ROB BECKETT IS THE MOST AMOOSING
and wins the coveted Moose trophy
AmusedMoose LaughOff Grand Final 2010
in association with 4D
One of the major Comedy highlights of the third week of the Edinburgh Fringe is always the prestigious Grand Final of AmusedMoose LaughOff, in association with 4DVD, which on 22nd August provided the opportunity for 80 comedy scouts from around the world to see themost entertaining thrusting wannabee stand-ups who won through from hundreds of entrants across the UK and Ireland, to finally fight it out for fame, fortune and the shinyMoose trophy, plus return flights to perform at any comedy festival of their choice, DVD showreel and a photo portfolio, and the very real likelihood of management and DVD deals.
Uniquely the whole audience’s preferences counted in the Final of this prestigious talent search because everyone casts their votes. It may seem hard for them contenders to beat the impact of previous winners and finalists, who included
Jimmy Carr, Simon Amstell, Rhod Gilbert, Jack Whitehall, Sarah Millican, Alex Zane, Kevin Bridges and Mark Watson, who have all gone on to become big names in comedy and on television, here and round the globe. Some of this year’s finalists, Leon Scott, Liam Williams, Mark Restuccia, Rich Heap, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan and Rory O'Hanlon might yet surpass them all.
Indeed to the delight of the audience, Rob Beckett won through by shining out at this sell-out Grand Final, which was at Edinburgh's legendary Bongo Club for the fourth year. Rob grew up in south east London in a large extended family of taxi drivers where it was a fight to be heard. As a middle child desperate for attention he needed to be funny so was in awe of his Grandad's jokes, but only until he saw a Tommy Cooper video and realised Grandad Cook was a massive plaguarist. 24 year old Rob is a crowd-pleaser who is eager to become a top professional comedian, and tour the world performing at major festivals.
Therefore at the aftershow drinks, Rob and runners-up Liam Williams and Romesh Ranganathan were ecstatic to be invited by Australian promoter, John Pinder, to appear at Cockatoo Island Comedy Festival in Sydney Harbour next year. And maybe continue with a short tour to include Melbourne. Suddenly, thanks to a rather special showcase on a Sunday afternoon during the Edinburgh Fringe, the world has become their oyster.
As usual there was as an industry panel who endorsed the audience choice. This year they included Cheryl Taylor (BBC television), Hannah Chambers (Chambers Management), Kate Copstick (Scotsman reviewer), Kath Mainland (Fringe Society CEO), Lianne Coop (BBC radio), Liz Hadley (4DVD), Nerys Williams (Channel 4), Paul MacInnes (Guardian), Alex Rochford (Assembly Rooms/Brighton Comedy Festival), Nica Burns (Nimax Theatres/Edinburgh Comedy Awards), Mick Perrin (Mick Perrin Productions) and Zoe Randall (Montreal's Just For Laughs festival) who are representative of the huge array of television and radio producers and commissioners, artiste managers, reviewers, journalists and international comedy festival bigwigs who never fail to grasp the opportunity to witness the cream of the year's emerging talent at the AmusedMoose LaughOff final, and therefore cast Panellist Votes to confirm the audience's choice.
Stephen K Amos hosted this year's Grand Final in his always immaculate compering style, with The Fringe's CEO Kath Mainland presenting the trophies, saying “The standard of these performances are astounding, and the panel struggled with the task of deciding on the overall winner, but we strongly believe that Rob has the potential to rise to comedy stardom and be a great ambassador for these very successful awards. We're already eagerly anticipating watching his rise to fame and fortune”. For once the winner, Rob Beckett, was lost for words.
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