It’s taken 40 years, but this comedian finally got her shot at the festival big time

Denise Scott is 70, and she’s been telling jokes for a living for longer than she cares to remember. Or can remember, for that matter.

Asked by fellow stand-up Nath Valvo how many times she had performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as the pair shared hosting duties for the launch of the 40th edition on Monday, she drew a blank.

“I have no idea,” she said. “I don’t remember any of the titles of the shows. Most of the material is gone, never to be seen again. But, you know, that’s what it’s about – it’s about trying, and never ever giving up.”

Pause. “I feel like I’m doing an Amway speech.”

Though she’s a beloved figure on the live comedy circuit, it took Scott until her 67th year before she landed her first major screen role, the lead (opposite Matt Okine) in the ABC TV remake of Mother & Son. But on the eve of filming the first season in 2023, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had to endure chemotherapy while filming the show.

Valvo has had his moments, too. In his first year at the festival, he managed to lock himself in the emergency stairwell of the Forum and missed the first 10 minutes of his own show. “I got one star,” he said, referring to the review that performance landed. “But let’s move on.”

“Look where you are today,” Scott quipped with Valvo, who was runner-up on this year’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. “You’ve been in the jungle.”

“We’ve both been through a lot the last couple of years,” Valvo said.

“Yes. I had cancer. You went camping.” Tish-boom.

Live comedy is all about the moment. And with almost 800 shows and 9000 performances at this year’s festival – which claims to be the world’s biggest dedicated laughapalooza (Edinburgh may be bigger, but its comedy offering coincides with its arts, film, fringe and book festivals too) – there should be many golden moments for the punters who are expected to snap up more than 700,000 tickets across almost four weeks.

The festival officially kicks off on Wednesday, but it is already quietly under way, with the Class Clowns, Deadly and Raw comedy competitions nearing their final stages. And not so quietly, too, with the big showcase gala having been held at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre last Wednesday.

Mother & Son star Scott couldn’t quite believe that she got to host it … or that it had taken so long for her to be invited.

“This festival has been going for 40 years,” she told Valvo, who was only two years old when the first one kicked off, with a tight 56 shows, in 1987.

“Forty years,” she reiterated. “Forty. Forty years. And that’s the first time they asked me to do it.

“So my advice is, hang on to your dreams.”

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival runs from March 25 to April 19. The Age is a festival partner.

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