Information on the Musical Comedy Awards, its origins and the website

The idea behind Avin A Larf and The Musical Comedy Awards is to promote musical comedy as a stand-alone genre and create an independent platform for emerging and established musical comedians, both online and offline. I set up Avin A Larf in April 2008 under unusual circumstances. Having escaped from a soul-destroying job selling fax machines in the otherwise lovely Vienna, I decided to do an MA at Warwick in Creative and Media Enterprises (a course on the management of the creative industries and the difficult intersection between art and commerce). As part of the course I chose to do an optional module in Cultural Entrepreneurship where we had to come up with a new business idea within the creative industries and then present it as a pitch to a group of investors (Advantage Creative Fund) in a mock ‘Dragon’s Den’ style.

The main thrust of my pitch was that musical comedy deserves its own independent platform, rather than being the sidekick of Stand-Up. There are so many brilliant established musical comedians around at the moment, think of current greats such as Bill Bailey, Stephen Lynch, Weird Al Yankovic or Isy Suttie. Or going back a bit further, legends of the past such as Tom Lehrer, Victor Borge, Noel Coward or Monty Python. With such quality out there, I felt that more should be done to celebrate the genre in it’s own right. I had the idea of setting up a website for discovering, supporting and exposing emerging musical comedy talent and showcasing this talent at live events and principally at an annual awards show. The investors liked my idea and gave me some start-up capital to try and make it happen.

The website is http://www.musicalcomedy.co.uk. For comedians whose forte is music, or who feel most comfortable in their comedy when it’s accompanied by an instrument, my hope is that this website, The Musical Comedy Awards and Avin A Larf live events will offer a new, experimental platform for developing their comedy careers, finding new fans and making friends with like-minded mad men and women.

Here’s some info on the competition, the criteria and how to enter.

Competition Details for The Musical Comedy Awards 2009

The Format

1. Contestants can enter the competition by uploading their original comedy song (group or solo effort) in video format on to the website (closing date for entries 14 Mar 09).
2. Entries will be judged according to their average viewer rating, number of views, the amount of times they have been favourited and the panel’s discretion (eg in rare cases of voting abuse, songs that are deemed to be of a very high standard but with fewer views or votes may still progress above songs with high viewing figures when foul play is suspected).
3. After 28 March 09, a shortlist of the top twenty entries will be compiled. These entries will then be judged by a jury of comedy industry professionals. The jury will include comedy correspondent for Time Out, Tim Arthur; the programmer for Comedy at the Pleasance Theatre, Ryan Taylor; Perrier Award Nominee, Joanna Neary; and Malcolm Hardee Award Winner, Doctor Coca Cola Mcdonalds. The jury will be chaired by the founder of Avin A Larf Ltd and The Musical Comedy Awards, Ed Chappel.
4. From the shortlist of twenty, the jury will select the five acts they would like to see perform live at The Musical Comedy Awards 2009 final, which will take place at The Pleasance Theatre, London on Saturday 11 April 09.

The Prizes

After 28 March 09, online viewers will continue to have the opportunity to vote for their favourite entry from the five finalists and there will be a £500 prize for the winner of the online vote. There will also be a £500 prize for the winner of the jury vote. Both the online and the jury winner will be announced at the final. I’m still thinking about whether there might be an odd trophy or a congratulatory old jumper as an additional prize.

Post-Awards

The top five comedians will also have the opportunity of promoting their work on a nationwide tour and there are plans to hold a gala night celebrating musical comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2009 at which the Winner/s of The Musical Comedy Awards 2009 will be given the opportunity to appear alongside some of the top names in musical comedy. There will be further competitions and live events throughout the year organised through the website.

Timescale

1. Entries until midnight on 14 March 09
2. Shortlist of top twenty entries decided by editor on 28 March 09
3. Jury views shortlist and decides the five finalists by 4 April 09
4. The Musical Comedy Awards Final takes place on 11 April 09.

Things to remember:

All tracks uploaded before 14 March 09 will automatically be entered into the competition.

For legal and logistical reasons, unless an international contestant can demonstrate their ability to attend the final and be available for the post-awards tour, only UK entries will be considered for the five finalists.

Entries do not need to be exclusively written for the awards and can be previously written tracks, but contestants must own the copyright to their entries.

Entries must be in video format and can either consist of:

1. An audio recording of your original track accompanied by a video that you have created
2. a webcam recording with audio and video captured simultaneously.

There is no restriction on the number of different entries for each contestant, but if a contestant were to have more than one of the most popular entries, only their most popular entry would qualify for the shortlist of the final twenty.

Contestants can enter both as solo artists or as a group.

Appearing at the Awards

1. The 5 Finalists (each performing 1-2 songs)
2. The 5 Judges
3. Compere Des O’Connor - a star of the London Cabaret scene.
4. A host of established musical comedy stars performing in between the five finalists - the line-up currently includes the judges Jo Neary and Doctor Coca Cola Mcdonalds, Isy Suttie, Des O’Connor and perhaps more to follow.

What else can you do on the site?

As well as uploading comedy songs that you’ve written or interacting with other members of the community, people will also be able to form groups and collaborate on songs and create mad songs together. People can also send out an open call and make requests for songs with specific ingredients, inviting others to see who can deliver the funniest version of that request. Should be a larf.

END

(c) Ed Chappel 12 January 09

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