Line-up for Manchester new act hunt revealed

Manchester comedy club The Frog & Bucket has announced the line-up for this year’s Beat The Frog World Series final.

The contest is now in its 19th year – and following the final gong-show heat last night the finalists have been confirmed as:

Dane Buckley: Described as the world’s only left-handed, Irish, Indian, gay comedian who grew up on a council estate in Harrow.

James Ellis: A veteran of the comedy final, who comes from Crawley and who worries about his weight.

Katie Gill-Williams: With tales from her journey from her upbringing Widnes to living the dream on the north Wales coast.

Bennet Kavanagh: Comedian, writer and musician.

Molly McGuinness: Sharply sardonic Manchester stand-up and previous BBC New Comedy Award finalist.

Sergi Polo: All the way from Barcelona and ‘as far away from his family as he can get’.

Faizan Shah: A Manchester local with a cerebral take on the world and of growing up in an immigrant household.

Richard Spalding: Describes himself as ‘a polite man with glasses from the Midlands… unremarkable in just about every conceivable way’

Viggo Venn: Norwegian clown with an impressive line in party tricks and silly noises.

Amy Webber: A musical comedian employing irony and sarcasm as well as her phenomenal singing voice.

The final takes place next Monday, November 7.

At Beat the Frog every Monday night, the audience are given the choice whether the acts stay on stage to deliver their full five minutes of material or are ‘croaked’ off before their time.  

Last year’s competition was won by Glaswegian Liam Farrelly, with Jenny Hart as runner up and a special panel prize going to Indian comic Ashish Suri.

Previous winners include Sam Gore, Brennan Reece and Dan Tiernan, who is taking part in the BBC New Comedy Award final in Cardiff tonight.

Published: 1 Nov 2022