The annual Leicester Comedy Festival awards ceremony will this year be broadcast live on Facebook from 7pm on Monday 30th March.  Comedians and venues who took part in the festival have previously been announced as nominees and are being encouraged to tune in online and join in by dressing up and sharing pictures using #comedyawards

Best show nominees include Alex Hylton, Paul Currie, Scott Bennett, Olga Koch, Nathan Cassidy, Tory Hawke, Sikisa, Sian Davies, Chloe Petts, Fiona Ridgewell, Pascal Cameron, Your Dad’s Mum (Kevin Dewsbury & Bexie Archer) Friz Frizzle, MCUsical, Good Kids, Harry & Chris, The Improlectuals, The Oxford Imps, Chris Betts, Rhymes Against Humanity, It’s Hot, It’s Not, Joe Zalias, Kyle D Evans and The Extraordinary Time-Travelling Adventures of Baron Munchausen.  People wanting to watch the ceremony can search for Leicester Comedy Festival on Facebook.

For the third year running members of the public have voted for their favourite venues and all the winners will be announced at the ceremony on Monday night.  A special guest host has been lined up, and the organisers are promising a few surprises at the event, including the presentation of the Legend of Comedy Award which has previously been presented to Victoria Wood, Ken Dodd, Jo Brand, Norman Wisdom and Rik Mayall.

The awards, set up in 2006, recognise the contribution people make to the February festival and include awards for Best Show, Best Debut Show, Best Venue, Best Promoter, Best Community Project and Contribution to Leicester Comedy Festival 2020. 

This year some of the awards have been decided by a group of members of the public who applied to become members of the Awards Panel. 28 comedy fans, many of whom came from across the UK, were selected to see shows and then decide the winners. They collectively saw over 502 shows which self-selected themselves into the various awards

Leicester Comedy Festival Director, Geoff Rowe, said: “in light of everything that is going on at the moment, we knew we couldn’t host an actual live ceremony as we normally do.  This is a huge shame as our awards ceremony has become a key date in the comedy calendar, and enables us to celebrate what happens each February at Leicester Comedy Festival, and also allows us to say thank you to everyone who gets involved.  So, like many events, we are now going online and hope loads of people will be able to join in from their own homes. 

I hope that as many people as possible, who were involved in Leicester Comedy Festival 2020 will tune in, but also I hope the evening can maybe act as an opportunity for the entire comedy community to come together at the same time.  So many people are doing such incredible projects at the moment, but we know what loads of comedians and people are missing is being together at shows and events.  Join us on Monday evening, dress up smart and send us your photos using #comedyawards.”     

Leicester Comedy Festival 2020 saw the return of the UK Pun Championships, Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Competition, Comedy in the Dark and Hotel De Comedie as well as appearances by comedians including Jo Brand, Johnny Vegas, Stewart Lee, Milton Jones, Shappi Khorsandi, Fascinating Aida, Paul Sinha, Josie Long, Jason Byrne, Tony Slattery, Angela Barnes, Griff Rhys Jones, Andy Parsons, John Shuttleworth, Dane Baptiste, Rhod Gilbert, Mark Steel, Flo & Joan, Arthur Smith and Reg D Hunter.  

A special Lifetime Contribution Award will also be presented on the night, to someone or an organisation who has made a significant contribution to the festival over a number of years.

The full list of nominees are: 

Best Show       
Alex Hylton: Get Rich or Die Cryin

Paul Currie: Trufficle Musk (2020)
Scott Bennett: Relax
Olga Koch: If/Then
Nathan Cassidy: Observational
Troy Hawke: Tiles Of The Unexpected
   
Best Debut Show
Sikisa: I'm A 7
Sian Davies: About Time
Chloe Petts: Alpha
Fiona Ridgewell: Contender
Pascal Cameron: Hairballs
Your Dad’s Mum: Tues Night @ Social Club

Best Musical Show
Friz Frizzle: Heaven Knows I'm Friz Frizzle Now

MCUsical: The Unofficial Marvel Parody Musical
Good Kids: Golden Years
Harry and Chris: This One's For The Aliens

Best Impro Show

The Improlectuals
The Oxford Imps
Chris Betts vs The Audience
Rhymes Against Humanity: The Improvised Musical

Best Kids Show
It’s Hot, It’s Not

Joe Zalias: Horrible Stunts for Kids
The Extraordinary Time-Travelling Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Blue Planet III
Maths Madness with Kyle D Evans

Liberty Award                         

Doorstep Comedy Club
Esquires & Al Jumeirah Shisha Bar

Furthest From The Sea
PETER Pizzeria
Leicestershire Press & Demon FM

Best Promoter                                 

Doorstep Comedy Club
Joke On Us
TripleCeePee
Furthest From The Sea
Just The Tonic

Community Award   
Headway
Age UK Leicester
The Samaritans and LAMP
Warning Zone
New Horizons in British Islam

Contribution to LCF20
Barry Bulsara/Lest-ha! Poster
Sairah Butt – The BIG Weekend Harborough District
Patrick Monahan
Festival volunteers

Sturgess Motor Group & Charlie Sturgess

Business of the year
The Miller Partnership 

24SevenSameDay

Red Monkey
Everards Brewery
Union JACK Radio
Eileen Richards Recruitment