Lew Fitz wins Amused Moose award
- The Amused Moose National New Comic Award 2020 competition was won by Lew Fitz
- He says: "I'm really grateful to have won and want to dedicate the award to my grandpa who we lost to the covid"
- Kathryn Mather was awarded the Breakthrough title and Bennet Kavanagh got the People's Champion trophy
Comedian Lew Fitz has won the Amused Moose National New Comic Award for 2020.
The stand-up competition for new acts normally takes place as part of the Edinburgh Festival, but this year's contest was delayed, with the live final taking part in socially-distanced conditions at the Water Rats pub in the King's Cross area of London last night (Saturday 12th December).
The long-running competition has previously featured comedians including Jack Whitehall, Sarah Millican, Josh Widdicombe, Greg Davies, Nina Conti, Jimmy Carr, Rhod Gilbert and Romesh Ranganathan.
Hundreds of acts applied for this year's competition by submitting videos, with seven selected to appear at last night's live final, hosted by Ian Smith.
The other acts taking part were Andrew Nolan, Bennet Kavanagh, Jenan Younis, Kathryn Mather, Nelson Gombakomba and Runi Talwar.
Fitz was selected as the winner by a panel of industry judges. The London-based writer, actor and comedian started comedy in 2014 at a biker bar in Gainesville, Florida. After performing in Miami for two years, during which time he was the youngest ever finalist in Florida's Funniest Comedian contest (2015), he moved to London in 2016.
A graduate from the Soho Theatre Advanced Comedy Lab, he has previously taken part in the BBC New Comedy Award, the Bath New Comedian of the Year Award and So You Think You're Funny?.
He was due to perform his debut hour-long show at this year's Edinburgh Festival, having previously appeared at the festival in mixed bill shows. His joke "I'm looking for the girl next door type. I'm just gonna keep moving house till I find her" was selected as one of Dave's Funniest Jokes Of The Fringe in 2017.
Speaking about his win last night, he says: "It's been a really shite year for everyone, we've all felt the brunt of the pandemic. I'm really grateful to have won and want to dedicate the award to my grandpa who we lost to the covid just a few weeks ago. I'm now looking forward to building on my comedy career in 2021 and hope it's a better year for everyone."
The live show also saw Kathryn Mather named as Breakthrough Comedian, and Bennet Kavanagh - who recently won in the Starter category of the BCG Pro Performance Awards - claimed the People's Champion award.