Dan Tiernan wins Beat The Frog 2020 competition
- Dan Tiernan was the winner of the Beat The Frog World Series 2020 new act competition
- He says: "I'm so happy to win, in particular it feels amazing to win in the place I started comedy"
- Charlie Lewis was the runner-up, and Adam Flood was awarded the panel prize
Stand-up Dan Tiernan was the winner of the Frog And Bucket's Beat The Frog World Series 2020 new act competition.
The runner up was Charlie Lewis and a special panel prize award went to Adam Flood.
Talking about their winner, the venue explains: "Dan was one of the first students of the Frog's stand-up courses four years ago and has dabbled in DJing and being a magician; he's also worked as a dinner man! He currently works as support staff in a care home for young asylum seekers."
Tiernan said "I'm so happy to win", adding: "I did my first ever gig at the Frog And Bucket four years ago, which makes this even more special. It was such a tough line up, everyone smashed it."
The final took place last night (Monday 2nd November) at the Manchester venue in front of a socially-distanced audience.
The other finalists were Emily Cartwright, L. J. Francis, Lucy Holbrook, Matt McCann, Karl Potter, Alex Stringer and Aaron Wood.
Talking about the variety of the line-up, the venue says: "This year's contestants include students, graduates of the Frog's comedy course, a lecturer in psychology, a tattoo artist, a gardener, a call centre manager, an act who uses an electronic device to speak, a socially awkward author, a former rough sleeper who used to work as a glow in the dark hand in a haunted house and a support worker for offenders who is registered blind.
"They are born in Nairobi, a part Native American Canadian, a Scot, from Leeds and from closer to home - Wythenshawe."
The Frog And Bucket is currently running a crowdfunding campaign, after it missed out of Arts Council England funding to help venues struggling due to coronavirus lockdowns. Despite having helped launched the careers of many of the UK's best known comedians, the Arts Council reportedly told the venue it wasn't "culturally significant" enough to be entitled to a grant.