In a gala ceremony at Auckland’s The Classic Comedy Club on Sunday night, the winners of the 2009 NZ Comedy Guild Awards were announced in front of a packed audience.

The 9^th annual NZ Comedy Guild Awards, presented for the first time by Comedy Central, were a celebration of the stellar year that New Zealand Comedy has experienced in 2009. The rise of local comedy on television and in front of record-number live audiences throughout the year has been due, in no small part, to the decades of hard work put in by performers, producers and the NZ Comedy Guild.

Perhaps not surprisingly, television comedy was represented more prominently than in previous years. Local boy made Hollywood star Rhys Darby took home the Kevin Smith Trophy for Artistic Achievement for his work on Flight Of The Conchords, whilst the success locally of 7Days saw Paul Ego win “Best Comedy Performance on Television” and TV3 winning “Best Media Support.”

However, live shows are still the backbone of local comedy, and were strongly represented across the awards, with Te Radar winning the “Comedy Central award for Best Show” for Eating the Dog, Vaughan King taking away “Best Show Concept” for his Billy T Award nominated Inventor, The Classic winning “Best Venue” for a ninth successive year, and 2009 Billy T Award winner Chris Brain recognized for his writing with “Comedy Central Gag Of The Year”.

“Best Male” and “Best Female” comedians for 2009 were Brendhan Lovegrove and Jan Maree, respectively.

The NZ Comedy Guild wishes to congratulate all the winners and nominees, and wishes all comedians another great year of work, leading up to our 10^th anniversary Awards in 2010.

BEST NEWCOMER
Chris Cook
Joseph Harper
Stella Graham
Sarah Harpur

BEST SHOW CONCEPT
Heidi O’Loughlin and Rose Matafeo: Heidi and Rose’s Guide To The Uncool
Vaughan King: The Inventor
Jan Maree: Have You Met Me?
Andrew Clay: Andy Clay’s Book Of Love

BEST SHOW
Te Radar: Eating The Dog
Jan Maree: Have You Met Me?
Andrew Clay: Andy Clay’s Book Of Love
Steve Wrigley: Office Boy