The eight acts have been announced for this year's Amused Moose National New Comic Final.

Nearly 500 entries by the UK and Ireland's keenest fledgling comedians were sifted online by the comedy industry judges to select just 80 stand out stand-ups to perform live in the Amused Moose National New Comic Awards quarter finals.

And now after the semi finals in Soho, there are eight finalists who will be showcased in the twentieth Amused Moose National New Comic Final at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, eager to follow in the footsteps of previous winners Rob Beckett, Sarah Millican and Jack Whitehall and claim their shiny moose trophy.

The finalists are Babatunde Aleshe, Basil Jamm, Dan Jones, Michael Akadiri, Patrick Spicer, Russell Arathoon, Stuart McPherson and Ruby Carr (pictured top left to bottom right)i)

The final will take place on 19 August at Grassmarket Centre, Candlemaker Row, EH1 2QA. Buy tickets here.

The prestigious Amused Moose National New Comic Final is perennially popular with Fringe comedygoers who love voting for their favourites while talentspotting the stars of the future, so that already 40% of tickets have been sold over 4 months ahead on edfringe.com

Anyone who can't make it to Edinburgh can get a sneak preview when these very entertaining finalists perform on both days of the inaugural Big Funny Fest in Richmond in June, compered by Marcel Lucont and Mark Dolan.

Amused moose has also launched a YouTube channel (YouTube.com/amusedmoosecomedy) with uploads of this year's finalists, and other recent finalists too, performing and being interviewed by Mark Dolan, and some intriguing Amused Moose archive footage too - with more being added as fast as we can.