The last of the London Semi-finals took place in the beautifully air conditioned St. James Theatre on Thursday 18th July. Ten talented acts gave their best five minutes, leaving the audience and judges in stitches all night. The quality matched any professional comedy night in central London which is more impressive knowing some of these women are very new to the stage.
At each Funny Women Awards semi-final, a panel of judges selects the performer deemed to be the best on the night; that performer will automatically go through to the Funny Women Awards final on Monday 23rd September at the Leicester Square Theatre in London. One or two wild-cards will also be selected, who remain on a shortlist until the last semi-final has taken place at the Funny Women Pop Up Fringe, part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Once the semi-finals have been completed, the final selection of six wild-cards will be chosen to go through to the final.
However the standard of this night was so high, the judges couldn’t decide between charming Becky Brunning and her semi joke and hilariously crude mother Rachel Gleaves so had no choice but to put both comics straight through to the finals. Outrageous sketch duo Twisted Loaf and cutting Welsh stand up Bethan Roberts were the two wildcards who may be joining them in September.
Judges included Comedy writer and producers Elise Bramich and Rohan Acharya, Tamara Cowen from the Musical Comedy Awards, The Secret Variety Club’s Matthew Radway and the Funny Women team,
The next semi-final takes place in Brighton on Saturday 27th July. Find out more, and get your tickets HERE.
Pictured: Rachel Gleaves, Becky Brunning, Abi Roberts, Bethan Roberts and Twisted Loaf.
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