Mancunian comic wins a pilot commission

Dan Tiernan has won this year’s BBC New Comedy Award.

He triumphed at the final in St David's Hall in Cardiff last week, but the result was kept under wraps until last night's broadcast on BBC One.

He said he was ‘stunned’ to take the title, adding: ‘Genuinely, it will take a very long time to sink in. The standard has been incredibly high. I know everybody says that, but it genuinely has.’

Tiernan – whose set revolves around being a gay, Mancunian with dyspraxia who works as a school ‘dinner lady’ was named breakthrough act of the year at the North West Comedy Awards last year, and nominated as best newcomer at this year’s Chortle Awards.

With his BBC success, he scoops a paid commission to write and perform in a 30-minute audio pilot under the mentorship of a BBC comedy commissioner, plus a trophy and £1,000 cash.

Other finalists were Dee Allum, Omar Badawy, Robbie McShane, Marjolein Robertson   and Joshua Bethania.

Also at the final, the BBC’s digital comedy award was presented to TikTok creator Helen Christie.

The BBC New Comedy Awards have previously been won by the likes of been running previously won by the likes of Alan Carr, Tom Allen,  Julian Barratt, Rhod Gilbert and Nina Conti. More than 1,000 comedians applied to this year's contest.

The heats and final are available on BBC iPlayer and our live review of the final, hosted by Kerry Godliman, is here.

Published: 10 Nov 2022