The City Life Comedian of the Year competition is held annually in Manchester, and sponsored by the City Life magazine.
The competition began in 1990, and has become one of the most prestigious comedy awards in the North West of England, mostly based on the subsequent success of many of its entrants and winners.
The competition is open to all, and early heats often have a broad mix of talent and ability. From each heat, the entrants are whittled down to eight finalists.
In the first year, the competition was won by Caroline Aherne, who went on to create Mrs Merton and The Royle Family and in subsequent years all three writers of the successful sitcom Phoenix Nights - Peter Kay, Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice - won the competition. Notable runners-up include Dave Gorman, Archie Kelly and Johnny Vegas.
Read more about City Life Comedian Of The Year: Winners
Famous quotes containing the words city, life, comedian and/or year:
“A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“He had never learned to live without delight. And he would have to learn to, just as, in a Prohibition country, he supposed he would have to learn to live without sherry. Theoretically he knew that life is possible, may be even pleasant, without joy, without passionate griefs. But it had never occurred to him that he might have to live like that.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“Creator—A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)