Chortle student king crowned

Phil Wang, a 20-year-old Cambridge engineering undergraduate has been won Chortle’s Student Comedy Award.

He received a standing ovation – as well as the £1,000 top prize – as the result was announced at Edinburgh’s C Plaza venue on Tuesday night.

He said: 'It feels great to win, obviously. An unforgettable experience, and I feel very fortunate. I now hope to pursue comedy as much as I am able to, through stand-up as well as general writing. But for now I'm going to see where it takes me and just enjoy the "ride".'

Runner-up was Matt Rees from the university of Glamorgan performing for just the third time ever – the previous times being the heat at the semi-final of the Chortle competition. He became racked by nerves at one point, but an encouraging cheer from the 400-plus audience put him back on track.

Chortle editor Steve Bennett said: 'We had a diverse, high-quality line-up for the final, so all credit to Phil for seeing off such tough competition. And Matt is a wonderful writer, he could go far. But I think all of these strong finalists have a promising career in comedy ahead of them.'

Wang, originally from Bath and a member of the prestigious Cambridge Footlights, joins an illustrious list of winners that includes Tom Deacon, Lloyd Langford and Nathan Caton.

Before the final said he was influence by American comics Jim Gaffigan and Zach Galifianakis as well as Stewart Lee and that his set comprised mainly ‘one-liners, small bits and little stories.’

The other finalists were Matt Richardson, Ed Patrick, Matthew Winning, Emerald Paston, Ian Smith, Nicholas Cooke and Max Dickens.

Here is Wang's winning set:

Published: 18 Aug 2010