Leicester Comedy Festival has presented Lenny Henry with the Legend of Comedy award at their annual ceremony to honour comedians and others involved in the festival. The ceremony, in partnership with De Montfort University and DMU for Life and held online due to the Coronavirus, was hosted by comedian Zoe Lyons and featured video messages from the winners. The ceremony can be viewed by searching for Leicester Comedy Festival on Facebook.
Sir Lenny Henry joins previous recipients of the Legend of Comedy Award including Victoria Wood, Barry Cryer, Johnny Vegas, Rik Mayall, Jo Brand, Nicholas Parsons, Ken Dodd and Sir Norman Wisdom. Other winners at the ceremony this year included Mark Watson & No More Jockeys Live, Esther Manito, NextUp Comedy, Jonny Awsum, Pappy’s Flatshare Slamdown, Ahir Shah, Patrick Monahan, Triple-CeePee & Octopus Energy. Awards were presented by Wil Gompertz (BBC Arts Editor), Adnan Ahmed (Sky Comedy), Adam English (Union JACK Radio), Professor Katie Normington (Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University) and Festival Founding Director, Geoff Rowe.
The awards, set up in 2006, recognise the contribution people make to the February festivals and include awards for Best Festival Show, Best Festival Appearance, Best Promoter, Best Kids Show, Best Podcast, Best Community Project and Lifetime Contribution to Leicester Comedy Festival.
Festival director, Geoff Rowe said “last year was a very strange year for all of us, but I am so incredibly proud that with the support of so many people, we managed to produce both Leicester Comedy Festival and The UK Kids’ Comedy Festival in February 2021. Although things were a bit different, the festivals included over 350 performances, featuring over 150 comedians and over 27,000 people watched the online events from around the world.
It was particularly fantastic to be able to recognise Lenny Henry and present him with the Legend of Comedy Award. I’ve been a huge fan of Lenny since the early 1980s and it was amazing to honour the contribution he has made to British comedy. Huge congratulations to him and all the other nominees and winners. We’ll see you all again when Leicester Comedy Festival & The UK Kids’ Comedy Festival return in February 2022!”
Winners at the Leicester Comedy Festival Awards ceremony were:
Best Show Esther Manito
Best Festival Appearance Ahir Shah
Best Kids Show Jonny Awsum
Best Podcast Pappy’s Flatshare Slamdown
Liberty Award/Spirit of the Festival No More Jockeys Live/Triple-CeePee
Best Promoter TripleCeePee
Tracey Miller Community Award A Place To Grow – Blaby District
Contribution to LCF21 NextUp Comedy
Business of the year Octopus Energy
Student of the Year sponsored by De Montfort University Abby Li & Josh Sinnassamy
Lifetime Contribution Patrick Monahan
Legend of Comedy Lenny Henry
