Through from Semi-Final 1 to the Grand Final are Bennet Kavanagh, Jamie Finn and 2 Mouthed Men! Huge congratulations! Tickets selling fast at www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawardsXxx

Dear All,

With the government reported to be likely to take action next week regarding social distancing and larger events, we wanted to let you know that, for now, the final is still taking place on April 4th but we are in talks with the Bloomsbury about contingency plans. If the show cannot take place on April 4th then it will be rescheduled to later in the year.

If a replacement date is arranged we will be in contact with all of our acts and of course our ticket-holders to let you know about the new date.

We have deliberately shut down sales earlier than usual for our semi-finals at the Phoenix in order to keep audience numbers lower and provide more space and comfort for our audiences and artists. We are hopeful that we will still be able to have semi-final 2 on March 21st but will of course let you know if this is not possible.

Thanks for your understanding, multiple elbow and knee bumps and we will definitely get to complete our 2020 competition, even if it means it happens a bit later in the year! Stay safe everyone!

Lots of MCA love,

Ed, Tamara, Dave and Charlie

Who will win the 12th WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards? Join us for a riotous celebration of the UK’s best up and coming musical comedians to find out!

Since 2009, the MCA have helped to launch the likes of Abandoman, Rachel Parris, Mae Martin, Jay Foreman and Frisky and Mannish. If you enjoy acts that combine comedy with music such as Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin and Flight of the Conchords, you will love this show!

The final of the 2020 WeGotTickets MCA will see ten finalists who have progressed through a series of heats at the Phoenix in London, battle it out at the Bloomsbury Theatre on April 4th, to win the musical comedy crown of this prestigious competition. A sell-out event every year since 2009.

Our confirmed finalists so far include:

Richard Lindesay

Richard Lindesay is a musical comedian whose act is a surprising and surreal mixture of the flute and other woodwind instruments.

He started performing comedy in Australia in 2013 and quickly made an impact by reaching the finals of Sydney comedy competitions. Since then Richard has performed professionally in comedy clubs and festivals throughout New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, and mainland Europe.

‘Richard is a comedy wunderkind!’

Tim Ferguson, from Australian musical comedy troupe, Doug Anthony All Stars

Alexander MacKeith

Alex is a musical comedian who is the resident musical guest at comedy night Fresh Chestnuts. He is also a playwright (School Play, **** The Guardian, the Independent, the Stage, Evening Standard, TimeOut), and was nominated for Most Promising New Playwright at the Off West End Awards 2018. He is one third of sketch trio Princes of Main (“consistently funny… able to get laughter from all sorts of angles” — Chortle). He has performed at Latitude Festival and London Wonderground on the South Bank. He’ll probably be up for a pint after the show.

“proper laughs and sparky writing… the future of sketch comedy is in safe hands” — The Telegraph

“hilarious” — The List

“ridiculously hilarious” — the Skinny

Shelf

Shelf are a comedy double act from South London.

Shelf is made up of Rachel WD and Ruby Clyde. Already lifelong friends, they started performing as Shelf in 2015. Shelf started out at open mic nights, honing a style that is “a winning hybrid of sketch show and standup” (Edfringe Review).

Since their formation, Shelf have performed at Bestival, London Pride, and been nominated for Sketchfest’s Best New Act award. Their work has appeared on BBC3 and LADBible. They are founding members of sell out monthly night The LOL Word, which showcases queer women and non binary comedians from across the London comedy circuit. They are board members of the cult hit Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, with whom they regularly perform in London and Edinburgh.

THE SKINNY

“…cool and relevant”

EdFringe Review ****

“a winning hybrid of sketch show and standup”

Amy Webber

A classically trained singer, Amy accidentally started comedy in 2019 when she was commissioned to write a 2 minute long song showcasing her voice and realised she could combine her favourite things – singing and trying to make people laugh. 

After winning her first ‘Beat The Frog’ in May 2019 at Manchester’s Frog and Bucket, Amy sang at the World Series finals in October. She also went on a 10-date summer tour of open spots stopping at Edinburgh Fringe, London and Manchester. Since then, Amy has performed live on air on BBC Radio Manchester and is excited to be a finalist in the Musical Comedy Awards. 

As well as her ‘2 minute song’ which is accompanied by ukulele, the other songs in her set are accompanied by music software, Ableton. Amy uses Ableton and a midi keyboard to create backing tracks, samples and sounds live on stage.

“Phenomenal and versatile singer” Chortle

“I wish I could be that funny and impressive” BBC Radio Manchester

Featuring a headline performance from the acclaimed musical comedian and prolific writer, TOM BASDEN!

As seen in After Life, Plebs, Quacks, W1A, The Wrong Mans, BBC4 sketch show Cowards and feature film David Brent – Life on the Road; creator of hit plays Party, Holes, The Crocodile and Joseph K; co-writer of Plebs, Gap Year, Peep Show, Fresh Meat and The Wrong Mans; Radio 4 regular in his sitcom Party and ‘Lord’ in Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme.

Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer winner in 2007, British Comedy Award Best Breakthough Act nominee in 2013, nominated for three Chortle Awards and three BAFTAs.

Hosted by MCA resident MC, Nick Horseman!

Richard Lindesay

Richard Lindesay is a musical comedian whose act is a surprising and surreal mixture of the flute and other woodwind instruments.

He started performing comedy in Australia in 2013 and quickly made an impact by reaching the finals of Sydney comedy competitions. Since then Richard has performed professionally in comedy clubs and festivals throughout New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, and mainland Europe.

‘Richard is a comedy wunderkind!’
Tim Ferguson, from Australian musical comedy troupe, Doug Anthony All Stars”

‘Richard’s flute playing antics will leave you holding your jaw, and grabbing at your gut.’
Tickles & Tarts

‘Richard has wonderfully unique and charming humour, and an appreciation for flutes​ that I’ve never seen before.’
Heckle and Squelch

Alex MacKeith

Alex is a musical comedian who is the resident musical guest at comedy night Fresh Chestnuts. He is also a playwright (School Play, **** The Guardian, the Independent, the Stage, Evening Standard, Time Out), and was nominated for Most Promising New Playwright at the Off West End Awards 2018. He is one third of sketch trio Princes of Main (“consistently funny… able to get laughter from all sorts of angles” — Chortle). He has performed at Latitude Festival and London Wonderground on the South Bank. He’ll probably be up for a pint after the show.

Comments on work as playwright:

“real promise” — The Guardian
“brilliantly funny” — The Stage
 “seriously impressive” — Time Out

Comments on sketch comedy with Princes of Main:

“proper laughs and sparky writing… the future of sketch comedy is in safe hands” — The Telegraph
“hilarious” — The List
“ridiculously hilarious” — The Skinny

Tickets are selling fast! Book now at http://www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawards

Message from Tom Basden on tombasden.co.uk

BLOOMSBURY THEATRE GIG

Hi everyone,

Happy 2020. I know it’s not been a terrific decade so far, but bear with it.

For one thing, I’m headlining the Musical Comedy Awards at (London’s) Bloomsbury Theatre on April 4th, which I think we can all agree is exactly the tonic we need after Brexit and the sham Trump impeachment trial.

All the details are here: https://tickets.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsburytheatre/website/EventDetails.aspx?EventId=171056&resize=true

Also, if you enter the promo code TOM2020 when buying tickets you get money off.

Because it’s a musical-comedy-themed evening, it’ll just be songs. So if you came to my show at the Soho Theatre last month and were all like ‘Why were there only 3 songs in it, I want my money back etc etc’ – this gig will be way more up your street.

Equally, if you’re one of those people who sometimes comes to a gig wanting to hear old songs I don’t really play anymore, I will almost certainly do them all here / take requests, provided a) I can remember them and b) it’s one of my songs and not, for example, I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas.

[Here’s a photo of me a fair while ago, wearing a t-shirt I no longer own, playing a guitar I subsequently sold to give you an idea of the sort of thing it’ll look like. [But I’ll be older. And probably in a shirt.]]

Tom

Earlybird tickets for the MCA final are now on sale! The last few seats in rows A, B and C of the Bloomsbury theatre are available here:

https://www.wegottickets.com/sct/jyWDnV9Jmx

The Bloomsbury theatre also has a limited supply of £15 tickets. When booking online via the theatre website, at the last stage of the checkout apply the code TOM2020 and your tickets will only cost £15. Tickets are already selling fast for the final so grab yours while you can! Here is some info about the show:

Who will win the 12th WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards? Join us for a riotous celebration of the UK’s best up and coming musical comedians to find out!

Since 2009, the MCA have helped to launch the likes of Abandoman, Rachel Parris, Mae Martin, Jay Foreman and Frisky and Mannish. If you enjoy acts that combine comedy with music such as Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin and Flight of the Conchords, you will love this show!

The final of the 2020 MCA will see ten finalists who have progressed through a series of heats at the Phoenix in London, battle it out at the Bloomsbury Theatre on April 4th, to win the musical comedy crown of this prestigious competition. A sell-out event every year since 2009.

Featuring a headline performance from Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer Winner and star of After Life, Plebs and Quacks, Tom Basden.

Hosted by MCA resident host, the brilliant Nick Horseman!

Dear All,

We are thrilled to announce the results for the 44 acts that we are inviting to take part in the 2020 WeGotTickets MCA!

Thank you so much to all those who have entered! If you are not through, we are sorry that we couldn’t offer you a place this year and would like to offer you 2 free tickets to an MCA first round heat of your choice (Jan 11th/18th/25th/Feb 1st). Email Ed at ed@musicalcomedy.co.uk and I can sort out a pair of tickets for you.

We are thrilled to see some familiar faces returning to the fold but also a large number of acts that we have never had the pleasure of hosting before. To those of you who are through, we will be contacting you via email in the next few days to organise heat allocation – please try if you can to be flexible as managing the diaries of 48 acts can be a big challenge!

For friends and fans keen to cheer on and vote for their act in the heats, the exact dates and allocation should be ready before Christmas if we are fast/end of December at the latest, but we would also recommend getting a cheap £15 Phoenix Pass with all 8 shos for just £15. Here is a link to those: https://www.wegottickets.com/sct/ZJMMU339KS

Through to the heats of the 2020 WeGotTickets MCA are the following acts (in no order and apologies if we need to edit to include your correct stage name):

2 Mouthed Men
Joe Venable
Alex MacKeith
Chris Rio
Cameron Blair
Thalia Leon
Chris Taverner
The Dementos
Christy Coysh
Shelf Comedy
Tom Taylor
Grant Buse
Chris Sav
Amy Webber
Ed MacArthur
Matt Winterbotham
Matt Blair
Performing Animals
Stepdads
Abigail Carter-Simpson
Tom Keenan
Madame Chandelier’s Rough Guide to the Opera
Best Friends Cabaret
Sheep & Mash
Brice Ledingham
Edy Hurst
Jennifer Tyler
Cats in Athens
Tiana Leigh
Emily Cairns
Captain Breadbeard
Richard Lindesay
Mandy Meadows

Chris Read

Bennet Kavanagh

Georgea Blakey
Jen Smith
Canadians in Space
Jamie Finn
Megan Blair
Victoria Howden
Joel Sales
Frankie Thompson

Bring on the 2020 MCAs!

Ed, Tamara, Dave and Charlie Xxx

Secret Phoenix Passes are now on sale here:  http://www.wegottickets.com/sct/ZJMMU339KS

Don’t miss a moment of the 2020 WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards, live at the Phoenix! Instead of booking individual tickets for £8 each (in total £64), save £49 and buy a Phoenix Pass for £15!!!

Now in its 12th year, the WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards is an annual competition to support, promote, expose and celebrate the best emerging musical comedians in the UK. If you are a fan of musical comedy acts such as Tim Minchin, Flight of the Conchords and Bill Bailey, you’ll love this show!

Over the years, the MCAs have provided a launch pad to superstar acts like Frisky and Mannish (2009 Finalists), Abandoman (2010 winners) and Rachel Parris (Runner Up 2012 and Breakthrough Talent of the Year at Edinburgh TV Festival) and created a thriving independent platform to celebrate the artform that is musical comedy. Other acts that have featured as headliners in our shows include DAVID O’ DOHERTY, BO BURNHAM, RUBBERBANDITS, MITCH BENN, JAY FOREMAN, PIPPA EVANS, TOM BASDEN, ISY SUTTIE, GINGER & BLACK, EARL OKIN, WILSON DIXON, JO NEARY, MR B THE GENTLEMAN RHYMER, SARAH-LOUISE YOUNG, ADAMS & REA and many more.

So the twelfth MCA begins! The top 40 musical comedy acts will be selected from online entries to the Musical Comedy Awards facebook page and will then battle it out in the heats at the Phoenix through to the Final at the Bloomsbury on April 4th. Come along for amazing Saturday afternoons of musical comedy entertainment and vote for your favourite acts to progress through to the next round!

Headliners include:

Jan 11th – Katie Pritchard
Jan 18th – Sarah-Louise Young
Jan 25th – Huge Davies
Feb 1st – Jay Foreman
Feb 22nd – Mitch Ben
Feb 29th – Tina T’urner Tea Lady
March 14th – Tony Law
March 21st – Spencer Jones

Charlie Partridge

Joe Jacobs

Stepdads

Jamie Finn

Photos copyright Elina Kansikas.

We are excited to be returning for our 11th Edinburgh Fringe show this summer! Our show ‘Best of MCA’ will be taking place on Aug 24-25 at the Underbelly’s Belly Dancer on Cowgate from 22.10. Here is some info about the show!

Join us for a riotous celebration of the Fringe’s best musical comedians! Since 2009, the MCAs have helped to launch the likes of Abandoman, Rachel Parris, Mae Martin, Jay Foreman and Frisky & Mannish. If you enjoy acts that combine comedy with music such as Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin and Flight of the Conchords, you will love this show. Sell-out shows from 2009-19.

‘As the Musical Comedy Awards demonstrate, the genre is currently bursting with talent’ – Time Out

Line-ups so far!

Saturday 24th

Phil Nichol (headliner)

Micky P Kerr

Harriet Braine

Stepdads

Jamie Finn

Hadfield & Swan

Sunday 25th

Stiff & Kitsch (headliner)

Joe Jacobs

Huge Davies

Charlie Partridge

Nick Horseman

Jamie Finn

Hadfield & Swan

More acts to be announced soon! Earlybird tickets available via www.wegottickets.com/musicalcomedyawards