Category: Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ 7; Radio; New Talent
Date: 18.11.2005
Printable version
Six budding comedians have made it to this year's Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ New Comedy Awards final, to be held at The Comedy Store in London on Monday 12 December.
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These awards are supported by Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ New Talent and have been a launching pad for many established acts.
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Previous finalists include Simon Pegg, Julian Barratt, Daniel Kitson, Lee Mack, Chris Addison, Marcus Brigstocke and Nina Conti.
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The awards will be broadcast on Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ 7 on Friday 1 January at 11.00pm.
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This year's finalists are Aaron Counter, Sarah Millican, Luke Roberts, James Branch, Tom Allen and Edward Aczel.
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The winner will receive a £2000 cheque with two runners-up receiving cheques for £500. All six finalists will also be given the chance to develop work for Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Entertainment.
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Australian Aaron Counter, 25, is an accountant working in London. He has been gigging for a couple of years and has cancelled his Christmas flight back to Australia in order to take part in the final!
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Thirty-year-old Sarah Millican, from South Shields in Tyne and Wear, started doing stand-up after she got divorced. She was a finalist in the Funny Women award and, earlier this year, won the Amused Moose comedy competition.
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Luke Roberts is just 20 and studying English at Churchill College, Cambridge. He's been performing for about a year and is our youngest finalist.
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James Branch, 35, is a film trails editor who started gigging earlier this year. He previously did voiceovers for cartoon DVDs.
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Tom Allen, 22, was previously an actor with the National Youth Theatre. Earlier this year, he won five's So You Think You're Funny? Award at the Edinburgh Festival.
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Edward Aczel is, at 38, our oldest finalist. He has only been performing stand-up for ten months. By day, Edward is a project manager for a marketing agency in Buckinghamshire.
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The judges for the final on Monday 12 December include Jon Plowman, Head of Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Comedy; Caroline Raphael, Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio 4 Commissioning Editor for Comedy; Paul Schlesinger, Head of Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Entertainment; and Don Ward, owner of The Comedy Store in London.
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The final will be compered by Dara O'Briain.
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Last year's winner, Andrew Lawrence, has since made two one-hour specials for Oneclick on Radio 1 and is continuing to perform at live gigs around the UK.
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Runner-up James Sherwood has been writing for The Unofficial Election Show on Radio 4 and, along with fellow runner-up Danielle Ward, has been writing and performing in The Milk Run on Radio 1.
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The Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ New Comedy Awards 2005 - Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ 7, Friday 1 January at 11.00pm.
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Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ New Talent is the Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ's ongoing campaign to discover and nurture raw talent.
Details of all schemes can be found at bbc.co.uk/newtalent.
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