A new comedy award designed to find the Next Big Thing has announced its shortlist.
Those ten nominees are Celya AB, Dan Tiernan, Josh Pugh, Katie Norris, Michael Odewale, Olga Koch, Paddy Young, Rachel Fairburn, Rob Copland and Tarot.
To find the nominees, British Comedy Guide conducted a UK-wide poll of over 100 professionals from across the comedy industry, asking for the acts they believed most represented the future of comedy. From that longlist, an expert panel then whittled the names down to ten.
Mark Muldoon, Next Big Thing award founder, says: “There’s never been more talent in our comedy scene, but it also feels as though there’re fewer opportunities for comedians to break through into the big leagues. So it felt right to do something about it. I couldn’t be happier with our first ever list of nominees: comedy fans will love diving into our shortlist and as a result, hopefully find their new favourite comedy act.”
