Plus 4 nods for Ghosts... and Sean Lock could get posthumous honour

Sex Education leads the shortlists for the first National Comedy Awards, with five nominations, closely followed by Ghosts with four.

And Sean Lock is in the running for a posthumous honour for male comedy entertainment performance for his memorable appearances on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

Sex Education is up for best scripted comedy in the just-announced shortlists with nods for Emma Mackey as outstanding comedy actress, Asa Butterfield as outstanding comedy actor and Ncuti Gatwa and Aimee Lou Wood in supporting roles.

Ghosts is also up for best scripted comedy, with Charlotte Ritchie and Matthew Baynton shortlisted in the main acting categories, and Lolly Adefope in the supporting category.

This Way Up and Motherland complete the scripted comedy shortlist, with stars Aisling Bea and Diane Morgan individually nominated, too.

Winners are decided by public vote, with polls now open at www.thenationalcomedyawards.com.

They will be announced at a ceremony at the Camden Roundhouse in London on December 15, which will air exclusively on Channel 4 two days later as part of the broadcaster’s Stand Up To Cancer programming.

The full list of nominees, which was also compiled by public vote, is:

Best Scripted Comedy

Sex Education
Ghosts
This Way Up
Motherland

Outstanding Comedy Actress

Aisling Bea (This Way Up)
Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts)
Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts)
Emma Mackey (Sex Education)

Outstanding Comedy Actor

Greg Davies (The Cleaner)
Asa Butterfield (Sex Education)
Lee Mack (Not Going Out)
Matthew Baynton (Ghosts)

Outstanding Supporting Role

Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education)
Diane Morgan (Motherland)
Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education)
Lolly Adefope (Ghosts)

Best Comedy Entertainment Show

Taskmaster
Rob & Romesh Vs
8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown
Would I Lie To You

Outstanding Female Comedy Entertainment Performance   

Daisy May Cooper (Taskmaster)
Rosie Jones (Trip Hazard)
Katherine Ryan (8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown)
Sandi Toksvig (QI)

Outstanding Male Comedy Entertainment Performance

Mo Gilligan (The Lateish Show)
Sean Lock (8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown)
Mike Wozniak (Taskmaster)
James Acaster (Hypothetical)

Best Comedy Podcast

Off Menu with James Acaster and Ed Gamble
My Therapist Ghosted Me with Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally
Shagged Married Annoyed with Rosie and Chris Ramsey
Rob Beckett & Josh Widdecombe’s Parenting Hell

Best Stand-Up Show

Sarah Millican
Ricky Gervais
Katherine Ryan
Mo Gilligan
Jason Manford

Comedy Breakthrough Performer

Judi Love
Joanne McNally
Munya Chawawa
Rosie Jones
Rose Matafeo

This is the first year of the National Comedy Awards, which will be seen as a successor to the British Comedy Awards, which were given out every year from 1990 to 2014.

Almost always hosted by Jonathan Ross, they were broadcast on ITV until 2010 – except for 2007, when they remained off-screen because of a scandal over phone-in votes. The ceremony moved to Channel 4 from 2010 to 2014. At their peak, they attracted almost 8 million viewers, but the last show was seen by 1.35million

Launched in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that has raised more than £93million, funding 52 clinical trials and projects, involving over 11,000 patients.

Published: 15 Nov 2021