The line up has been announced for the 2018 Leicester Mercury Comedian Of the Year Final at the Leicester Comedy Festival

The final takes place in Leicester on February 24.

Previous winners include Josh Widdicombe, Jason Manford, Seann Walsh, Miles Jupp, Johnny Vegas, Romesh Ranganathan and Rhod Gilbert. Previous finalists include Greg Davies and Reginald D Hunter.

This year's hand-picked eight finalists are:

Simon Lomas                                       Radu Isac
Martin Wratten                                   Helen Bauer
Catherine Bohart                                 Rosie Jones
Patrick Spicer                                       Jack Gleadow

The Festival runs from February 7 - 25. Buy tickets for all events here.