SCOUSE stand-up John Bishop has won the Lancashire Telegraph trophy for the best performance during the Blackburn and Darwen Comedy Festival.

The readers’ poll saw John Bishop receive almost half of the total number of votes.

And our panel of judges agreed that the rising star of the comedy circuit was the deserved winner of the award following two sell-out dates last month during the annual festival.

The Blackburn and Darwen Comedy Festival sees top comedians visit East Lancashire every November with gigs at King George’s Hall, Darwen Library Theatre and Thwaites Empire Theatre over a two-week period.

Previous winners of the award have been Jimmy Carr, Jason Manford and Tom Wrigglesworth.

Click on the link below to read all our reviews from the Blackburn with Darwen Comedy Festival.