Meet the finalists of Southport's Comedian of the year 2024

The Southport New Comedian of the Year returns with the grand final taking place this Sunday (6^th October 2024) as part of the 13^th annual Southport Comedy Festival.

Southport Comedy Festival takes place under canvas in a luxury heated and seated marquee courtesy of Elite Marquees in Southport’s famous Victoria Park, home of Southport Flower Show.

This year’s event is sponsored for a third year by Dragon Soop*, a caffeinated alcoholic beverage that comes in a range of flavours.

“Dragon Soop is once again delighted to support the hugely popular Southport Comedy Festival. We wish all acts a Sooper Festival experience!”- Isabelle Kent, Sales & Marketing Director.

Following a nationwide search where aspiring comedians from all over the UK were invited to apply for one of eight places in the final. Over 100 comedians applied, and organisers can now reveal which eight will be competing in the final this Sunday.

Qasim Akhtar

Originally from Bury, Qasim is now based in Manchester. He has been going for just a year and has 80 gigs under his belt. Previous comedy accolades include Panel Prize winner of the Beat the Frog World Series in 2023. His describes his style of comedy as dry and awkward,

Marie Goulbourne

Marie used to be a lawyer, but she’s ok now. Based in Wigan and standing at 5 feet 2, Marie is confident in the diversity-box-ticking, gender non-conforming, AFAB, disabled, working-class lesbian that she is. But this is incidental. Marie is dry, refreshing and different. But, if you’re opposed to swearing or overwhelming honesty, she isn’t for you.

Henry Michael

Originally from Reading Henry now lives and works in Stoke on Trent as a full-time NHS hospital doctor as his day job. With comedy as his passion on the side he has notched up 500 gigs, been nominated for the prestigious Leicester Mercury New Comedian of the Year award and won the Comedy Hotspots New Act competition in 2023.

Jake Breeze

Manchester comedian Jake has been doing stand Up for three years. He describes his style as left-field observations mixed with a chronic misunderstanding of basic concepts. Jake is currently through to the heats of this year’s prestigious Beat the Frog World Series.

Charlie Lewis

Charlie is an LGBTQ one-liner comic from South Manchester. A former hospital porter and Amazon warehouse operative, Charlie started comedy during the middle of the pandemic and has done 300 shows. Since then, he has been a semi-finalist of the Leicester Square New Comic competition 2023, his live work is complemented by his online success, with over 50 million views on social media.

Cameron Jones

Hailing from St HeIens, Cameron has been doing Stand Up on the open mic circuit for the past three years. By day he works as a freelance videographer and photographer. His comedy is a Northern man speaking about his working class experiences whilst desperately and often unsuccessfully trying to make friends with the audience.

Maxim Kuznetsov

Originally from Russia, Maxim was raised in London where he likes to walk his dog, eat sushi and not interfere in foreign elections. He blends the silly with dry and dark wit, talking about his Russian heritage and London upbringing. Despite having only done stand up for one year and with 75 gigs under his belt, his credits include: Big Belly Gong Finalist 2024, Up the Creek Blackout Finalist 2024, INGTE Finalist 2024 and SYTYF? Semi-Finalist 2024, at the Edinburgh Fringe.”

Caroline Cove

Liverpool born and bred; Caroline is fairly new to comedy. The final will only be her fifth gig to date. Semi-retired Caroline said she fancied a new challenge, feeling she was too unfit to start climbing mountains, she thought stand-up comedy would be easier! She was wrong.

Last year’s winners The Halls of Ridiculous made up of Phil Allan-Smith & Chris Lumb had this to say of the competition:

“The Southport New Comedian of the Year competition is without doubt one of the most fun and well organised competitions we’ve been involved in.

“It’s a great springboard for new acts, and being in the final was a great experience in front of a brilliant, large, comedy savvy audience.

“We’d encourage any acts breaking into pro line ups and paid work to enter this comp.”

Since their win The Halls of Ridiculous who merge quick fire improvised comedy with high energy character-based sketches have gone from strength to strength on the comedy circuit to include supporting multi award winning comedian and star of TV Russell Kane on his current national tour. Russell has called the comedy duo “Absolutely ace”.

Southport Comedy Festival director Brendan Riley said:

“The final is always a great night with sell-out shows in the past. So come along to encourage new talent and help them become the stars of tomorrow!

“A highlight event of the festival, the New Comedian Competition is a great chance to have a sneak preview of the stars of tomorrow. It is always a lovely night with a positive pro comedy vibe. We are really excited about this year’s finalists. It is going to be a difficult one to judge as the standard is high. The event is already selling fast, with tickets at just £5 what have you got to lose?”

The Southport New Comedian of the Year event is part of the 17 day Southport Comedy Festival in association with Halliwell Jones MINI. Running until 13^th October the star studded line-up includes the likes of Jason Manford, Ben Elton, Ria Lina, Paul Sinha, Jason Byrne, Rich Hall to name just a few.