NATYS Final

Paul F Taylor was named the Top of The Bill act for 2013, gaining the majority vote from an industry panel that included comedienne Jenny Eclair, Comedy Store owner Don Ward and Harry Hill’s TV Burp script writer, Brenda Gilhooly.

Taylor made it through auditions of over 175 acts, each with 2-3 years’ experi- ence on the circuit. On Sunday, he joined the final bill of 16 acts, hosted by Al- ternative Comedy pioneer, Arthur Smith and gave an outstanding performance to a packed Bloomsbury Theatre audience and a first class Comedy panel of artists, promoters, agents and reviewers.

A polished stand-up routine filled with well rounded tales placed Basildon’s Sam Savage second. Whilst eccentric, cartoonesque sound sampler, Darren Walsh made third place.

They follow in the footsteps of previous NATYS Finalists and national comedy favourites, such as the late Linda Smith, Alan Davies, Russell Brand, Jocelyn Jee, Gina Yashere, Men in Coats and Nina Conti.

Contrary to the general New Act trend, the NATYS is not a competition to dis- cover a single individual winner, instead it auditions acts and brings together a new variety bill of talented performers with a range of styles which span the com- edy spectrum and who are all ready to break through onto the professional com- edy circuit and .

The industry panel were: comedians Jenny Eclair and Brenda Gilhooly; Karen Koren (Artistic Director Gilded Balloon), Peter Cadley (Director the Bloomsbury), Don Ward (Director Comedy Store), Bruce Dessau (Comedy Reviewer Evening Standard), Tony Cooke (Comedy Reviewer The Stage), Steve Bennett (Director Chortle), Sharon Lougher (Comedy Reviewer Metro), Cliff Roberson (Director Roberson Wines), Hazel Durrant (Arts Development Manager East London Busi- ness Alliance/ CREATE London)

The NATYS celebrates its 30th anniversary. From its beginnings in 1983, as part of the CAST New Variety programme at the Old White Horse Brixton, transfer- ring to the Hackney Empire in 1986, then travelling via the Barbican in 2011 and Stratford Circus in 2012 until finally finding a new and proper home at the Bloomsbury, a theatre that’s equally steeped in Alternative Comedy history.