Young comedians win with lockdown laughs
SATIRICAL SHOW EARNS TEENS NATIONAL AWARD
LAUGHING about lockdown has earned a group of young comics a national award.
Zach Shaw, Jameelah Faisal, Raymond Smith and Megan Jones, from Leicester, were named winners of the 15 to 18 years old Comedic Performance (Group) category in the inaugural Louise Rennison National Funny Awards.
They wowed the judges with their show Lestah Lockdown.
The teens, supported by the Focus Charity, gave a comedy twist to show the effect of the pandemic on the community.
Judge and CBBC presenter Jonny Nelson said: “This was a great idea, capturing the chaotic vibe of 2020 really well.
“Rolling news, reporting itself in circles, Boris Johnson being bombastic and useless (the bra face mask was a nice touch) and people’s continuing obsession with TikTok.
“Another scene-stealing performance was the cross-dressing vox pop, with the biggest laugh coming from the drawn-on face mask.”
Harsha Acharya, a project manager with Focus said: “I loved one of the responses from the judges where he said, ‘It looked like the group were having a right laugh’.
“All I can say is that was one of the funniest moments of my 25 years of working with young people.
“I had tears rolling down my face.”
Created in memory of the late author and comedian Louise Rennison, the awards were designed to showcase the creative and comedic talents of young people in the UK, encouraging 11 to 18-year-olds to create original comedy material by submitting up to 1,000 words or three pages of creative copy or a funny video performance of up to three minutes.
Six overall winners were selected by a panel of judges who also included comedian and author Andi Osho, CBBC presenters Ben Shires and Lauren Layfield, author Mark Heywood, talent manager Kate Haldane and Julia Eccleshare, director of Hay Children’s Festival.
Sophie Severs, award founder and sister of Louise Rennison, said: “We wanted to create a competition that would inspire confidence in young adults and give them an opportunity to express their creative talents through comedy.
“Louise was passionate about young people having a voice and she was dedicated to empowering young adults through her much-loved books.
“We were thrilled to receive so many genuinely funny and creative entries – that definitely had our panel of judges in stitches.”
The winners now get the chance to develop their sketches further through an online comedy workshop experience with youth theatre group Freedom Studious.
Individual winners will get the chance to meet their comedy heroes and go backstage at a gig.