Celia Pacquola has triumphed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with Gift Horse, which has scooped the trophy for most outstanding show, one of the most globally coveted awards in live comedy.
During the festival, The Age reviewer Hannah Francis described it as “masterful, layered and poetic”.
The winning show, selected by a clandestine panel of industry judges, was announced on Saturday at a ceremony at The Toff in Town hosted by Josh Thomas. Pacquola was able to edge out the largest nominee list in the festival’s history. It was her fifth nomination.
Fellow nominees included Abby Wambaugh for The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, Cassie Workman’s You Are Here, Dan Tiernan’s Quartz and All, Emmanuel Sonubi’s Life after Near Death, Frankie McNair’s Huge Ass Mindset, Kitty Flanagan’s Glad Game, Lara Ricote’s Inkling, Reuben Kaye’s Hard to Swallow and Sam Nicoresti’s Baby Doomer.
“Really, the f—ing kayak one?” an astonished Pacquola said in her acceptance speech. “I’ve written a lot of shows over the past 20 years about mental health, feminism, my mum – but it’s the one about an inflatable kayak that my boyfriend bought me and I didn’t want?”
Flanagan won’t feel too aggrieved at missing out, as she took home the People’s Choice award for most tickets sold and the biggest pay cheque of the festival.
The panel that chose most outstanding show awarded the gong for best newcomer to Nathan Chin for Chinese Comedy Party.
“I’m just following what Aaron Chen and Ronny Chieng did,” he joked of the previous award winners. “I hope my parents are proud.”
A separate panel gave the Golden Gibbo, for a local independent show that chases creative vision over box office revenue, to cult favourite Laura Davis for Swag.
The Pinder Prize, which honours festival co-founder John Pinder, will fund Lizzy Hoo to take her show Says Hoo? to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
The comedians’ choice award – the literal (and much bitten – by tradition, you have to do it on stage) Piece of Wood was awarded to Nikki Britton for Not To Be Dramatic by her peers and former winners for “doin’ good stuff ’n’ that”.
The Directors’ Choice award, chosen by festival head Susan Provan in consultation with her colleagues, went to Nath Valvo for Homebody and Kate Dolan for Trout. It was jointly awarded for the second straight year. Dolan, who had just presented the Golden Gibbo, having won it last year, was barely able to give a speech as she had battled illness throughout the festival and lost her voice.
The 2026 incarnation of the festival also meant a newly created trophy – the VicScreen Greenlight Award – given to a show with standout screen potential. It was won by former RAW Comedy winner Bron Lewis, and no doubt her show Chaos will be on our TVs soon.
A record 70 per cent of award nominees this year were women, 75 per cent of whom took home the award.
The 40th anniversary of the festival put on more than 800 shows at 200 theatres, pubs, makeshift venues, performance spaces and anywhere with a working PA system, culminating in the biggest program to date at more than 9100 performances throughout the city. The figure eclipsed the 7718 performances last year.
The Age is a Melbourne International Comedy Festival partner.
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Tyson Wray is a writer and editor who has spent over a decade working on and covering cultural events in Melbourne.
