Laughing Horse New Act of the Year

Congratulations to the 2007 Winner of the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition, Daniel Rigby, who won an extremely competitive final, that was full of superb comedy from start to Finish, and who left with the main prize including the �1,000 winners cheque. 2nd Place was Jack Whitehall, 3rd Place was Stuart Black and judges special mentions on the night went to Liz Carr and Andrew Watts.

Nearly 200 people were packed into the Laughing Horse's Wimbledon venue, the Watershed, to enjoy a night of superb comedy from 12 new acts, all of whom made sure that this was probably the strongest final in seven years of this competition. Kevin McCarron compered the night and introduced the first competitior, Matt Rudge, onstage, who set the bar high with a face paced and energetic start to the night. Following this came some strong material from Andrew Watts, who comes across as a slightly awkward middle-class executive, and then Icelandic comic performer Snorri Hergil Kristiansson, who despite loosing his way early in his set picked up with some witty views on England from the perspective of an Icelander. Finishing the first section was eventual 2nd place act Jack Whitehall with his silly brand of observational material.

Starting the second section was Liz Carr, who performed a strong series of gags around her disability and fitted in a neat call-back to previous comic, Andrew Watts set. Following this was fast talking Rob Alderson, and then Mowten, who was ably supported by both his belly and a set of some very original material. Last up in the second section was Irish comedienne Grainne Maguire, who posseses a likeable dry wit and some good observations on her Irish life.

The third section started with fast paced comic Joe K, who was followed by Stuart Black, who performed some brilliant material on life's little annoyances, and Chinese-Canadian comedienne Joanne Lau who performed an neat set of observational jokes. Ending the show was the eventual winner Daniel Rigby, who even at the late stage of the night in which he appeared he wowed the audience and eventually the Judges with an immensely funny and well constructed set.

After the judges deliberations, the winners were announced by Laughing Horse Promoters Alex Petty and Kevin Mccarron, then everybody moved through to the back bar for a few post-gig drinks - only four months and the preparations for 2008 will begin!

Click Here for the Photo Gallery from the Night

Click Here for the Chortle Review of the Night

With all of the finalists giving strong performances on the night, this was one of the strongest finals to date, and we're sure

The Full List of 2007 Finalists

Stuart Black

Jack Whitehall

Liz Carr

Andrew Watts

Joanne Lau

Daniel Rigby

Snorri Hergil Kristjannson

Joe-K

Mowten

Grainne Maguire

Rob Alderson

Matt Rudge

This years Final Judges were: Steve Bennett (Chortle), Lynne Parker (Funny Women), Julia Chamberlain (So You Think You're Funny), Alex Roachford (Comedy Store) and Brett Vincent (Underbelly)

Semi Final Results:

28th: Winner: Daniel Rigby, 2nd: rob Alderson, 3rd: Matt Rudge

27th: Winner: Joanne Lau, 2nd: Adam Terry, 3rd: Henry Paker

21st: Winner: Andrew Watts, Joint 2nd: Mowten and Grainne Maguire, Joint 3rd: Kate Smurfwaite and Maff Brown

(A very strong night on the 21st - with only 6 points seperateing the top seven acts: Commendations must also go to Nick Pettigrew , Duncan Hart and Peter Beckley who all narrowly missed out on top-three placing)

20th: Winner: Liz Carr, 2nd: Prince Abdi, 3rd: Crispin Flintoff

14th: - Winner: Jack Whitehall, 2nd: Joe K, 3rd: James Everett

13th: - Winner: Staurt Black, 2nd: Snorri Hergill Kristjansson, 3rd: Okse

SEMI-FINAL Line-Ups

Fri 13 Apr

Darshan Sanghrajka, Timothy Telling, Tommy Mack, Jane Hill, Okse, Tory Gillespie, Stuart Black, Andrew Wallace, Snorri Hergill Kristjansson, Jasan Kavan, Brendan Naughton

Click here to book tickets

Sat 14 Apr

James Everett, Caroline Clifford, Maureen Younger, Julian Deane, Joe-K, Stuart Reynolds, Aaron Rice, Shed Simove, Rob Deb, Mike Switzer, Jack Whitehall

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Fri 20 Apr

Liam Spears, Prince Abdi, Inel, Rachel Boxall, Ben Van Der Velde, Nadeem Rangzeb, Liz Carr, Luke Benson,Crispin Flintoff, Chris Forbes, Anthony Murray, Paul Rickets

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Sat 21 Apr

Nick Pettigrew, Peter Beckley, Andrew Watts, Duncan Hart, Kate Snurfwaite, Dave Florez, Grainne Maguire, Mowten, James Kane, Thomas Neumark, Arjun Medhu, Maff Brown, Vikki Stone

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Fri 27 Apr

Adam Terry, Tyson Boyce, Joanne Lau, Joey Page, Toby Whithouse, Gerry Howell , PaulMacCaffrey, Rik Moore, Henry Paker, Alex Courtley, Nick Rado, Lenny Peters

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Sat 28 Apr

Matt Whiteley, James Mason, Rob Alderson, Daniel Rigby, Los Guapos, Colin Owens, David Lane, Stuart McCure, Sam Avery, Carly Baker, Matt Rudge, Simon Oats, The Men with Bannanas

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Simon Rutter, Tyson Jan 12th... The First week is over, and these are the qualifiers from the heats so far: Simon Rutter, Tyson Boyce, Danny Cox, Ham Yard Toursists, James Everett, Joe Bor, Nick Pettigrew, Matthew Whiteley, Luke Toulson, James Mason, Alan Hunter, Dave Florez, David Longstaff, Richard Sandling, Darshan Sanghrajka, Ben Van Der Velde, Henry Paker, Nick Hodder, Maff Brown, Matt Young, Inel, Megan Bennett , Thomas Neumark,Bryan Lacey, Gerry Howell, Toby Fairfax

Jan 7th... We're off and running with the first heats. we will attempt to update with qualifiers each weekend....

Click on the options below for more details....

Format of the Competition

In all rounds the winners and runners-up will be announced on the night - if an act cannot stay until the end of the evening they should ensure that the laughing Horse Promoters have their contact details to inform them of progression to the next round. If an act is uncontactable then we reserve the right to replace that act with another act.

1. Overall Format

Heats

(a) The Winner and four runner-up acts at each heat will qualify for the quarter-finals by audience voting.

(b) Additional qualifiers from heats may be decided by The Laughing Horse Promoters during the course of the first round, if further acts warrant being put through to the quarter finals stage

Quarter Finals

(a) The Winner and one runner-up act at each quarter final will qualify for the semi-finals by audience voting.

(b) Additional qualifiers, and best runner's-up from the quarter finals will be decided by The Laughing Horse Promoters during the course of the quarter finals.

5. The Semi Finals

(a) The Winner of each of the six semi-finals will qualify for the final by a mixture of audience voting and voting from Laughing Horse Promoters and comedy industry professionals.

(b) The remaining six Final places will be decided by laughing Horse Promoters and comedy Industry judges from the best runners-up and third places from each of the semi-finals – using average scores across all semi-finals - depending on the strength of individual semi-finals and semi-finalists this may mean more going through from one semi-final and less from others.

6. The Final

(a) The Winner, runner-up and third place acts will be announced on the night, along with any acts the judges decide to give an honourable mention.

(b) The Winner, runner-up and third place acts will be decided by a panel of Judges, including a Laughing Horse promoter, along with a selection of Comedy Industry professionals, promoters and acts - These judges will be announced before the final.

At all stages of this competition the Laughing Horse Promoters decisions are final. Laughing Horse Comedy reserve the right to make any decisions or changes that we see fit regarding this competition, at any time.

If you have any questions, please contact us on 07796 171 190 or info6@laughinghorse.co.uk

Click here to give us feedback and to discuss the competition in our Forums

2007 Winner - Daniel Rigby

2006 Winner - Carl Donnelley

2005 Winner - James Branch

2004 Winner - Russell Kane

2003 Winner Marek Larwood

2002 Winner Greg Davies

2001 Winner Matt Blaize