Final to be hosted by Lucy Beaumont

The winners of all the heats of this year’s BBC New Comedy Awards have been revealed.

They include Marie Goulbourne, who died unexpectedly at the age of 46 just five days after appearing in her gig in  Lancaster.

Her heat, the last to air, will go out on BBC Three and iPlayer at 10pm next Wednesday. It has not yet been announced whether another comic will take her slot in the final. (Update: When the heat aired it was announced that runner-up Jake Donaldson would be taking her place)

The final will air on BBC One at 10.40pm on Wednesday November 13, the broadcaster has announced.

The showcase, recorded at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham will be hosted by former winner Lucy Beaumont and feature Babatunde Aléshé, as guest host. There will also be a performance by 2023  New Comedy Award winner Joe Kent-Walters, AKA Frankie Monroe. 

Beaumont said: ‘I remember how exciting it is to start out in a comedy career and I’m honoured to share the stage with such incredible new talent as they begin, what is sure to be, long careers in the industry."’

Aléshé added: ‘We’ve been all over the place and we’ve seen some exceptional talent. Of the 30 amazing semi-finalists, we’re down to just six. It’s going to be tough to decide who is going to take the crown, but I’m really excited about it.’

The winners of each heat were;

Leicester: Dane ​Buckley

An Irish Indian gay comic from a council estate in North West London who began performing in 2022 after taking part in a comedy course. He has since supported the likes of Rosie Jones 

and Tom Allen on tour, and appeared on Comedy Central and at Latitude this summer. 

Other semi-finalists:  Kathy Rivett, Hasan Al-Habib, Sharon Wanjohi and Holly Ludlow

Pontypridd: Paul Hilleard

The comic originates from South Wales and lives in Bristol as ‘there is no comedy scene in the valleys, just people talking into puddles’. Hilleard was a semi-finalist in Leicester Square Theatre’s New Comedian of the Year in 2023

Other semi-finalists: Louie McLean, Suri Ashish, Sarah Roberts, and Josh Harvey as Bernard Guff

Crofton Park: Maia Tassalin

A writer and performer who came to comedy through theatre and Improv, She Wrote and produced her own short film which won best comedy at the London Independent Film Festival in 2023.

Other semi-finalists: Muhsin Yesilada, Limahl Germain, Alfie Packham and Frankie Thompson

Belfast: Marty ​Gleeson

The 2024 LGBTQ+ New Comedian of the Year winner Gleeson recently featured in the showcase for the Sean Lock Comedy Award run by Channel 4, too. She sold her MacBook to move from Ireland to London, where she finally made the leap from stand-up comedy fan to performer, with her first gig in Kentish Town. She was also a West End New Act of the Year finalist 2022 and Leicester Square New Comedian finalist 2023.  

Other semi-finalists: Ciaran Franco, Adam Perrott, Bert Broadbent and Mark Moloney 

Paisley: Jonathan Oldfield 

Jonathan Oldfield directed last year’s winner, Joe Kent Walters, in his debut show Frankie Monroe: Live!!! which won the best newcomer award at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Awards. He already works for the BBC as co-co-creator of BBC Radio 4's character comedy series Time of the Week starring Sian Clifford. He has previously been runner-up at the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off.

Other semi-finalists: Craig Scott, Maddy Fernando, JoJo Maberly and Katie McLeod

Lancaster: Marie Goulbourne

The Wigan-based comic started stand-up in her 20s but quit to concentrate on a legal career. However she returned to the North West comedy scene in 2021, where she was starting to make waves. 

She died five days after her heat, and her sister Jacqueline wrote on social media: ‘he had a wonderful week before she passed.  She won a comedy competition with family and friends cheering her on in the audience, she spent a day in the country with her dearest friends, and we spent a fun evening where she cooked a special meal and we watched one of the daft Chinese dramas I got her hooked on.'  [Read more: Comic Marie Gouldbourne dies at 46]

 When the heat aired it was announced that runner-up Jake Donaldson would be taking her place. He is an anecdotal stand-up who draws on his  life as a partially sighted person, who grew up in the North East of England with a disabled, working-class dad. He made his debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 with his show Help! I’m Trapped In The Body Of An Adequate Comedian.

Other semi-finalists: Maria Fedulova, Rachel Hough and Samira Banks 

Also judging the final are comics Josh Pugh and Shaparak Khorsandi.

The winner will receive a paid commission to write and perform a 30-minute audio pilot under the mentorship of a BBC comedy commissioner, plus a trophy and £1,000 cash.  

In addition, this year’s winner will perform live on the BBC as part of Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day night of TV in March 2025

Last year’s winner, Kent-Walters – a previous winner of the Chortle Student Comedy Award – added: "It has been such an incredible experience this past year. My life has changed in ways I could only have dreamed of. 

‘It’s still such a surreal feeling, it took a while to sink in that I had won. I think the icing on the cake to round it all off will be performing at this year’s grand final and handing the baton on to this year’s winner.’

Now in its 29^th year, the BBC New Comedy Awards have helped launch the careers of so many well-known comedy greats including Peter Kay, Lee Mack, John Oliver, Russell Howard, Alan Carr, Sarah Millican, Josie Long and Joe Lycett. 

Made by: Phil McIntyre Television
Commissioned by: Jon Petrie, director of BBC Comedy
Series producer: Lindsay Jex
Executive producers: Lucy Ansbro and Jane Rogerson
Commissioning editors for the BBC: Ben Caudell, Navi Lamba and Roya Eslami.

Published: 31 Oct 2024