Barry Cryer has been named The Legend of Comedy at this year's Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival Awards ceremony. Previous legends, voted for by the public, have included Rik Mayall, Ken Dodd and Sir Norman Wisdom.
On receiving the award Cryer, who still performs live with Ronnie Golden, said: “Thank you for this, I'm so thrilled. I love Leicester. Ronnie and I used to play the clubs here. I'm 81 on Wednesday, I don't know how long I've got left- I don't even buy green bananas any more! But seriously , it's such a joy to be here to receive the Legend of Comedy award."
A number of other awards were also handed out at the event at the Mercure Grand Hotel hosted by Phil Nichol. Winners were as follows:
Best Show – John Gordillo for Progress in Work.
Best Debut Show – Dude Looks Like A Lady, the five-strong sketch team comprising Jessica Ashworth, Juliet Catton, Rebecca Baron, Leanne Davis and Amanda Stauffer.
Leicestershire’s Favourite Joke sponsored by local brewery Everards – Gary Delaney for: “Dave drowned. So at the funeral we got him a wreath in the shape of a lifebelt. Well, it's what he would have wanted”.
Best Venue, Over 200 capacity – The Little Theatre
Best Venue, Under 200 capacity – The Criterion
Best New Venue, any capacity – Bob’s Blundabus
Best Promoter – The Cookie Comedy Club
Best Poster – Paul Foot’s Game of Dangers
Lifetime Contribution – students from De Montfort University
Brewery Everards won the Contribution to the 2016 Festival Award, with their Tiger Beer being the official drink of the festival. The brewery was also recongised for its continued support throughout the years by hosting events at many of its venues across the city.
Jokes on Us Free Festival presented 24 ‘pay what you want’ shows at the festival this year, and took the Liberty Award, which is decided by performers and members of the public tweeting about their favourite events.
The Make Me Happy Community Project Award went to the Loving Laughing Project, a community project supported by Leicester schools and the British Council, which saw pupils from 28 schools across Europe - including England, Greece, Spain, Poland, Turkey and France – telling their favourite jokes online as a celebration of cross-cultural humour.
Festival director, Geoff Rowe said “Our annual Awards Ceremony celebrates the best established and emerging performers at the festival, and is a great way for us to acknowledge the comedians, promoters, venues and staff who make Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival such a success. Barry Cryer, this year’s Legend of Comedy award-winner, was recognised for his outstanding contribution to British comedy spanning five decades. A truly deserved win by a living legend”.
Judging process: All shows listed in the office festival guide are checked for eligibility. Every eligible show is seen by members of the awards panel in combination with members of the admin team and carefully selected scouts. The Awards panel is made up of previous panelists, people working in comedy and comedy fans from all over the country.
