So You Think You're Funny

Last updated

So You Think You're Funny?
So you think logo.jpg
So You Think You're Funny logo
Awarded forStand-up comedy competition
Date1988
Country United Kingdom
Website soyouthinkyourefunny.co.uk

So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom.

Contents

The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past winners include Aisling Bea, Dylan Moran, Lee Mack, Peter Kay and David O'Doherty.

History

Bill Bailey in 2008 Bill Bailey - SYTYF.JPG
Bill Bailey in 2008

So You Think You're Funny was the idea of Karen Koren, Artistic Director of The Gilded Balloon, in order to discover new comic talent. During the years it has developed into the most influential competition of its kind in the UK, helping start the careers of many of the country's leading comedians including Dylan Moran, Lee Mack, Graham Norton, David O'Doherty and Tommy Tiernan. Other competitors have included Ardal O'Hanlon, Johnny Vegas, Ed Byrne, Jason Byrne, Alex Zane, Reginald D Hunter, Craig Hill, Alan Carr, Rhod Gilbert, Andrew Lawrence and Russell Howard.

Sponsorship from Channel 4 began in 1993 and ran until 2004, since when Channel 5 and The Paramount Comedy Channel have been sponsors. Now[ when? ] sponsored by Foster's, the first prize is £5,000 and a place in the Best of British Show at the Montreal "Just For Laughs" Festival.

Past judges have included Steve Coogan, Owen O'Neill, Avid Merrion (Leigh Francis), Bob Mortimer and former So You Think You're Funny winners Dylan Moran and Rhona Cameron.

Compères for the evening have included Eddie Izzard, Bill Bailey, Graham Norton and Jo Brand. [1]

The competition spun a teenagers’ version entitled Class Clowns, derived from an Australian format of the same name, which was staged at the Gilded Balloon for the first time in 2015. Judged by Jo Brand, Kevin Day and Karen Koren, the first Fringe winner was Joe Gardner. [2]

Rules and eligibility

The rules and eligibility are as follows:

"1. The performer cannot have performed stand up REGULARLY either paid or unpaid before 1st June of the year prior to the competition. *

2. The performer should not have appeared in So You Think You're Funny? before.

3. The performer’s material must be completely original.

4. The performer must have at least 8 minutes of original material.

5. The organisers reserve the right to select all entrants and decisions taken by the organisers and judges are final.

6. All entrants must be aged 18 and over.

Process of elimination

The competition starts in the spring of each year with showcases in Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham, York, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Inverness, Dublin, Brighton and Nottingham as well as ten comedy clubs in London. In 2013, there were over 500 applicants for only 55 places in the Edinburgh heats.[ citation needed ]

Each showcase is not a direct competition, with judges instead selecting the best acts they have seen over the entire run to take part in one of seven heats at the Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. Winners of each of these heats go forward to the final.[ citation needed ]

Winners and finalists

2023

Results: [3]

2022

Results:

2021

Results:

2019

Results:

MC Zoe Lyons Comedy Guest Judge: Jenny Eclair

2018

Results:

MC Zoe Lyons Comedy Guest Judge: Rhod Gilbert

2017

Results: [4]

MC: Aisling Bea

Comedy Guest Judge: David O'Doherty

2016

Results:

MC Zoe Lyons Comedy Guest Judge: Alan Davies

2015

Results:

MC: Zoe Lyons Comedy Guest Judge: Mark Watson

2014

Results: [5]

MC: Zoe Lyons [5]

Comedy Guest Judge: Jason Manford [6]

Sponsor: Foster's [5]

2013

Results: [5]

MC: Zoe Lyons [5]

Comedy Guest Judge: Sarah Millican [7]

Sponsor: Foster's [5]

2012

Results: [8]

MC: Jason Cook [8]

Comedy Guest Judge: Ruby Wax [8]

Sponsor: Foster's [8]

2011

Results: [5]

MC: Jarred Christmas [5]

Comedy Guest Judge: Lee Mack [5]

Sponsor: The Sims 3 [9]

2010

Results: [5]

MC: Rufus Hound [5]

Comedy Guest Judge: Tim Minchin [5]

2009

Results: [5]

MC: Lee Mack [5]

Comedy Guest Judge: Tim Vine [5]

2008

Results: [5]

Comedy Guest Judge: Johnny Vegas

2007

Results: [5] [10]

2006

Results: [5] [11]

2005

Results: [5]

MC: Bill Bailey [5]

2004

Results: [5]

2003

Results: [5]

2002

Results: [5]

2001

Results: [5]

2000

Results: [5]

1999

Results: [5]

1998

Results: [5]

1997

Results: [5]

1996

Results: [5]

1995

Results: [5]

1994

Results: [5]

1993

Results: [5]

1992

Results: [5]

1991

Results: [5]

1990

Results: [5]

1989

Results: [5]

1988

Results: [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David O'Doherty</span> Irish comedian

David Nicholas O'Doherty is an Irish comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright and son of renowned jazz pianist Jim Doherty. His stand-up has won many international awards including the if.comedy award in 2008 and Best International Comedian at the 2014 Sydney Comedy Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilded Balloon</span>

Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.

<i>The Sitcom Trials</i> British TV series or programme

The Sitcom Trials is a stage and TV show devised, produced, and presented by Kev F. Sutherland. Beginning in Bristol in 1999, it showcases new sitcoms and comedy items in a head-to-head format. The audience then vote for the one they like best and only see the ending of the winner.

<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">Jason Manford</span> English comedian

Jason John Manford is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Sun</span> Australian comedian

Nick Sun is an Australian stand-up comedian. He is of Nepalese extraction, but chooses to eschew obvious cultural stereotyping in his act, favouring a style that has been described as "unhinged", "offensive" "nihilistic" and "self-destructive."

Drew Rokos is an Australian comedian who won both the 2000 Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Raw Comedy competition and the Edinburgh Comedy Festival's So You Think You're Funny competition.

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

Thomas Paul Allen is an English comedian, actor, writer and presenter. In 2005, he won the So You Think You're Funny contest at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

<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">Robert Broderick</span>

Rob Broderick is an Irish stand-up comedian who was born in Dublin but who now lives and works in London.

Anna Crilly is an English actress and comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoe Lyons</span> British comedian (born 1971)

Zoe Ann Lyons is a British comedian and TV presenter.

Season three of So You Think You Can Dance Australia, the Australian version of the American reality dance-off series So You Think You Can Dance, was hosted by former Rogue Traders vocalist and solo artist Natalie Bassingthwaighte, with Jason Coleman, Matt Lee and Bonnie Lythgoe acting as the judges. It premiered on 31 January 2010. Robbie Kmetoni was announced as the winner on 21 April 2010 and the first season that each of the contestants have all been in the bottom three or four. It was the last season of So You Think You Can Dance Australia to air until the show came back in 2014.

<i>Ask Rhod Gilbert</i> British TV series or programme

Ask Rhod Gilbert is a British comedy panel show produced by Green Inc for the BBC. It began on 27 September 2010 and ended on 9 November 2011 on BBC One, it is presented by Rhod Gilbert with Greg Davies and Lloyd Langford as regular panelists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Carroll (comedian)</span> English comedian and actor

Jack Carroll is an English comedian and actor. He competed in the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent at the age of 14, finishing as the runner-up. As an actor, he appeared in two series of the CBBC series Ministry of Curious Stuff and from 2014 to 2018, he starred in the Sky sitcom Trollied. Carroll, whose cerebral palsy is often a subject of his act, won a Pride of Britain award in 2012.

Marlon Davis is a British actor and stand-up 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">Yuriko Kotani</span> Japanese comedian

Yuriko Kotani is a Japanese comedian based in London. She won the 2015 BBC Radio New Comedy Award, making her the first Japanese person to win the award. She debuted her solo show Somosomo at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Kotani's comedy makes fun of the cultural differences between England and her homeland of Japan.

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.

References

  1. "So You Think You're Funny?". Gilded Balloon. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  2. "Gilded Balloon on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  3. https://www.comedy.co.uk/fringe/news/7510/samira-banks-wins-so-you-think-youre-funny-2023/
  4. "So You Think You're Funny Final". Chortle.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 "Finalists & Runners up". So You Think You're Funny?. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017 via Wayback Machine. Lock-green.svg
  6. Comedy.co.uk
  7. BBC
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Finalists & Runners up", So You Think You're Funny?. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  9. "The Sims 3 Searches For New Stars Of Comedy With So You Think You Are Funny", EA News, 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  10. "So You Think You're Funny? 2007 final". Chortle - The UK comedy guide. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  11. "So You Think You're Funny (2006)". Chortle - the UK comedy guide. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  12. "Awards | Jason Manford", jasonmanford.com. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  13. "Give us a giggle then".