Wise Crackers is a competition for young people between the ages of 12-18 who are being trained as comedians by comedian mentors. The Corn Exchange on 9 July hosted the finals and the young comedians came from 6 towns; Eastleigh, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading, Slough and Windsor. There were supposed to be two comptetitors from each town, one in the 12-15 age and one in the 16-18 category. The compere for the evening was James Campbell who is both a good compere and a comedian and his introduction and style must have made all of the contestants feel relaxed before going on stage. Each contestanct was introduced by their mentor and I was pleased that they were all relatively confident and funny.
The judges had a difficult job in deciding the winners. They were however very experienced: Brian Logan, the Guardian comedy critic, Joss James is a founder of the Comedy Workshop Company and Tim Payne is a comedy talent spotter. After announcing the winner, I was pleased to present not just the yellow duckling awards, but to give a certificate to each of the contestants.
Who knows, we may see these contestancts performing in future Newbury Comedy Festivals.
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