Finalists announced in £10,001 stand-up competition

The finalists have been announced for the biggest prize in stand-up comedy.

Unlikely as it seems, the fringe festival in the village of Petworth, West Sussex – population 3,027 – is offering a £10,001 prize to the winner of its comedian of the year competition.

The prize – put up by an anonymous donor – is £1 more that the Edinburgh Comedy Award, and organiser Andy Stedman says he has secured the same funding for the next two years.

Following a series of nationwide heats, the comics who stand a chance of winning it are Alistair Williams, Charmian Hughes, Karen Bayley, Luke Toulson, Mark Simmons, Nick Page, Simon Lomas, Tim Clark and Tom Glover.

It will be decided in the final  at Leconfield Hall, Petworth, this Sunday.

The competition was open to any comedian of any standing, performing ten minutes each, with stand-up Mike Gunn heading the judging panel at each gig. A total of 876 acts entered.

Writing on the official website, Stedman said the inspiration for the award was that ’in order to be authentic a great comedy performance does not necessarily need to be making a deep political statement, or be inspired by a family death, or plot the painful journey of the comedian’s personal suffering. 

‘This competition should be about making people laugh, in comedy clubs. Normal people on a night out, looking to be entertained and go home with their faces aching from laughing.’

Published: 3 Jul 2018