Big in the States
US awards for Oliver and Minchin
John Oliver and Tim Minchin have scooped prestigious comedy awards in America.British stand-up Oliver was named male breakout artist for his ‘offbeat and political humour’ at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
He has taken the American comedy world by storm since landing a role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Comedy Central show which airs on More 4 in Britain.
Accepting his award, Oliver said: ‘I want to thank Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad equally.’
Australian musical comic Minchin, now based in London, also won a jury award for at the 13th festival on Saturday night.
He said: ‘That is amazing to come here and win a thing. I love America.’
The Aspen festival is regarded as one of the key events in the calendar for American TV executive seeking new comedy talent.
Among the other prize-winner winners were stand-ups Shane Mauss and Kirk Fox, sketch troupe Summer of Tears, Nilaja Sun for solo show, and female duo TastiSkank.
Another Daily Show graduate, Stephen Colbert, was named person of the year.
Published: 4 Mar 2007
