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Directed by improv comedy legend and
eight times Cranston Cup Champion
Murray Fahey

A comedy institution – and at 22 years old, Sydney’s longest running show – climaxes each year when comedians, actors and assorted wits climb into the ring to battle in hopes of having their name inscribed on the coveted Cranston Cup trophy, improv comedy’s holy grail. Rugby League has its NRL trophy, racing has the Melbourne Cup and soccer its World Cup. But for improving comedians, the ultimate prize is the Theatresports
‘Cranston Cup’.

In 1984, comedian and actor Dennis Watkins was a senior player performing Theatresports at Belvoir Street Theatre. One of his most loved and recurring characters was a funny fellow named Lamont Cranston. Lamont shared his name with the famous alter ego of the 1940's comic book superhero, 'The Shadow', later portrayed by Alec Baldwin in the 1994 film. As the popularity and team rivalry of Theatresports in Australia grew, a competition was created in order to determine which was the finest team of improvisors that year. The contest needed a name befitting of the superhuman effort that would be need by the wining team to defeat the others. Lamont lent his surname to the contest and the Cranston Cup was born. All it needed was a prize, but not just any prize. The Cranston Cup for Theatresports need a monumental prize symbolising all the skills and determination shown by the legends who would have their names engraved onto it's form forever.

A top-calibre tournament like this needs a trophy so imposing, so unique, so ugly that players and fans alike would revere it. Word went out to thousands of artists, sculptors and trophy-designers across the country inviting them to submit their most weird and wonderful designs. In the end it came down to the only trophy maker who would build it for less than a hundred bucks. As fate would have it, he was a genius. Utilising statuettes that represented the skills of singing, acting, dance, speechmaking, golf and many more, plus a few bits he had just lying around, this master craftsman constructed a championship curio to rival all.

Standing nearly 2 metres high and weighing a staggering 52.3 kilograms, the Theatresports Cranston Cup stands for all that is noble, all that is brilliant and all that is silly. The triumphant players' names that have been scratched into its side are the who's who of Australian comedy. The list includes Andrew Denton, Dan Lloyd, Robyn Butler, Steve Johnston, Jenny Hope, Steve Walsh, Jay Laga'aia, Julie Dunsmore, Andrew O'Keefe and plenty more. The contest first culminated in an extravaganza at the Sydney Opera House before moving to its happy home at the Enmore Theatre.