Jollyboat win Musical Comedy Awards 2011 final
March 21, 2011 2:09pm by Such Small Portions
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Musical brotherly duo Jollyboat have scooped the biggest prize in musical comedy after being crowned winners of the Musical Comedy Awards on Saturday night.
The two brothers, Ed and Tom Croft from Liverpool, delivered a fine set to gain the most votes from the panel of judges who included veteran comedian and BBC Radio 4 favourite Mitch Benn, Lynn Parker from Funnywomen, Mark Boosey from the British Comedy Guide and yours truly from Such Small Portions.
With Neil Morrissey and Lee Hurst adding an air of stardom to the final by taking their places in the audience, five top new musical acts competed for the main prize under in the cavernous vaults of the New Players Theatre in Charing Cross.
Though suffering from a technical hitch which forced them to perform half their set acoustically, Jollyboat managed to rouse the audience with the three songs on offer, each displaying a different form of musical comedy.
The pop-rock sea shanty based on pirates’ tales won over the audience however the duo also stood out for their versatile use of the musical medium to offer a unique brand of comedy, especially their love poem based on what you can find on a keyboard.
In second place were sketch group The Three Englishmen who performed a wide range of unusual musical-based sketches for their set including one reminiscent of an acapella out-take from the 1990’s film Three Men and a Baby; and in third place Tom McDonnell, whose school teacher-based Indiana Jones tale is possibly a good enough reason to go back to uni to study archaeology.
Though not placed in the final rankings there were also strong performances from Canadian singer-songwriter Mae Martin and Carly Smallman, whose naively upbeat ode to her sibling brother manages to put across the positive side to incest.
Speaking following his win Tom Croft from Jollyboat said: “We totally just won the musical comedy awards. I cried on stage. Neil Morrissey my childhood hero shook my hand. OMG. We won.”
For their efforts Jollyboat picked up a cash prize of £500 and will have an iTunes album of their material produced by Create Soho.
The WeGotTickets Best Newcomer prize was awarded to Daisy De Agostini by Lynne Parker of Funny Women, who discovered Daisy at a Funny Women workshop in Huddersfield and encouraged her to enter the MCA this year.
By Tim Clark
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