Sydney Comic Maverick Sam Campbell Wins The 2018 MICF Barry Award

Sydney-based comic Sam Campbell has been named the winner of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's coveted Barry Award, the prize given to the festival's most accomplished show.

Campbell is no stranger to award success at MICF, having won the 2015 Best Newcomer Award and the 2016 Directors' Choice Award.

Campbell's surrealist sketch show, The Trough, featured a mercurial mix of absurdist skits and prop comedy described by Arts Editor Maxim Boon as "a blitzkrieg of bonkers."

Campbell also starred in Barry nominated show Enter The Spinnaker Lounge, alongside Get Krak!n style guru Helen Bidou, played by Anne Edmonds. The show was one of most positively reviewed of this year's fest, including a five-star write-up by The Music.

Also announced at a special awards ceremony held at the Belleville restaurant in the heart of the Melbourne CBD, was the winner of the Best Newcomer Award, which this year went to Danielle Walker for her show Bushrat. 

Legendary double-act Lano and Woodley, who reformed this year after a 12-year hiatus, won the People's Choice Award, the gong given to the show which sold the largest number of tickets.

The Golden Gibbo Award, given in memory of the late comedian Lynda Gibson to the most boundary-busting independent show of the year, was awarded to Cam Venn's Charles Horse Lays An Egg. Venn's victory was announced by Lynda Gibson's daughter Emma Maye, aka "sex clown" Betty Grumble, whose risque cabaret Love & Anger, part of Malthouse Theatre's 2018 MICF program, received a five-star review from The Music.

The Pinder Prize, which offers the financial backing for an Australian artist to stage a production at the world-famous Edinburgh Festival, was awarded to former Directors' Choice Award and Raw Comedy winner Demi Lardner. 

The 2018 Directors' Choice Award, selected by Festival Director Susan Provan and her curatorial team, was received by the Double Denim Adventure Show.