Australian comedian Peter Jones has won this year’s Beat the Frog World Series. Northern Irish comedian Daniel McCreanor was runner up in a vote by the audience and Qasim Akhtar from Bury won the special panel prize
The winners were decided at the final on Monday 6th November at Manchester's Frog And Bucket club - compered by former winner Brennan Reece - having been whittled down from five heats across last month. The other finalists were Alex Bertulis-Fernandes, Caryl Burke, Adam Evans, Kevin Finn, Rheanon Lee, Blank Peng and Al Stevenson.
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.
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.
2020’s winner Dan Tiernan went on to win the BBC New Comedy Award and his 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 first incarnation of the Frog and Bucket comedy club was in 1994 in the room above The Britannia pub in Manchester. It proved so popular that just a year later it moved around the corner to its current, dedicated premises on the edge of the Northern Quarter district of the city centre. David’s daughter Jessica Toomey is now at the helm as this Manchester institution fast approaches its 30th birthday.
Winners pictured l-r: Qasim Akhtar, Dan McCreanor and Peter Jones
