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For the first time ever, three women have been nominated for New Zealand’s top comedy prize.
Abby Howells, Angella Dravid and Melanie Bracewell have been nominated for the Fred Award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival.
The award, founded in 2006, is awarded to the best showby a New Zealand comedian at the festival. It is named after John Clarke’s famous character, Fred Dagg, and the winner receives the Golden Gumboot in honour of the comedy icon.
The winner will be announced tomorrow night at Last Laughs, the final show of the festival, at the SkyCity Theatre in Auckland.
Whoever wins will become only the third woman to have won the prize, after Jan Maree in 2011 and Rose Matafeo in 2018.
New Zealand Comedy Trust chief executive Lauren Whitney said in a statement: “Abby, Angella and Melanie have each carved out careers defined by creativity, courage and comedic brilliance. To see them all nominated for The Fred this year and to mark the first all-wāhine finalist line-up is an incredible moment for comedy in Aotearoa.”
The 2025 Fred Award nominees are Abby Howells (left), Melanie Bracewell and Angella Dravid. Photos / Supplied – edited by NZ Herald.
It is also the first time that three previous winners of the Billy T Award, which is awarded to the best up-and-coming comedian in the festival, have made up the nominees.
Dravid won the award in 2017, followed by Bracewell in 2018, and Howells won in 2023. They join six other female winners of the prize, which notably went a decade without being awarded to a female comedian.
Dravid is nominated for her show, I’m Happy For You, a darkly comic exploration of some of the darker times in her life.
Howells has received the nomination for Welcome to My Dream, a show where she tackled her experiences with fame after winning the Billy T Award, as well as many of the relationships in her life.
Bracewell has been nominated for A Little Treat, which uses an experience attending Australia’s netball awards to unpack her recent ADHD diagnosis.
Dravid and Bracewell are also previous winners of Taskmaster NZ, winning the first and fourth seasons respectively, while Howells was a contestant on the fifth season.
Other previous winners of the Fred Award include Guy Montgomery, Eli Matthewson, Chris Parker, two-time winner Dai Henwood, and last year’s winners, Barnie Duncan and Trygve Wakenshaw.
The Billy T Award will also be awarded tomorrow night. The nominees this year are David Stuart, Hoani Hotene, Itay Dom, Lesa MacLeod-Whiting, and double act Jak Darling & Booth the Clown.
