The line up for the Beat the Frog World Series Final is at the Frog and Bucket on Monday 6th November has been revealed. The finalists were plucked from five heats across the whole of October and the ultimate event will be compered by Brennan Reece, a former winner himself.
The finalists are:
Qasim Akhtar – British Pakistani from Bury, likes to follow rivers from mouth to source on Google Maps.
Alex Bertulis-Fernandes - from London, ‘dropped out of the Uni with no degree. Of self awareness.’
Caryl Burke – Welsh, often mistaken for American, likes Tom Hanks films.
Adam Evans – originally from Brighton, reviews crisps on the internet.
Kevin Finn – Irish mammy, British dad, born in Canada - accent mixed!
Peter Jones – all the way from Australia, now based in London ‘I think I’m the first to do that…’
Rheanon Lee – ‘using comedy to navigate womanhood; has double Ds – a disability and delusional aspirations’.
Daniel McCreanor – Northern Irish comedian and big Doctor Who fan.
Blank Peng – in her own words ‘404 not found’.
Al Stevenson – ‘Part time Marine Biologist, full time Geordie with ADHD, messy but fun!’
As it is 20 years of the World Series and the 21st final Next Up will stream the show live!
Beat the Frog is a weekly, gong-style new act night, which grew out of The Frog’s original amateur night. At the top of the show three audience members are supplied with red cards, while acts try to impress for a full five minutes. But if all three of those cards are held aloft the act is croaked off the stage. At the end a winner is selected from those who ‘beat the frog’. All of those winners throughout the year are put forward to compete in the World Series every autumn.
The Frog and Bucket has been instrumental in nurturing the talents of many famous comedians. John Bishop’s first ever gig was famously at the Frog’s amateur night. Peter Kay and Johnny Vegas were both regulars on the bill at the club. Jack Whitehall used to pop in performing early gigs when he was a student at Manchester Uni. Plus the likes of Sarah Millican, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Dave Gorman and Lucy Porter regularly graced the stage too.
Even the audiences feature comedy royalty as Caroline Aherne was a keen attender of the amateur night back in the early days, coming in with her then hubby New Order’s Peter Hook.
2020’s winner Dan Tiernan went on to win the BBC New Comedy Award and his critically acclaimed debut show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards - Best Newcomer.
Previous winners have included the writer of the popular I See You column Sam Gore, the award winning Mock the Week writer Rob Mulholland, comedy scene favourite Carl Hutchinson and Kathryn Mather who has gone from strength to strength on the comedy circuit.
The final is on Monday, November 6. Buy tickets here or watch on Next Up.
