Entertainment
2 February, 2025
Laughter is best medicine
A SEARCH for the funniest person in Cairns has begun with the arrival of the Raw Comedy competition heats coming to Cairns for the third year in a row in what could be the launch of Australia’s future of comedy.

The RAW Comedy competition is coming to Cairns on March 1 for a hilarious afternoon of comedy in all of its shapes and forms at Macalister Brewing from 8pm to find Cairns’ most talented and witty amateur comedian.
About 15-20 comedians are expected to compete in Cairns.
The winner of the heats will go on to compete in the state semi-finals in March and eventually make it to the national finals in Melbourne. Registrations for the competition close on February 1.
“We’ve been doing this for over 25 years and it’s an open mic competition where anyone who wants to have a go can register and jump up. We do heats all over Australia but we’ve increasingly been adding regional centres like Cairns,” said RAW Comedy director Susan Provan.
“A few winners go through to the state finals and then to the royal comedy national final in Melbourne during the Melbourne Comedy Festival in New South Wales and Queensland.
“We’ve got around 1000 people that have registered this year across Australia.
“One of the rules is that you can’t have earned more than, I believe, $500 from a comedy career, so you have to be a real newcomer, and it’s got to be original material.”
Ms Provan said this was a life-changing opportunity.
“We encourage people who think they might be funny and have a good story to tell, whose mates have enjoyed hearing them crack jokes, to have a go because it’s a very supportive environment,” she said.
“A lot of open mic nights can be very scary with crowds who heckle, whereas the RAW Comedy heats, it’s all about encouraging people and giving them an environment they can be comfortable in.
“We have professional hosts in each heat and in Cairns it’s Jay Wymarra who came up through our Deadly Funny competition for First Nations performers and he’ll be giving tips to the performers.
“This is a great opportunity for regional comedians because there aren’t open mic opportunities as in big cities, so it’s a great journey, and it’s amazing how many people who are now professional comedians started out doing RAW Comedy, people like Reese Nicholson, Hannah Gadsby, Tom Ballard and Ronny Chieng.
“Registrations close on February 1, so if you’re drawn to comedy and think that you’ve got it, give it a go, and by giving it a go in an environment like RAW, which is very kind of supportive, you’ll find out, and it could be the start of something amazing.”
To register, visit https://bit.ly/3E4Ul8u