With most shows over and done in under an hour, the best way to maximise your MICF experience is to bundle together a few funny folks playing the same venue, grab a bite to eat nearby first, followed by a post-show drink.
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When Prue Blake moved from Brisbane to Melbourne, she signed up for improv classes because she knew that that was how Abbi and Ilana of Broad City met. Four years later, she’s unfortunately yet to find her own codependent best friend, but she’s quickly carved a path for herself in the Melbourne comedy circuit.
In 2020, Blake was named the Raw Comedy National Champion, and she was keen to use that win to propel her comedy career forward. Unfortunately, the next couple of years were derailed by the pesky Covid-19 pandemic, but she managed to still put on some shows – including two in previous Melbourne International Comedy Festival sessions.
While she feels ready to take the stage again, there’s definitely some residual Covid-19 anxiety, especially since it’s already so common for people to get sick during the festival. “You’re so busy running around and you get run-down, but fingers crossed because I have my AstraZeneca and Pfizer cocktail and just bought a bunch of fancy masks,” says Blake.
This year, you can catch her at ‘Comedy Zone’ as part of a line-up of young comedians from across Australia. The group is intended to represent the next wave of Aussie comedy, which Blake describes as mostly just being “a bit weirder.”
“With the rise of TikTok and online followings, you can find your niche audience and you don’t have to try to appeal to everyone,” says Blake. “You can really, really appeal to a smaller selection of people, like the Miranda’s of a friendship group. This year, I’ve been working on a joke about pistachios.”
In addition to writing jokes about pistachios, Blake also used lockdown to finish her PhD in civil engineering and to start a fortnightly newsletter called ‘I Shaved My Legs For This’. “I rate every day that I shaved my legs to decide whether it was worth putting in that extra bit of effort,” says Blake. “I think it’s not often worth it.”
When it comes to bigger decisions than shaving legs, Blake says she likes to seek out the help of a tarot card reader in lieu of therapy. “I’ve gone to therapy in the past, but I’m just not that in touch with my emotions,” jokes Blake. “[Tarot card readers] kind of say what you want to hear.”
It’s fair to be a bit sceptical, but Blake said her go-to tarot card reader predicted that she would meet her next partner in nine months. They were bang on, and the relationship is still going strong to this day. Who would have thought?
You can catch Prue Blake at the Comedy Zone sessions at Trades Hall from March 31 to April 24. For more information and to buy your tickets, head to the MICF website.
