BBC New Comedy Award

Last updated

BBC New Comedy Award
Awarded forBest in new stand-up comedy talent
CountryUnited Kingdom
First awarded1995
2011 (revival)
Last awarded2005
Currently held byJoe Kent-Walters (2023)
Website BBC New Comedy Award at BBC Online
Television/radio coverage
Network

The BBC New Comedy Award first took place in 1995, and it is considered to be one of the top UK comedy newcomer awards.

Contents

It was axed in 2006, being replaced by a nationwide talent hunt that places its emphasis on sketch writing and filmed performance. However, in March 2011 the BBC Radio New Comedy Award was relaunched in conjunction with BBC Radio 2, [1] and ran as a joint project between Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 Extra. The arrangement was for Radio 4 Extra to broadcast the heats and semi-finals of the contest, whilst Radio 2 (later Radio 4) broadcasts the live final. The 2021 series moved online to BBC Three, with a repeat broadcast on BBC One. By the 2022 contest, BBC Three had returned to terrestrial TV, so the heats were aired on that channel and the final aired on BBC One.

Winners & finalists

The finals of this event have boasted many well known names that have continued to work in comedy to great acclaim - amongst the winners of the award are: Julian Barratt (1995), Marcus Brigstocke (1996), Paul Foot (1997), Josie Long (1999), Alan Carr (2001), Nina Conti (2002), Rhod Gilbert (2003), Angela Barnes (2011) and Lost Voice Guy (2014). Other notable finalists include Peter Kay, Bennett Arron, Lee Mack, Russell Howard, Daniel Kitson, Justin Lee Collins, David O'Doherty, Shappi Khorsandi, Joe Lycett and Sarah Millican. [2] [3]

YearWinnerFinalists
1995 Julian Barratt [4] Daniel Kitson
Silky
Lee Mack
Ambrose Martose
Viv Gee
Jeff Mirza
1996 Marcus Brigstocke [4]
Jenny Ross [5]
Chris Addison
Alan Doyle
Addy Van Der Borgh
Neil Bromley
Marian Kilpatrick
Bob May
1997 Paul Foot [4] Bennett Arron
Justin Lee Collins
Craig Crookston
Neil Anthony
Gareth Hughes
Peter Kay
Deirdre O'Kane
1998 Dan Antopolski [4] Mary Bourke
Tony Coffey
Rhodri Crooks
Danny Oakes
Dan Tetsell
Helen Pilcher
Caroline Quinlan
1999 Josie Long [4] David O'Doherty
Marc Small
Matthew Walters
Scott Pragnell
Colin Ward
Steve Harris
2000 Jason John Whitehead [4] Anthony J Brown
Angie McEvoy
Shappi Khorsandi
Paddy Bramwells
Billy Dufus
Alan Hulcoop
Des McLean
2001 Alan Carr [4] Marcus Birdman
Keith Carter (as "Nige")
Jarred Christmas
Michael Downey
Des Clarke
Rob Deering
Russell Howard
Justin Moorhouse
2002 Nina Conti [4] Dylan
Bob Kobe
Paul Kerensa
Gary Delaney
Stefano Paolini
Ninia Benjamin
Karl Spain
2003 Rhod Gilbert [4] Michael Anderson
Greg Cook (runner-up)
Steve Hall (runner-up)
Ava Vidal
"Lloydy the illegal street trader"
2004 Andrew Lawrence Liam Mullone
David Nicholls
Jarlath Regan
James Sherwood (runner-up)
Danielle Ward (runner-up)
2005 Tom Allen [4] Edward Aczel (runner-up)
James Branch
Aaron Counter
Sarah Millican (runner-up)
John-Luke Roberts
2011 Angela Barnes [4] Pat Cahill
Tez Ilyas
Joe Lycett
Mark Restuccia
Chris Turner
2012 Lucy Beaumont [4] Pete Otway
Sunil Patel
Matt Rees
Tommy Rowson
Matthew Winning
2013Steve Bugeja [4] Jonny Pelham
Ean Luckhurst
Mark Silcox
Peter Brush
Rob Carter
2014 Lost Voice Guy [4] Hari Sriskantha
Thomas Ward
Tom Little
Amir Khoshokhan
Brennan Reece
2015 Yuriko Kotani [4] Russ Peers
Athena Kugblenu
Michael Stranney
Ken Cheng
Andy Storey
2016Jethro Bradley [4] Catherine Bohart
George Lewis
Michael Odewale
Lauren Pattison
Sindhu Vee
2017Heidi Regan [4] Andy Field
Morgan Rees [nb 1] [6]
Jacob Hawley
Aaron Simmonds
Sikisa
2018Stephen Buchanan [4] Helen Bauer
Isa Bonachera
Mamoun Elagab
Sarah Mann
William Stone
2019 Janine Harouni [7] [8]
Mo Omar
Josh Jones
Donald Alexander
Hannah Platt
2021 Anna Thomas [9] [9]
Lily Phillips
Celya AB
Liam Farrelly
Molly McGuinness
William Thompson
2022 Dan Tiernan [10] [11]
Dee Allum
Omar Badaway
Robbie McShane
Marjolein Robertson
Joshua Bethania
2023Joe Kent-Walters (as Frankie Monroe) [12] [13]

Kit Rees (as Hester Ectomy)
Jin Hao Li
Chantel Nash
Dean T Beirne
Paddy Young

Notes

  1. Morgan Rees replaced Yumna Mohamed who withdrew due to a family emergency

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Herring</span> English comedian and writer (born 1967)

Richard Keith Herring is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring. He is described by The British Theatre Guide as "one of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Horne</span> British comedian and musician

Alexander James Jeffery Horne is a British comedian. Horne is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series Taskmaster, in which he takes the role of assistant to the Taskmaster Greg Davies. He is the host and bandleader of comedic band The Horne Section. Horne hosts the band's eponymous podcast and television series, and has appeared with them on BBC Radio 4, TV channel Dave, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhod Gilbert</span> Welsh comedian

Rhodri Paul Gilbert is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Millican</span> English comedian

Sarah Jane Millican is an English comedian, writer and presenter. Millican won the comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In February 2013 she was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Radio 4's Woman's Hour, and in the same year she married fellow comedian Gary Delaney. Her first book, How to Be Champion, was published in 2017. Millican has performed on various tours, mainly across the United Kingdom, over the years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Bird</span> English actor and comedian

Simon Antony Bird is an English comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the multi-award-winning E4 comedy series The Inbetweeners (2008–2010), as well as its two films, and Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 comedy series Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020).

John David Finnemore is a British comedy writer and actor. He wrote and performed in the radio series Cabin Pressure, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, and John Finnemore's Double Acts, and frequently features in other BBC Radio 4 comedy shows such as The Now Show. Finnemore has won more Comedy.co.uk awards than any other writer, and two of his shows appear in the top ten of the Radio Times' list of greatest ever radio comedies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridget Christie</span> English writer and comedian (born 1971)

Bridget Louise Christie is an English stand-up comedian, actress and writer. She has written and performed 13 solo stand-up shows and several comedy tours, in addition to radio and television work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Robins (comedian)</span> English stand-up comedian and presenter

John Michael David Robins is an English stand-up comedian and radio presenter.

Ria Lina is a British comedian, actress and writer. She has appeared on Yesterday, Today & The Day Before, Mock the Week, Steph's Packed Lunch, The Now Show, The News Quiz, Sky News, and Have I Got News for You. In 2003, she won an Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy award for Best Comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funny Women</span> Female comedy network

Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women helps women find their voice, promote them, and assists charities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Wang</span> British Chinese-Malaysian comedian

Philip Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi is a British-Malaysian stand-up comedian and comedy writer who is a member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, and co-creator of their BBC Radio 4 series, Daphne Sounds Expensive. He currently hosts the comedy podcast ‘BudPod’ with fellow comedian and Footlights alumnus Pierre Novellie.

Richard Gadd is a Scottish writer, actor and comedian.

Mat Ewins is an English actor, writer and stand-up comedian.

Darren Harriott is a British stand-up comedian from Oldbury, West Midlands. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award and Best Show Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Sarah Keyworth is an English stand-up comedian. They began pursuing a career in comedy in 2012, eventually going full-time in 2018 after being nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. They have appeared on television comedy shows such as Roast Battle, The Now Show, The Dog Ate My Homework, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Charlie George is a British writer and comedian from Swindon. In 2019, she won "The Comedy Bloomers LGBTQ+ New Comedian of the Year" and was a runner-up in both So You Think You're Funny and Funny Women. As a scriptwriter, she has written for British comedy shows Have I Got News for You, Death to 2020,Death to 2021, Blankety Blank, Joe Lycett's Got Your Back and Frankie Boyle's New World Order.

Henry Paker is a British comedian, writer and illustrator.

Anna Rose Thomas is a Welsh comedian who won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Campbell (comedian)</span> Australian comedian, actor and writer

Sam Campbell is an Australian stand-up comedian and actor. He won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award in 2018 and the main prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in 2022.

Dan Tiernan is a British stand-up comedian and actor from Stockport. In 2022, he was named "British Comedian of the Year", and won the BBC New Comedy Award.

References

  1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/comedy/new-comedy-award-2011/
  2. "BBC – Press Office – Radio 2 announces winner of New Comedy Award 2011". BBC. 20 June 2011.
  3. "About the BBC New Comedy Award". BBC Radio 4 .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "BBC Three – BBC New Comedy Awards – About the New Comedy Awards". BBC.
  5. "BBC New Comedy Award – UKGameshows". UKGameshows.com . Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  6. "BBC New Comedy finalist pulls out: News 2017". Chortle.co.uk . 11 August 2017.
  7. "BBC New Comedy Awards – 2019 – 2019 Final Results – BBC Sounds". BBC. 15 August 2019.
  8. "BBC New Comedy Awards – 2019 – 2019 Final – BBC Sounds". BBC. 15 August 2019.
  9. 1 2 Bennett, Steve. "Anna Thomas wins the BBC New Comedy Award : News 2021 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". Chortle.co.uk .
  10. "Dan Tiernan wins BBC New Comedy Awards 2022". British Comedy Guide . 9 November 2022.
  11. "BBC New Comedy Awards 2022, Episode 7 - Cardiff - Grand Final". British Comedy Guide . 9 November 2022.
  12. "Joe Kent-Walters wins BBC New Comedy Awards 2023 as Frankie Monroe". British Comedy Guide . 15 November 2023.
  13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/bbc-new-comedy-awards-final-2023