The staggeringly popular ceremony, with 400 applicants for the Stage Award alone, has now whittled down to 70 female comedians of to compete at the regional final stage. Previous winners include Katherine Ryan,  Sarah Millican and Harriet Braine, and the search for the next female comedy icon promises to be a real showstopper.

Funny Women founder, Lynne Parker said, “Women have such a strong and important voice in the comedy industry and so many of today’s big names have taken part in the awards at the beginning of their careers. I am excited to see who comes next!”

The regional finals with produce six winners, with two ‘wild card’ acts to make it to the Grand Final of the competition, leaving eight finalists in total.

Funny Women is also now partnered with UN Women National Committee UK, inspired by the renowned HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality, and the monitoring board will be composed of male and female comedians together. This follows 2016’s successful pairing of the finalists with celebrity female comedians, including Sara Pascoe, Ellie Taylor, Jan Ravens, Zoe Lyons, Tiffany Stevenson and Shazia Mirza.

Laura Haynes, Chair, UN Women National Committee UK said: ”We are delighted to confirm the Funny Women Awards as one of our signature events for HeForShe London Arts Week 2018 in support of UN Women… The arts guide and reflect culture by helping people to re-think established norms and explore challenging topics in a thoughtful way.”

Funny Women promises to be a hilarious, amazing night to perfectly encapsulate the hilarity and positivity that women possess. It encourages a brilliant message to help adapt a male-dominated industry. Only 25% of comedians are women, and so for this ceremony to shed light on some of our countries most uproarious female characters promises to be a treat for those wanting a change for the better.

The 2017 Funny Women Awards are sponsored by Comedy Central, Why Did the Chicken, Women in Comedy Festival, Soho Theatre, Women’s Radio Station, Oliver Bonas, Starling Bank and MOO.

-Freya Lewis

To find out more and book for Manchester’s Funny Women regional final click here.