Young stand-up wins comedy comp

HAVING had regional and metro audiences laughing, fifteen-year-old Erin Almeida has won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Class Clowns.

Last week’s national final of the youth comedy competition saw the Loreto College year 10 student perform five minutes of original stand-up in The Famous Spiegeltent.

Almeida’s relatable material explored school, “annoying” childhood experiences, skin colour, and even facemasks, and the judges celebrated her strong writing skills and confident performance.

“Winning was shocking. I still don’t believe it, and I still haven’t got into my head how big it is,” she said.

“It feels really special and validating to know that people actually think I’m funny and can relate to my material.

“In the final round there were competitors from each state, plus some wildcard entries. They were all very good, and tough competition. There wasn’t much rivalry, everyone became good friends.”

Almeida reached the national final having competed in a regional heat at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, and a state final at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

Those performing at the Spiegeltent were able to workshop their material and seek advice from comedian Dane Simpson before stepping on stage.

“I changed a few bits depending on what the crowd liked or didn’t like, and what felt right to say, but my performance was mostly the same,” she said.

“Being in the Spiegeltent was a bit different to the other performances because you could see the whole crowd, whereas at the other ones you could only see the front row because it was dark.”

Almeida has had lots of performing arts support from Ballarat Centre for Music and the Arts and Loreto, and said she will probably continue stand-up in the future.

The national Class Clowns final was judged by MICF director Susan Provan AO, Brian Nankervis, Jennifer Wong and Nathan Lloyd. Wong has invited Almeida to perform in Adelaide.