List of acts competing in the 2026 WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards

Dear friends,

We are thrilled to announce the acts that will be taking part in the 2026 WeGotTickets MCA, our 18th MCA! We had some tough decisions to make and if you entered but are not through, we are sorry that you didn’t make it this time and would like to offer you two complimentary tickets to one of our first round heats at the Phoenix on either Jan 10th, 24th or Feb 14th or 28th. Info on all of the MCA shows can be found at www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawards and you can send Ed an email at ed@musicalcomedy.co.uk regarding the heat you’d like to attend. We have occasionally opted to go for acts that have never taken part in the MCA over acts that have been with us a few times before. Again, if you’re not in the MCA this time round, please don’t be too disheartened and we would welcome another entry from you in the future. Thank you all so much for entering! We have selected 44 acts and here they are:

Tasmin Sarkany

Danny Garg

Roops

Amaya Holman

Callum & Toby

Aadar Malik

Bonya Kleyman

Chris Timoney

Aalex Mandel-Dallal

Louis Turner

Sophie Duncan

Will Skillington

Kevin Davidson

Abi Sharp

Irritable Babe Syndrome

Sophie Banister

Alex Duffy

Francesca Lewis

Becky Goodman

Alexis Sakellaris

Emma Price

Rich McCulloch

Will & Noah

Edi Johnston

Chris Iskander

Katie Hand

Steven Grainger

Harry Creffield

Tom Veck

Kirk Fontaine

Jonny Bennett

Jonny Brace

Ben Coleman

Joe Da Costa

Jonathan Rippon

Christian Loveless

Keith Redfern

3 Wise Men

Sam Hickman

Eoghan Collins

Anky Damz

Bad Cowboys

Dru Cripps

Merry Martyn

We will be in contact with acts soon via email regarding availability. Thanks all and we can’t wait for the coming MCA! Tickets are already selling fast for the final at the Bloomsbury on April 10th with our 2022 Best Newcomers, The Sugarcoated Sisters! Book via the link at the top of the article!

Results are out!

The results are out for the 2025 WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards!

In joint third place were Sarah Gaul and Paras Patel. In second place was Jack McMinn and the winners and audience favourites were Shots At The Dragon. As soon as we have more photos and reviews we will share them with you all!

Photos courtesy of Edward Moore.

Change to line-up

Due to a recent injury and ongoing recovery, Vinny Shiu has stepped back from the 2025 final and will instead take part in the 2026 final. He is replaced by Al Nash, one of our semi-finalists with the next most audience and judge votes. Al has developed a huge following with his viral videos, amassing close to 100 million views with his videos. Book tickets to see Al and our other 11 finalists, Best Newcomer Roops and headliner, double Chortle award-winning star and MCA alumnus, Jazz Emu.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-theatre/events/2025/apr/2025-wegottickets-musical-comedy-awards-final-jazz-emu

Running Order for the Final

We are thrilled to announce the running order for the 2025 WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards Final on April 12th at the Bloomsbury!

In the first half after the show has been opened by our MCA resident MC, Nick Horseman, we will have a performance from our Best Newcomer, Roops! Then we will have performances from Al Nash, Zara Gladman, Paras Patel, Abi Sharp, Eoghan Collins and Jack McMinn.

In the second half we will have performances from Shots at the Dragon, Holly Spillar, Jonathan Oldfield, Sarah Gaul, Joe da Costa and Alex Prescot. St the end we will have a headline performance from multi-award winning MCA alumnus, Jazz Emu.

Book the last remaining tickets from the theatre here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-theatre/events/2025/apr/2025-wegottickets-musical-comedy-awards-final-jazz-emu

Running out of seats!

The 17th WeGotTickets MCA Final is fast approaching and we are running out of tickets. Snap up the last few via Bloomsbury theatre at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-theatre/events/2025/apr/2025-wegottickets-musical-comedy-awards-final-jazz-emu or one of the last cheaper tickets via WeGotTickets at www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawards.

Who will win the 17th MCA? Come along and find out on April 12th! The show can also be livestreamed via NextUp at https://nextupcomedy.com/programs/mca-2025-final.

First four finalists announced!

We are thrilled to announce our first four finalists for the 2025 WeGotTickets MCA, taking place on April 12th at the Bloomsbury theatre. Book yourself in for the 17th annual celebration of the UK’s best up and coming musical comedy acts!

HOLLY SPILLAR

Holly Spillar takes to the stage armed with nothing but a little red loop pedal and a DREAM. ‘Ethereal and enthralling’ (LAMOnaise) in equal measures, Holly’s debut show was on of the ten best-reviewed comedy shows of the 2023Edinburgh Fringe. Let her transport you to her hauntingly ludicrous world.

★★★★★”Otherworldly…the love child of Kate Bush and Bo Burnham” – North West End

★★★★”A riveting performer” – Chortle

★★★★★”The vocal chords of Mitski and the wildness of Kate Bush” – West End Best Friend

photo credit – @Justoffthesix

JONATHAN OLDFIELD

Jonathan Oldfield was a BBC New Comedy Award Finalist 2024 and second place winner in the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off 2024. He co-created and stars in BBC Radio 4 series ‘Time of the Week’ – alongside Sian Clifford – which was recently named Best Radio Sketch Show at the British Comedy Guide Awards 2024. The series has also been nominated for a Chortle Award and a BBC Audio Drama Award, with series 2 airing autumn 2025.

ALEX PRESCOT

Alex is a musical comic who mainly improvises off crowd work. He was the Clap Back To Reality Winner 2023/24, a previous Chichester New Act & Kingston New Act Finalist and was shortlisted for Chortle Hotshots 2025.

★★★★★ ‘An incredibly talented performer’ – Broadway World

★★★★★ ‘Plenty of humour, plenty of heart’ – LondonTheatre1

‘The comedy equivalent of sunshine’ – Pepper & Salt

‘Incredibly funny…a brilliant improviser’ – CurtainsUp

VINNY SHIU

Vinny Shiu is a London-based stand-up comedian in his 20s who combines comedy songs with stories and jokes to highlight his unique upbringing: growing up in the West as part of an East Asian family. His act includes observational humor about cultural differences between East and West, the challenges of growing up with traditional Asian parents, and the identity crisis that comes with looking different from his peers.Winner of Southampton Comedian of the Year 2023. Selected for Leicester Comedy Festival Circuit Breakers 2024. Finalist in British Comedian of the Year 2024. 2nd Place in Bath Comedy Festival New Act Competition 2024. Finalist in The Bristol Comedy Competition 2025.

On Saturday 15th we will have our second semi-final and then we will soon find out which other finalists we have! Tickets are selling fast via Bloomsbury theatre and http://www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawards.

Bill Bailey is the Official Patron of the Musical Comedy Awards

Bill Bailey announced today on Instagram and X that he is the Official Patron of the Musical Comedy Awards!

I set up the MCA back in 2008 in order to support, discover and celebrate the UK’s best up and coming musical comedians. Over the years we have had the pleasure of hosting some amazing acts such as Rachel Parris, Abandoman, Bo Burnham and our headliner for this year’s final, the unstoppable Jazz Emu. Bill Bailey was one of the main sources of inspiration for setting up the competition and we are over the moon that he is now our Official Patron! A very proud moment.

Book tickets for the 2025 WeGotTickets MCA at www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawards.