The Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Award is a grant issued to Australian comedians wishing to premiere new works as part of the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

. It is named after Brian McCarthy, a young comedian and comedy producer killed in a car accident in 1987. Each year benefit performances are held in Melbourne (as part of the Comedy Festival{{cite web, url=http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2010/season/shows/the-24th-brian-mccarthy-memorial-moosehead-awards-benefit, title=The 24th Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards Benefit, accessdate=2010-02-11, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302203628/http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2010/season/shows/the-24th-brian-mccarthy-memorial-moosehead-awards-benefit/, archivedate=2010-03-02) and Sydney, and the money raised is used to produce new shows by successful applicants, who are thus free to try out a new and exciting idea without worrying whether it will be "commercially viable". The Award is substantial, but rather than providing funds directly, the Moosehead association produces the show, organising everything from Festival registration to venue and equipment hire and marketing. It also provides access to professional photographers, publicists, directors and other resources typically too expensive for comedians. The award is known as the "Moosehead" award as

Moosehead beer Moosehead Breweries Limited is Canada's oldest independent brewery, located in Saint John, New Brunswick. The brewery was founded in 1867 and is still privately owned and operated by the Oland family. The company is now in the sixth generation ...

was Brian McCarthy's favorite. His favorite song,

I Heard It Through the Grapevine "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a ...

, is traditionally performed by the closing act of every Moosehead Award benefit show. In recent years the Award has also received sponsorship from

The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Serv ...

List of Award recipients

* 1994 - Stef Torok & Brad Oakes - ''Telephoney Meen'' * 1995 - Andrew Goodone - ''He, Comedian'' * 1996 - Tim Harris - ''An Illustrated Lecture by Dr Alexander Buchanan''; The Rhonda Movement - ''Dumhead'';

Denise Scott Denise Margaret Scott (born 24 April 1955) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. Career Scott has appeared frequently on Australian television since her regular slot on ABC TV's ''The Big Gig'' in 1990, an ...

- ''Life of the Party'' * 1997 - Jim Lawson & Trevor Major - ''Bega Than Cheesus''; Miss Itchy - ''I Can't Stop Burrowing'';

Alan Brough Alan Brough (; born 1967) is a New Zealand actor, television and radio host and comedian based in Australia. Career Early life Brough worked as an actor in Wellington and Auckland, mainly in live theatre. He also appeared in a series of butter c ...

- ''Generation XXL'' * 1998 - Crazy E - ''The Madness Tour'';

Adam Richard Adam Richard (born Adam Richard Dellamarta, 1 January 1971 in Carlton, Victoria) is an Australian comedian, actor, radio presenter, writer and media personality, best known co-writing and starring in '' Outland,'' an ABC1 comedy series about a ...

- ''Tragedy''; Meshel Laurie - ''The Virgin Mary 2 - This Time It's Personal'' * 1999 - Tim Harris - ''The Neville Chamberlin show'';

Corinne Grant Corinne Grant (born 12 June 1973) is an Australian lawyer, comedian and television presenter. Career After briefly studying as a nurse in Wodonga, Grant started her career as an actor in Melbourne, obtaining a degree in drama. After graduating, ...

- ''Waiting for Munro''; The 4 Noels - ''The Magnificent Seventeen'' * 2000 -

Damian Callinan Damian Callinan is an actor/comedian from Melbourne, Australia. Entertainment career Callinan has performed in many mediums, including TV, film, radio and live stand-up. He came to national prominence in 2003 as an actor in the Australian ske ...

Lawrence Mooney Lawrence Mooney (born 22 April 1965) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, and former television and radio presenter. Radio career Mooney has held various jobs including a cleaner, salesman, furniture polisher and collecting golf balls at a ...

- ''Out and About''; Gerard McCulloch - ''An Englishman An Irishman and a Sootsman Walk Into a Documentary''; Emotional People - ''Rockothello'' * 2001 - Kim Hope - ''Sing Your Arse Off''; Stephen Hall & Michael Ward - ''I Said, I Said'' * 2002 - Claire Bartholomew - ''One Man's Business''; Scott Brennan - ''Glen Bush Teenage Superstar''; Barfoot & Cantone * 2003 - Sam Simmons - ''The Steve Promise Story'';

John Knowles John Knowles (; September 16, 1926November 29, 2001) was an American novelist best known for ''A Separate Peace'' (1959). Biography Knowles was born on September 17, 1926, in Fairmont, West Virginia, the son of James M. Knowles, a purchasing ag ...

- ''Saddle Sore''; Fiona Harris and Katrina Mathers - ''Footy Chicks'' * 2004 - Damian Clark - ''The Bandit''; Krisztian Bagin - ''The Beginning and End of Fin Begin''; Monica Dullard's ''Concert After Tea'' * 2005 - Gavin Baskerville - ''As Seen on TV'';

Rebecca De Unamuno Rebecca De Unamuno is an Australian actress and comedian. She has written and performed for a number of television comedy series, short films and stand up comedy shows. In 2013 she starred in '' Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody''. Career In 2 ...

- ''Open to Suggestion''; Tanya Losanno - ''Trophy Wife'' * 2006 - Richard McKenzie - ''Digger''; Penny Tangey - ''Kathy Smith Goes to Maths Camp'';

- ''Spazznuts'' * 2007 - Justin Hamilton in ''Three Colours Hammo''; Alison Bice in ''The Wizard of Bice''; ''Amelia Jane Hunter is Keith Flipp (The Girl from Belkendowns Flat)'' * 2008 - ''

Sammy J Samuel Jonathan McMillan (born 2 July 1983) is an Australian musical comedy, musical comedian, satirist, writer and radio presenter who performs under the stage name Sammy J. He embraces a variety of media in his comedy, including the use of vid ...

in the Forest of Dreams'' (with Heath McIvor); ''

The Axis of Awesome The Axis of Awesome was an Australian comedy music act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis, that performed from 2006 to 2018. The trio covered a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original ...

Comeback Spectacular!''; ''Meat the Musical'' (

Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, and actress. She began her career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, her show '' Nanette'' on Netflix wo ...

and Amelia Jane Hunter); Allsopp & Henderson‘s ''The Jinglists'' * 2009 - Asher Treleaven - ''Open Door''; Wes Snelling in ''Kiosk'';

Dave Bloustien Dave Bloustien (born 7 December 1975, in Adelaide) is an Australian comedian, improviser and comedy writer. Living and working in Sydney, New South Wales, Bloustien has written for many Australian television comedies, including ABC's '' The Gl ...

- ''The Social Contract''; Lou Sanz - ''Who Is Priscilla Irving?'' * 2010 - Adrian Calear - ''Code Grey''; Sam Simmons &

David Quirk David Quirk (born 15 February 1981) is an actor and stand-up comedian based in Melbourne, Australia. Career Quirk has been performing stand-up comedy since 2002. In 2006, he was a state finalist in Triple J’s ‘Raw Comedy’ competition, a ...

- ''The Incident''; Steve Sheehan - ''Stevl Shefn and His Translator Fatima''

References

External links

The Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards
- official site at Token Artists. Australian comedy awards

List of Award recipients

See also

References

External links