On Friday 20 April at the Forum Melbourne, Queensland students Liam Adam, Carlin Carruth & Kyle Bennett, as Awkward, were announced as the winner of the Class Clowns National Grand Final held at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The 2018 winners Awkward won over the judges with their sketch comedy performance.

Fifteen comedy acts discovered in schoolyards across the nation took to the Forum with their best five-minutes of material, competing in the Class Clowns National Grand Final, for their chance to be crowned the funniest teen in the country.

Having conquered heats and state finals across Australia, these teenage stand-ups, sketch, parody and musical comedy maestros performed in front of a panel of industry experts. Awkward walk away with a prize of $1,500 for themselves, a $1,000 workshop package for their school, plus the Class Clowns golden trophy.

This year’s runners up were awarded to Dusty Diddle (VIC), Nina Cowley-Mousinho & Shiloh Rea (QLD) and Nicholas Doring (NSW).

To be commended are the other Class Clown national finalists for making it through to the final stage of the competition:
Casey Clark (WA), Colleen Mukonorwi (ACT), Daniel Caldicott (SA), Haytham Anwar (WA), Jett Bond (VIC) Laura Magao (QLD), Luna Grzna (VIC), Lynden Hughes (WA), Sammy Elgarhey (VIC) and Tom Newton (VIC).

The judging panel for the 23rd Class Clowns National Grand Final were Catherine Andrews and Australian comedians Becky Lucas, Broden Kelly and Susie Youssef.

The excellent day of high calibre teenage comedy was hosted by the razor-sharp Nath Valvo, with special guest performances by comedy triple-threats The Travelling Sisters and whimsical Irish funny-man David O’Doherty.