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Final Tonight
The excitment has reached fever-pitch here; we've helped whittle down the candidates at the Manchester Semi Final and tonight's the big one! Get down to The Comedy Store in Picadilly and give the girls some support!
The excitment has reached fever-pitch here; we've helped whittle down the candidates at the Manchester Semi Final and tonight's the big one! Get down to The Comedy Store in Picadilly and give the girls some support!
Meet The Finalists!
With the final looming, why not check out the ten girls who have made it all the way to the final of this year's Nivea Funny Women Awards!
With the final looming, why not check out the ten girls who have made it all the way to the final of this year's Nivea Funny Women Awards!
Finalists Announced!
After two high-quality semi-finals in Manchester and London Funny Women are proud to announce the 10 female acts who have made it through to the charity final of the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards:
After two high-quality semi-finals in Manchester and London Funny Women are proud to announce the 10 female acts who have made it through to the charity final of the 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards:
- Sarah Campbell
- Pippa Evans as Loretta Maine
- Rachel Fairburn
- Girl & Dean (Jess Ransom & Sarah Dean)
- Rowena Haley
- Grainne Maguire
- Elaine Malcolmson
- Sara Pascoe
- Katherine Ryan
- Rachel Stubbings
The NIVEA Funny Women Awards received a record number of entries this year, and the producers increased the number places in the semi-finals by 25% to ensure that this level of enthusiasm and talent for live comedy was properly represented.
The competition for a place in the final was fiercer than ever, and the ten finalists had be truly impressive to get through. All of the 25 acts in the semi-finals were exceptional and narrowing the list down to 10 proved very difficult for the judges.
"The level of ability and talent this year has just been so high," says Funny Women's producer Lynne Parker, "Judging has been very difficult – so many strong acts and this means that the ten acts going through to this year's final really are the creme de la creme of new female comedy."
"We are very excited about this year's final," adds Lynne. "We are also showcasing past winners with Zoe Lyons (2004) as our compere for the evening and last year's winner Andi Osho (2007) performing a guest spot. It promises to be a brilliant night!"
"We are very excited about this year's final," adds Lynne. "We are also showcasing past winners with Zoe Lyons (2004) as our compere for the evening and last year's winner Andi Osho (2007) performing a guest spot. It promises to be a brilliant night!"
Semi-Final Videos
We've talked about the semi-finals, but don't take our word for it - why don't you watch all the girls at this year's Manchester and London semi-finals? Go on, what else are you going to be doing today, work?
We've talked about the semi-finals, but don't take our word for it - why don't you watch all the girls at this year's Manchester and London semi-finals? Go on, what else are you going to be doing today, work?
Funny Women May Round-Up
It's been a funny old May over here at Funny Women. The 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards are chugging along nicely, with talented and funny women taking the stage all over the country in the hopes of a place in the June Semi-Finals. There's still several showcases to go before we can announce the Semi-Finalists and the judges are busier than ever.
It's been a funny old May over here at Funny Women. The 2008 NIVEA Funny Women Awards are chugging along nicely, with talented and funny women taking the stage all over the country in the hopes of a place in the June Semi-Finals. There's still several showcases to go before we can announce the Semi-Finalists and the judges are busier than ever.
We've had so many entrants this year that there has had to be a new showcase added to the NIVEA Funny Women Awards for June. We've added this new showcase at Studio Valbonne to make sure that all the acts that have applied for a place in this year's competition have their time on stage. It will serve as the penultimate showcase, bringing our total this year to 16 showcases across the UK and Ireland.
We've also made the decision to expand the number of acts making it through to the Semi-Finals this year. Final numbers are still to be determined, but the quality of comics appearing so far has meant that we've decided to increase the number of possible Semi-Final places from 20 to 25 – only time (and the remaining showcases) will tell if we actually have 25 acts to put through.
Preparations are also underway for the NIVEA Funny Women at the Fringe Award that will take place this August in Edinburgh. Watch this space for more details.