Gregg’s entry in the competition was influenced by fellow indigenous comedian, Andy Saunders and his wife Deb. “Deb just kept telling me to go for it, go for it - and I did,” said Gregg.

“She told me to just take any opportunity that I can get with comedy.”

The 17-year-old Taree High School student will perform at nationals tonight at Melbourne Town Hall. To get to nationals Gregg won heats at Newcastle and tied in the State final in Sydney.

At State level Gregg was the only youth who came from outside Newcastle and Sydney.

“I knew I was the only regional person because when they were asking where we were from, most people said ‘Oh I’m like a train ride away’ and I was four hours away.”

Prior to performing, Gregg took part in workshops led by Triple J breakfast host Matt Okine who also MC’d the final. The breakfast host was a runner up in the Class Clowns competition to comedian Josh Thomas, now the creator of ABC television show ‘Please Like Me’ .

To enter the competition Gregg wrote a five minute comedy set and performed it in front of an audience and panel of judges. “I hadn’t done anything like that before,” said Gregg.

“I just spoke about me, and my family, because I come from a big family, so I made jokes about that.”

Noticeably humble, when asked why he thinks his set made people laugh, Gregg says he doesn’t really know why people find him funny.

“I just talk about how my mum has had 13 kids and people are like woah,” he laughed. Talking about the humorous parts of his life was a tip passed on to Gregg by Andy Saunders.

“Andy told me to just find things I find funny about myself and my family, and just build from that.”

Gregg didn’t tell many people about his progression in the competition.

“I didn’t even know it was on Triple J until one of my teachers told me,” he said.

“I made a Facebook status about it and that’s where a lot of response came from.

“They were all surprised. All my friends are loving it though.”

Gregg is currently completing his HSC and thinking about where life might take him next year.

“I’ve wanted to get into flight attending,” said Gregg.

“But I just want to keep my options open. I’ll go wherever this takes me.”