Birds shortlisted for BBC Radio New Comedy Award

Hot on the heels of the sketch group's successful shows at Brighton Fringe Festival and Prague Fringe Festival this May, we're delighted to announce that Birds have been shortlisted for the prestigious BBC New Comedy Award.

From a pool of more than 600 UK-wide entries, Birds were selected to take part in the heats of the competition.

Birds performing live at the Prague Fringe Festival.

The event takes place at London's Up the Creek comedy club on 26th June 2018, with each act performing a five minute set. The winners of each individual heat will then progress through to the semi-finals, which will take place in Edinburgh during the festival in August. Highlights from all of the heats will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The BBC New Comedy Award was first held in 1995, and previous winners and finalists include stand-ups Peter Kay, Josie Long, Lee Mack, Nina Conti, Rhod Gilbert and Lost Voice Guy. The award is also open to sketch and music acts, though until now it has only been won by stand-ups. Let's see if 2018 will be the year of the sketch...

Birds set to debut at the Brighton Fringe Festival in May

Official Brighton Fringe poster for Birds.

Following the sketch group's run to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off!, Birds are now preparing to spread their wings and perform their debut hour-long show at this year's Brighton Fringe.

With a six-night run booked between 5th and 10th May 2018 at Junkyard Dogs (Fringe 'Best Venue' Award Winner 2017), audiences should expect a shower of sharp, snappy and surreal sketches... and quite a bit of childish on-stage bickering in between.

The full list of Brighton Fringe dates are as follows:

• 5 May 2018 (6.30pm)
• 6 May 2018 (2pm)
• 7 May 2018 (8.15pm)
• 8 May 2018 (6.45pm)
• 9 May 2018 (9.30pm)
• 10 May 2018 (6.45pm)

Birds is performed by Amy Spinks and Leila Nashef and is written and directed by Will Noble and Joe Reaney. You can find out more about Birds here.

Book tickets for any of these six performances through the Brighton Fringe website. And to keep up with the latest news and developments, simply like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Birds is in the Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off final

We are delighted to reveal that our brilliant comedy sketch group Birds has been selected as a finalist at the 2018 Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off contest.

Around 90 sketch acts from London and all across the UK entered the heats of the prestigious sketch comedy competition, which took place at the Museum of Comedy over several nights throughout February.

Birds, which is performed by Amy Spinks and Leila Nashef and written and directed by Will Noble and Joe Reaney, advanced from their heat to one of four semi-finals, also at the Museum of Comedy. Then, last night, they progressed again to reach the grand final, to be held at the Leicester Square Theatre on Sunday 25th March.

There will be 10 superb sketch acts competing in the iconic 400-seat auditorium, with a cash prize and showcase up for grabs, so why not pop along? Tickets are available for £15.50 from the Leicester Square Theatre website.

Find out more about the event on the Sketch Off Facebook page, then book your tickets through the LST box office. And you can keep up to date with all things Birds on our own Facebook page.

Today's the Day Wins 'Best Microfilm' at Festigious

Our newest short film, Today's the Day, was only completed back in November, yet it has already picked up a highly coveted film industry award.

In December, it was awarded Best Microfilm at the Festigious International Film Festival in Los Angeles.

The film, which was co-directed by Paul Dean and Joe Reaney and produced by Junior Productions, was up against some stiff competition, but managed to walk away with the top prize at its worldwide premiere.

It follows on from the success of The Man Who Stopped, which won Best Microfilm at related festival Top Shorts.

If Today's the Day can get anywhere near matching the breakthrough success of our first short, we'll be delighted.

You can find out more about Festigious International Film Festival here.