Clearview Midlands February 2014 - Issue 147 | Page 63

FITPreview February 2014 This year’s Star Entertainer... NINA CONTI ‘Nina Conti is one of the most exciting, original and hilarious acts I have ever seen – perfect for the FIT Show Gala Dinner!’. That was the view of FIT Show coorganiser Paul Godwin when he and the team saw Nina when they were presented last year with their ‘Launch Show of the Year’ Award. ‘We saw Nina and agreed unanimously that she had to come to the FIT Show Gala Dinner in June’. Nina Conti started doing stand-up ventriloquism in January 2002 and shot to fame by winning the BBC New Comedy Award that same year. Famed for her foul-mouthed ‘sidekick’ Monkey (Monk), Nina has won numerous comedy awards for her writing, acting and ventriloquism. Nina’s broadcast work includes four series of BBC Radio 4’s Claire in the Community, and appearances on the likes of Comic Relief (BBC1), Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Take Away (ITV1), The Rob Brydon Show (BBC2), and the BAFTA-winning Black Books (Channel 4), to name a few. Most recently, she played a lead role in, HBO’s new comedy series Family Tree, alongside comedy actor Chris O’Dowd. Nina also fronted a documentary last year called Make Me Happy: A Monkey’s Search for Happiness (BBC 4), as well as directing, and producing a second documentary for the same channel, A Ventriloquists Story: Her Masters Voice, which went on to be nominated for a BAFTA TV Award 2013. 63