Watch clips from last night's London showcase

Omar Badawy was last night named as the second Chortle Hotshot of 2026 at a showcase in London.

He – along with the previously announced Paul Hilleard – receives some financial help towards his Edinburgh Fringe debut this summer.

The news comes after Badawy was named as one of the 20-strong writing team on the UK version of Saturday Night Live.

Originally from Egypt, Omar started stand-up in 2019 and, in his first year won the  So You Think You’re Funny award at the Edinburgh Fringe. He also made the final of the Chortle Student Comedy Award in 2021.

Our next Hotshots showcase is at Cultiplex, Manchester, from 5pm on Sunday (Tickets) where the performers will be Verity Sharpe, Sam Serrano, Clementine Bogg-Hargroves, Oliver Yates, Andrew Marsh, Mike Carter and Maxine Wade.

Here are the other performances from last night’s gig

Fab Goualin

Jonathan Oldfield

Lady Bolognese

Mark Daniels

Prateek Kohli

Rob Duncan 

Zhou Ning

Published: 5 Mar 2026