Stand and Deliver!

I'll be honest. As a long-time judge of Raw Comedy, I was a bit taken aback when I first saw the posters for 'Best of Oz Comedy', proclaiming the undertaking as 'Australia's first professional comedy competition'. Raw isn't exactly a raggedy ass thrown-together-at-the-last-moment enterprise. It's run very professionally, thank you very much. And then I realised that the proclamation meant exactly what it said, that the competition is for 'professional comics' as opposed to the amateurs to whom Raw is open. The other difference is the audience gets to vote as well.

Any other misgivings I may have had disappeared when I was asked to join the panel of judges for the Sydney heat and the national final - both taking place at the Comedy Store.

The Last Laugh at the Comedy Club hosted the Melbourne heat of the 'Best of Oz Comedy' competition on Thurs 15th, with the winners announced as Adam Vincent, CJ Fortuna, Lawrence Mooney and Troy Kinne.

As I mentioned, I'll be judging the Sydney heat and the final, both taking place at the Comedy Store. If Sydneysiders are interested, the Sydney heat takes place Saturday 17th at 6:30 pm with Justin Hamilton MCing, and features a line-up of comedians that can only be described as 'interesting'. Seriously - check out who's on:

• Amelia Jane Hunter;
• Nick Sun;
• John Samaha;
• Steve Philp;
• Chris Radburn;
• George Smilovici;
• Nick Johns;
• Tommy Dean;
• Dave Jory;
• Gary Bradbury;
• Bev Killick;
• Brett Nichols;
• Dave Bloustien;
• Clint Paddison;
• Daniel Townes and
• Tom Gleeson.

And the good people at Star 100 (running the competition here in Australia) and the Comedy Store have been good enough to make this deal: if you phone the box office - (02) 9357 1419 - to book tickets and mention my name, you can have two tickets for the price of one.

Which is good, because you can use the money you'll save going with a friend, to put towards tickets to the late show that's on after the competition: Tom Gleeson with Subby Valentine and MC Justin Hamilton.

The final of the 'Best of Oz Comedy' competition takes place Sat 24th, also at 6:30 pm. I can't offer any specials, I'm afraid.