Winner of the BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016 announced
Cardiff-based Jethro Bradley has been announced as the winner of the BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016.
Published: 14 August 2016
I’m delighted that Jethro now joins the group of talented comedians that we have got to know through the Awards since 1995.
The final broadcast live from Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 14 August, at 6.15pm on BBC Radio 4. Hosted by Mark Watson and judged by comedians Mark Steel, Katy Wix and John Finnemore, the BBC’s head of comedy Chris Sussman and commissioning editor for comedy for BBC Radio 4 and 4 Extra Sioned Wiliam, the final saw six comedians go head to head for the sought-after award.
Born in Windsor, raised in Cardiff, Jethro got into comedy via the improv scene in London and has been performing stand-up regularly around the UK for just over three years. He recently won the Welsh Unsigned Stand-Up Award 2016 at the Glee Club in Cardiff and is a winner of the King Gong at The Comedy Store. He’s also a finalist in the Leicester Square Theatre New Act of the Year 2015 and the Comedy Café New Act of the Year 2015.
On winning this year’s Award, Jethro says: “I’m feeling ever so slightly surreal, it’s like it could be happening to someone else who’s borrowed my body and my name! Winning this award is validation after spending a good portion of my life in various strange basements of pubs, struggling alongside many other talented people who would also want to be standing here tonight, so it’s a massive pat on the back and I hope it means I’ll be able to do much more comedy.”
Jethro takes home £1,000 and a 15-minute script commission from BBC Radio Comedy. The winner will be mentored by the in-house comedy department and receive guidance and development from BBC Radio Comedy.
Sioned Wiliam, commissioning editor for comedy for BBC Radio 4 and 4 Extra and judge, says: “All six finalists were outstanding tonight, but in the end it was a unanimous decision to give Jethro the BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016. He is a very assured performer, had some brilliantly written lines and there’s something about him that feels incredibly original.”
Year after year the BBC Radio New Comedy Award finds the best up-and-coming stand-up talent across the nation. And with previous winners and finalists including comedy royalty Alan Carr, Peter Kay, Sarah Millican, Lee Mack, Russell Howard, Josie Long and Shappi Khorsandi, entrants get the chance to follow in the footsteps of some of today’s comedy greats.
Recent winners include 2011’s Angela Barnes, whose since made appearances on The Now Show and Mock The Week as well as a Radio 4 series, Angela Barnes: You Can’ Take It With You; 2012’s Lucy Beaumont, whose show To Hull And Back is now in its second series on Radio 4; and 2015’s Yuriko Kotani who appeared on Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central this year.
This year’s host, Mark Watson says: “The acts were all excellent tonight, everyone up there showed they had the potential to go on and have longer careers in comedy. Anyone who reaches the final of the BBC Radio New Comedy Award must have the potential to do something really special and it’s important for competitions like this to bring those people to light.”
Gwyneth Williams, Controller Radio 4 and 4 Extra, says: “Congratulations to Jethro Bradley for winning the BBC Radio New Comedy Award. Radio 4 has a long history of supporting new comedy talent, broadcasting more original comedy than anyone anywhere else in the world, and I’m delighted that Jethro now joins the group of talented comedians that we have got to know through the awards since 1995.”
This year 60 acts competed in six regional heats held across London, Manchester and Cardiff in June. Twelve were then chosen to perform in the semi-finals on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 August before six acts were put through to the final, both at the BBC hub at Edinburgh Fringe, George Heriot’s School.
Other acts to compete in this year’s final included Sindhu Vee, George Lewis, Lauren Pattison, Michael Odewale and Catherine Bohart.
RHS
