James Murphy wins BCG Pro Performance Awards 2022
- Stand-up comic James Murphy won BCG Pro's Performance award final in London this evening
- He beat competition from Kate-Lois Elliott, The Awkward Silence, Silham Shahzad and Ashish Suri
- Winner of the awards' Starter category, Ella Gonzales, also performed a set
James Murphy has won the BCG Pro Talent Awards: Performance 2022.
Ella Gonzales, previously announced as the winner in the competition's Starter category, also performed and was awarded with her trophy during a live final held at London's Museum Of Comedy.
James is an off-kilter comedian/writer whose act is "essentially death by pride, offering a high-energy lowdown on what it's like to be tall and gay". He's previously been a Max Turner Prize finalist, 2Northdown New Act finalist and LST New Comedian of the Year semi-finalist.
Talking about winning, he says: "I'm literally jumping for joy and will be doing so for some time to come! Or until the ceiling can't take it anymore. It was such a lovely night performing with such a funny bunch of people. I can't recommend enough to other performers and lovers of comedy - go next year!"
Hosted by Jessica Fostekew, the other finalists performing were Kate-Lois Elliott, The Awkward Silence, Silham Shahzad and Ashish Suri.
To enter, comedians submitted videos through BCG Pro, British Comedy Guide's platform for comedy creatives, with judges selecting the best five acts to compete in the live final.
As well as including the final of the competition's main 'Pro' category, the show also saw Ella Gonzales - who had been picked by judges as the winner in the Starter category - performing a set to a packed crowd of industry experts and members of the public.
She said: "Holy moly this is incredible! I'm completely and utterly delighted to have won!"
Originally training as an actor, Gonzales only began performing stand-up regularly in 2022. She has previously been placed in the top 3% of submissions to the BBC's Caroline Aherne bursary, and her sketch Car Schmars was shortlisted for a Funny Women Award and won the BCG Pro Video Contest in 2020.
The 2023 BCG Pro Talent Awards: Performance competition will open for entries in August.
Here is a video of Murphy's set: