Heat One hosted by Lindsey Santoro

The BBC's biggest comedy talent search is back! Coventry, in the heart of the UK, hosts the six knockout heats in our hunt for the nation's funniest new comedian.

From almost a thousand entries, 30 new comedians have been selected to battle it out across six heats for a place in the grand final of the BBC New Comedy Awards 2026.

We've taken over FarGo Village to create our own New Comedy Awards club at The Box, a fully accessible live music and comedy venue in Coventry's Creative Quarter. Matthew Gallagher, Lauren Soley, Cormac Sinnott, Katie Hand and Rohan Sharma take to the stage to impress our judges and book their place in the final.

Hosting the evening is loud, local, pink-haired stand-up, Lindsey Santoro. Our judging panel is led by this year's new head judge, Amy Gledhill, the award-winning comedian and star of Last One Laughing, Taskmaster and upcoming BBC comedy Opening Up. She is joined by former NCA winner Dan Tiernan and Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe.

They won't have an easy job. Each comic has just five minutes on stage, and the sets are packed with jokes and sharp new material, but only one can go through to the grand final at Birmingham Town Hall in November.
First established more than 30 years ago, the awards have helped launch the careers of some of Britain's best-loved comedians, including Peter Kay, Joe Lycett, Lee Mack, Julian Barratt, Josie Long, Shaparak Khorsandi, Romesh Ranganathan, Alan Carr, Russell Howard, Lee Ridley, Tom Allen, Lauren Pattison and Sarah Millican.

The BBC New Comedy Awards committed to uncovering a rich and varied range of new regional talent who will become the comedy stars of the future, and this series leads the campaign to bring new comedy to every corner of the country.