Black Comedy Awards History and Previous Winners

History of the Black Comedy Awards

The first celebration of black British comedy took place in 1999 and was entitled ‘The Black Entertainment Comedy Awards’. These awards ran for seven years and recognised a number of now well established cmedians on the black comedy circuit,including Curtis Walker and Slim. The outstanding contributions and achievements of actors such as Rudoplh Walker, Don Warrington and Marcel Joseph (Fresh Prince of Bel Air) were also acknowledged.

Following the 2006 awards there was a 3 year hiatus before the next awards. In November 2009, Harmony Productions organised and hosted the awards which were held at the Indigo O2. Winners included Slim, Kevin J and Harmony Productions. Unfortunately, the awards went into a further 3 year period of hibernation.

Aware that black comedians were not receiving the recognition and media profile that their comedy talent merited, Tiemo Entertainments decided to return the spotlight to them. In April 2012 Tiemo Entertainments hosted the Black Comedy Awards at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. It was well received and big award winners included Felicity Ethnic, Gina Yashere, Richard Blackwood and Slim (twice).

We still believe there is a great deal of black comedy talent out there. However, despite the huge boom in comedy, you rarely see these comedians on television.

Tiemo aim to ensure that the great comedians and up coming talent are consistently recognised on an annual basis. What sets our awards apart? We not only recognise the most popular stand up comedians, but also those comedians performing straight acting roles (i.e we do not focus solely on stand up); we celebrate young up and coming talent and most importantly it is you, the public, that determines the winners.

We hope that as a result of re-establishing these awards, talented black comedians will get the recognition and respect for the entertainment they provide across London and up and down the country.

To see the past winners click on each headline below…