Funnily enough, six talented amateur comedy sketch writers have won a place in the finals of this year’s Sketch for Sammy Award.
For the fourth year running, the team behind Sunday for Sammy will host the competition to find a talented new comedy sketch writer with the winner receiving the coveted Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais Comedy Award 2018.
The final will take place on Sunday 11th November 3pm at The Exchange in North Shields in front of a capacity audience and will be hosted by Billy Mitchell. The six shortlisted sketches will be performed by a company of professional actors from the Laffalang Gang and in addition to the finalists work, there will be stand-up comedy, music, and viewings of previous winning sketches on video.
A panel of celebrity judges including actress and comedy script writer Kim Tserkezie, (Balamory) comedy writer Elliott Kerrigan (Boy Meets Girl) and Chairman of the Sunday for Sammy Trust, Tim Healy will choose the winning sketch. The sketch may be considered for inclusion in a future Sunday for Sammy show. Tickets for the final at the Exchange in North Shields are free and can be obtained by contacting julie@tyneidols.com Sunday for Sammy are completely self-funded and it’s income from show tickets and DVD sales that allows the Trust to fund young performers. The latest DVD is now on sale from JG Windows.
Ian La Frenais is delighted to be able to encourage up and coming talent by being associated with the award.
“Dick Clement and I have been involved with Sunday for Sammy for twenty years. The charity has given invaluable support to young performers in the North East of England and we’re very happy to endorse the Sketch for Sammy competition for new comedy writers. Good luck to all of the contestants,’he said.
Producer of the Sunday for Sammy shows Ray Laidlaw said,
“We’re very honoured that this year, Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement have put their names to this award. They are top of the comedy Premier League with Porridge, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen Pet. They even write sketches for Sunday for Sammy in their spare time. Having them on board is inspiring for the new writers, the audience and us too.”
Sunday for Sammy Trustee Jason Cook said, “This is an amazing opportunity for any budding writers get their work seen and potentially performed by the best in the business. Chances like this don’t come along very often so if you’re thinking of becoming a writer you’d be daft to miss out on this.”
Chairman of the Trustees, Tim Healy said:
““All good comedy starts with the script. The Sketch for Sammy competition gives aspiring North East comedy writers the opportunity to see their work performed by professional actors and a chance to win the Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais Comedy Award. You’d be mad not to give it a go.”
- https://youtu.be/fhkbYKIAyuU Mike Nicholson
- https://youtu.be/mLmADExriyg Kevin Wilkinson
- https://youtu.be/xN9SHNTkhes Kevin Wilkinson