The furthest point on the comedy triangle: Melbourne

Edinburgh, Montreal and Melbourne are arguably the three best comedy festivals in the world.

It's not surprising that Edinburgh is the best-known in the UK, because it's in the UK. Plus, winning the (former) Perrier award is the benchmark for UK comics.

And Montreal has snuck into the UK's consciousness too, thanks to the 'Just for Laughs' TV programmes which showcase the best of the international talent there.

But Melbourne?

In Melbourne, the International Comedy Festival is massive. In Australia, it's a pretty big deal. In the international comedy world, doing well in Melbourne is a mark of making it. But in the UK, my straw-poll-of-people-I-know suggests it's still almost completely unknown.

And I think I know why.

Before I went to Australia in 2002 I had only ever come across two Australian comics. I had seen Dame Edna on TV and I had heard Adam Hills on the radio. So I didn't have a clue what to expect from the 2003 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

In fact what I found was an absolutely thriving festival which, unlike Edinburgh, was solely dedicated to comedy. Okay, the year I was there the 'Barry' (Melbourne's equivalent of the 'Perrier') was won by Mike Wilmot (a Canadian) but the Best Newcomers were at least antipodean; they were Flight of the Conchords.

Melbourne was where I first came across young-gun Glenn Wool and baby-faced Andrew Maxwell. It was where I first heard about future-Conchords-collaborator Arj Barker and hottest-Brit-ticket-in-town Ross Noble. Melbourne was also where I discovered that two Australians had actually once won the Perrier when it was still the Perrier (Lano and Woodley in 1994).

And since coming back to the UK in 2003, I seem to have been pursued by Australian comics. Tim Minchin and Adam Hills are both successfully established in the UK now.

And that's really why I think the Melbourne Comedy Festival still isn't very well known over here; because some of the best Australian comics have settled in UK. And if we want to see the rest, well, we can go to Edinburgh.