindsets and cultural influences but separated from them by gender and sexuality.
It’s a big topic and it’s also very funny. A fast-rising comedian, Petts’ lackadaisical, almost irreverent attitude on stage gives them a distinct voice. From delivering boob-filled tabloids as a child to watching the Lionesses win the Women’s Euros at Wembley in 2022, Petts has a way of structuring an anecdote that keeps the audience in the palm of their hand. It helps that they play off the audience’s energy like a pro. Let’s just say that this was the first time I ever felt happy hearing about an English football victory.
Chloe Petts is a breath of fresh air, laddishness and all. My first time seeing them was a real treat, and I’ll be here for what they do next.
Reviewed by Joanne Zhou.
Gillian Cosgriff: Life, Oh Life
★★★★½
Like a warm hug, Gillian Cosgriff’s shows encapsulate what it truly means to be human. We’re immediately in the moment as Cosgriff bursts onto stage in song [and] instantly endeared by her – a pocket rocket of self-assuredness at a time when most of us are anything but.
Cosgriff’s cadence is divine, her voice dancing and weaving through relatable anecdotes; while she talks we are enthralled by her observations. Performing original songs delightfully reminiscent of Imogen Heap, Cosgriff sings less often in this show than in its predecessors, but she chooses her moments carefully and the jokes land well.
Cosgriff looks inquisitively at life, discussing the passage of time, of life, and using the audience – as we’ve come to expect – as a collaborative hive mind to help drive the show.
It is such a special thing to feel connected to one hundred people you haven’t met and will never know, in a room together, for one hour of our lives. Gillian Cosgriff makes it possible.
Reviewed by Alex Carpi.
Jenny Tian: When Life Gives You Oranges
★★★½
Seeing Jenny Tian perform feels like hanging out with a cool older cousin (and not just because we’re both Chinese Australians). Her anecdotal comedy invites audiences in, giving the illusion of being off-the-cuff and carefree even when every comedic beat is carefully structured.
In the tightly structured When Life Gives You Oranges, Tian catches us up on life in New York City before diving into an account of her last relationship. Along the way we explore her thoughts on ‘the cutest ethnicity’ and learn about the sound her hips make during sex, all delivered with her precise comedic timing.
Tian commands the stage and captures the audience’s attention as the story unfolds with a certain ‘he did what?!’ energy. Writing a comedy show that wins over a crowded room in the Melbourne Town Hall – that’s one way to defeat an evil ex.
Reviewed by Joanne Zhou.
Hannah Camilleri: Dinner Hannah Show
★★★★½
Delightfully realised sketch comedy with a dose of clowning, Dinner Hannah Show takes us behind the scenes of a theatre with an actor, an actress, a backstage tech and a mysterious dancer who appears once, as an interlude – all played by Hannah Camilleri with a little help from the audience.
At various points, Camilleri drafts audience members into roles within a scene, taking a risk inherent to audience participatory shows. Will people be up for it? Will the show buckle? Here, it pays off. Camilleri improvises off any and all responses with absolute verve, as if it was scripted the whole time.
The set consists of simple black drapes and a plinth; scenes are brought to life through Camilleri’s splendid performances and she fully inhabits each character. When she breaks the fourth wall, Camilleri does so hilariously – culminating in a melodramatic and pitch-perfect moment at the climax. It’s theatre-about-theatre wrapped up in a hilarious, entertaining hour.
Reviewed by Joanne Zhou.
ArtsHub: Spare a thought for improv comedians at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Lou Wall: Where Are All The Tall Grandmas?
★★★★½
I’d missed Lou Wall at the previous two [Melbourne International] Comedy Festivals, so it’s only fitting their latest offering be my first show for 2026 – an hour of song, science and sentiment that didn’t disappoint. Wall’s new show brings their height from the periphery to the forefront and does not shy away from what we’re all taught to be afraid of as women: taking up space. As a fellow 29-year-old navigating ageing, public perception and above all, knowing thyself, Wall’s Where Are All The Tall Grandmas? is an ode to their lineage and women everywhere.
I didn’t think I would find myself crying over a penguin at the climax of this hour, but there I was. Wall finds the things that we don’t want to look at directly and says them out loud. We find out why there aren’t tall grandmas, but also why Wall was looking for them in the first place. I won’t spoil it for you, but if I could write the list of reasons why you should see Wall’s show, it would be longer than they are.
Reviewed by Alex Carpi.
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Mel McGlensey: Mel McGlensey is Normal
★★★★★
In a show that takes interactive comedy to new heights, and features perhaps the most involved tech of any comedy festival show I’ve yet seen, Mel McGlensey is Normal is anything but.
It takes an exceptionally confident human being to stand on a stage and tell jokes in front of an audience, but a different breed of comedian entirely to perform a dynamic sequence of routines in a random order on any given night, dependent on and driven by the audience’s participation. McGlensey nails it.
She knows her part well, and is so comfortable in it that we are empowered to play our part too, while its interactive component means that Mel McGlensey is Normal is never the same show twice. The audience was on the smaller side on the night I attended but still, we all felt like co-conspirators as we played by McGlensey’s rules and accelerated the show any which way.
Charmingly self-aware and with a lot of guts, McGlensey’s physical comedy is so engaging you can’t look away; she takes breaking the fourth wall to the next level. Mel McGlensey is Normal is genuinely impressive in all facets, and even teases some easter eggs which make me want to see it twice.
Reviewed by Alex Carpi.
Milo Edwards: Decade
★★★★★
To mark 10 years of being a comedian, Milo Edwards has compiled a ‘greatest hits’ show – and let me tell you, the hits are great.
To my mind, Edwards is particularly fantastic at two things: impressions and whip-smart jokes drawing on history and current affairs. From opening with the words ‘Jeffrey Epstein’ and comparing 9/11 with Chris Brown’s Yo (Excuse Me Miss), to litigating the economic circumstances required to be a MILF, Edwards proves that absolutely anything can be funny if your observations are astute enough.
Every minute of Decade was chosen for its quality, and the show ricochets from punchline to punchline. Even the material I was familiar with had me howling with laughter, sometimes in anticipation of the bit to come – I’ve never been happier to hear about the Battle of Dunkirk. It helps that Edwards’ delivery is pitch-perfect throughout, especially when dipping into his armoury of impressions.
This was, simply put, a delightful experience. I reckon Milo Edwards has earned the victory lap.
Reviewed by Joanne Zhou.
Olga Koch – Fat Tom Cruise
★★★★
Going in blind to a show is fun – in theory – but terrifying in practice, especially when the storyteller is Olga Koch, who delivers her exceptionally intelligent musings at a mile a minute. If it weren’t for her stated, ‘no man left behind reference policy’, I would have been in way over my head.
From politics to sexual innuendos, at no stage did I know where this hour would go next, but as we jumped into Koch’s time machine an identifiable structure began to form around her whip-smart storytelling. She was the always-in-control captain, we the doe-eyed passengers awaiting our next giggle.
Koch expertly navigated a mirage of her own personal stories, [which she] threaded between retellings of historical politics from the 1970s – leaving us wondering what all this had to do with anything, and to what destination she was taking us. But of course, dear audience, of course there is a bigger picture at play.
Ultimately, this show is about knowing how to tell a story, how to spin it in your favour, and what sound effects and lighting to use to ensure it’s received as comedy and not horror. But it’s also, at its core, about us. About women and men and what we are scared of.
Fat Tom Cruise is as endearing as it is confronting. Above all, it’s one not to miss.
Reviewed by Alex Carpi.
