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CityLife Comedian Of The Year Final
POLITICALLY-correct comedy is dead, to judge by this year’s winner of the CityLife Comedian Of The Year competition.
Acid-tongued Eddie Hoo, whose fearless and foul-mouthed act includes bad-taste gags about sex, disability and being a drunken, girlfriend-less Chinese man picked up a £1,000 first prize from compere John Thomson at the Comedy Store on Sunday evening, beating eight other finalists including second-place winner Ben Davis and third-place Mick Sargeant.
Ironically, Thomson, making his first appearance as a stand-up comedian for several years, performed part of his compering duties as his character Bernard Right-On, a hilarious parody of politically-correct comedians and mirror-image of the likes of the late Bernard Manning.
The Cold Feet star took a break from filming a part in Coronation Street and preparing for his role as Captain Hook in this year’s Opera House panto Peter Pan to helm the event, which he himself once competed in when he was a regular on the Manchester comedy circuit alongside his pals Steve Coogan and Caroline Aherne.
World-famous
In fact, Aherne, who went on to become world-famous for her character Mrs. Merton and for her starring role in TV hit The Royle Family, was the first ever CityLife Comedian Of The Year winner in the early Nineties Subsequent winners of the annual competition have included Peter Kay, Dave Spikey, Jason Manford and John Bishop, while other competitors have included Johnny Vegas and Dave Gorman.
This year’s winner, competing at the Comedy Store at the climax of this year’s Manchester Comedy Festival, had come through a series of heats at the popular XS Malarkey comedy club in Fallowfield.
The judges, who included M.E.N. editor Paul Horrocks, Comedy Store boss Don Ward, comedy reviewers Marissa Burgess and Steve Bennett, and M.E.N. writer Kevin Bourke, took only a few minutes to reach their decision after watching the comedians, also including Joe Lycett (who had come through on a ‘wildcard’ vote from visitors to the CityLife.co.uk website), Mick McGrath, Phil Buckley, Rachel Fairburn, Gareth Urwin and Rod Shepherd, along with a packed and raucous house.
Eddie Hoo, they agreed, “wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste” but, on the night, was as funny as he was outrageous, while other competitors in the prestigious competition were accomplished but often lacked distinctive material.
Who do you think should have won? Have your say.
Watch Eddie Hoo in action - http://www.citylife.co.uk/video/comedy/1813625889/Citylife.co.uk%20Comedian%20of%20the%20Year%20'08%20-%20Eddie%20Hoo
Reviewed: Mon, 27 October, 2008
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