Comedians ready for shot at festival prizes
THE line-up of contestants who will compete in competitions at Leicester Comedy Festival has been announced.
Prizes including Silver Stand Up, Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Competition, UK Pun Championships and Union Jack Radio’s Circuit Breakers showcase will be up for grabs in February.
Entry to the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Competition is via nomination from a selected group of UK promoters.
The winner will be chosen by an industry judging panel and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Johnny Vegas, Josh Widdicombe, Romesh Ranganathan, Jo Enright and Kate Lucas.
The comedians confirmed are:
Louise Young
■ Omar Abid
■ Good Kids
■ Matt Bragg
■ Eric Rushton
■ Mustafa Fecto
■ Nina Gilligan
■ Dinesh Nathan
The competition will take place on Saturday, February 22, at The Y, Leicester.
The UK Pun Championships was set up by Leicester Comedy Festival in 2014.
It is the culmination of #UKPunDay, a twitter phenomenon which in recent years has attracted more than 103.5 million impressions.
Jason Byrne will again compere on February 10, with the competitors confirmed as: Iain MacDonald, Philip Simon, Stevie Vegas, Richard Pulsford, Richard Woolford, Chris Norton Walker, Adele Cliff and Kat Molinari.
Union Jack Radio’s Circuit Breakers was launched in the summer of 2017 with a crowdfunding campaign asking people to pledge to support new and emerging comedians.
The showcase gives a platform for people who otherwise would not perform at the festival.
The comedians selected to take part are: Elie Kraft Martin Durchov Charlie George Charlie Hopkinson Wilson Sharlin Jahan Dannie Grufferty and The Extra Virgins.
The performances are on February 14th and 15th at Peter Pizzeria
in Leicester. An additional showcase will take place at The Bill Murray, London, on March 18.
The Silver Stand Up Competition has been running at the festival for eight years and is exclusively for comedians aged over 55.
The shortlisted comedians are: Romaine, Kevin Hudson, Candy, Brian Cowles, Jimbo, James Ward, Carrie Miles Brown, Nik Hill, Jenny Bt, Stylophobia, Sally Firth, Pat O’Connor, Karen Blott and Kym Winstanley.
The competition, hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice, takes place on Thursday, February 20, also at Peter Pizzeria in the city.
Festival director Geoff Rowe said: “Leicester Comedy Festival has always been a place where new and emerging acts perform to develop their material and shows in front of hugely comedy-savvy audiences.
“Comedians also find the festival is a great place to get good publicity, get reviews for their shows, increase their social media following, have the potential to get spotted by the industry and also maybe win an award or two.
“Over the past 26 years we have supported hundreds of new comedians, as well as exclusive and one-off shows from some of the biggest names in comedy.
“We’re hugely proud of our commitment to new talent and our competitions, and Union Jack Radio’s Circuit Breakers showcase, will hopefully continue to provide a helping hand to comedians.
“We’ve been inundated with applications from acts for all our competitions and showcases and we are delighted so many are from across the UK and not just London-based acts.
“The acts taking part are amongthe cream of the crop of British live comedy and help demonstrate the strength of the comedy circuit.”
The Gala Preview Show, the launch show for the festival, will take place at De Montfort Hall, on Friday, January 10.
The show will be hosted by Charlie Baker.
Tickets are now on sale from: