Jethro Bradley wins BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016
- Cardiff-based comic Jethro Bradley has won the BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016
- He wins £1,000, a 15-minute script commission, and mentoring from the Radio Comedy department
Stand-up comedian Jethro Bradley has won the BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016.
The final saw Bradley beat fellow finalists Catherine Bohart, George Lewis, Michael Odewale, Lauren Pattison and Sindhu Vee, and was broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 from the Edinburgh Festival.
Hosted by Mark Watson, the contest was judged by comedians Mark Steel, Katy Wix and John Finnemore; the BBC Studios' Head of Comedy Chris Sussman; and commissioning editor for comedy on BBC Radio 4 and 4 Extra, Sioned Wiliam.
Born in Windsor and raised in Cardiff, Jethro Bradley got into stand-up through London's improvisational comedy scene and has now been performing regularly around the UK for just over three years. He recently won the Welsh Unsigned Stand-Up Award 2016 at the Glee Club in Cardiff, and is a former winner of the King Gong at The Comedy Store. He was also a finalist in both the Leicester Square Theatre New Act of the Year 2015 and the Comedy Café New Act of the Year 2015.
On winning this year's New Comedy Award, Jethro said: "I'm feeling ever so slightly surreal, it's like it could be happening to someone else who's borrowed my body and my name! Winning this Award is validation after spending a good portion of my life in various strange basements of pubs, struggling alongside many other talented people who also would also want to be standing here tonight, so it's a massive pat on the back and I hope it means I'll be able to do much more comedy."
He wins £1,000 and a 15-minute script commission from BBC Radio Comedy. He will also be mentored by the in-house comedy department and receive guidance and development from BBC Radio Comedy.
Sioned Wiliam said this evening: "All six finalists were outstanding tonight, but in the end it was a unanimous decision to give Jethro the BBC Radio New Comedy Award 2016. He is a very assured performer, had some brilliantly written lines and there's something about him that feels incredibly original."
Gwyneth Williams, Controller of Radio 4 and 4 Extra, said: "Congratulations to Jethro Bradley for winning the BBC Radio New Comedy Award. Radio 4 has a long history of supporting new comedy talent, broadcasting more original comedy than anyone anywhere else in the world, and I'm delighted that Jethro now joins the group of talented comedians that we have got to know through the Awards since 1995."
The BBC New Comedy Award is considered one of the most prestigious stand-up awards in Britain. Hundreds of comedians enter the contest each year, with 60 progressing to a series of regional heats, held in London, Cardiff and Manchester, before whittled down to a six-way final.
Previous finalists in the awards have included Alan Carr, Lee Mack, Peter Kay, Russell Howard and Shappi Khorsandi. Revived in 2011, the recent winners - Angela Barnes, Lucy Beaumont, Steve Bugeja, Lee Ridley and Yuriko Kotani - are all now full time stand-up comedians.
