The final of the 2018 Leicester Mercury Comedian Of the Year has taken place at the Y Theatre as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival.

The winner is Jack Gleadow. Rosie Jones was in 2nd place and 3rd place went to Radu Isac.

Gleadow has previously won the Great Yorkshire Fringe New Comedian of the Year and The Amused Moose National New Comic Award Final.

Previous Leicester 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.

Leicester Comedy Festival Director, Geoff Rowe, said: “the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year competition is one of the longest running comedy competitions in the UK and is always a highlight of the annual Leicester Comedy Festival.  It’s one of our competitions which help support new and emerging talent.  The competition has helped to support many acts over the years and Jack Gleadow now joins the likes of Josh Widdicombe, Romesh Ranganathan, Johnny Vegas and Kate Lucas who are previous winners.”

The judging panel for this year were: Charlotte Lang (cabaret tent, Glastonbury Festival), George Oliver (Editor, Leicester Mercury), Steve North (Channel Manager, UKTV’s Dave) and Mark Boosey (British Comedy Guide).

This year's finalists were:

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

The Festival runs until February 25. Buy tickets for all events here.