Tom Shillue

Tom Shillue

The ECNY Awards, celebrating the best of the comedic performing arts in New York, were presented Monday night, March 8, at the city’s Comix comedy club. Fifteen awards were given out, in categories ranging from best male standup comedian to outstanding achievement in the field of tweeting.

For the third year in a row, Jon Friedman (“The Rejection Show,” “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”) hosted the show. “It’s weird to choose a winner in comedy,” Friedman said before the ceremony, comparing the ECNY Awards with the previous night’s Academy Awards. “Comedy is so subjective, and any comic can simply have an off night on any given night. Or, as a comic, you can connect with certain people and not at all with others, no matter what day or night it is. Whereas with a film—say, for best picture—that film is exactly the same every time it’s shown.”

Among the past ECNY winners presenting awards were Kurt Braunohler (BBC’s “Penelope Princess of Pets”), Sara Benincasa (Sirius Satellite Radio), Leo Allen (“Saturday Night Live”), Pat Baer (UCB Theatre), Reggie Watts, Kumail Nanjiani (“Michael and Michael Have Issues”), and Michelle Collins (BestWeekEver.tv). Other presenters included Michael Musto (The Village Voice) and Andrew W.K., with a special video greeting from Michael Ian Black (The State).

Upon accepting his award for best one-person show early in the evening, Tom Shillue said of the raucous event, “The future of comedy is community. And that’s what this is.” Shillue then exceeded his 30-second acceptance-speech limit, was played off the stage with “Me So Horny” blaring from the speakers, and cursed everyone he had just thanked.

Adira Amram

Adira Amram

Hannibal Buress and Morgan Murphy won for best male and best female standup comedian, respectively. The emerging comic award was presented to Myq Kaplan, who has appeared on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show.” “Thanks to my grandmother and all her friends for voting for me,” Kaplan said upon receiving his award.

Though the Oscar telecast skipped performances of the nominees for best original song this year, the ECNY best musical comedy act nominees performed throughout the evening. Videos were created for the show by Chelsea White.

Here is a complete list of the nominees and winners (in bold):

BEST FEMALE STANDUP COMEDIAN
Claudia Cogan
Katina Corrao
Morgan Murphy
Giulia Rozzi
Brooke Van Poppelen

BEST MALE STANDUP COMEDIAN
Hannibal Buress
Pete Holmes
Sean Patton
Rory Scovel
Baron Vaughn

BEST SKETCH COMEDY GROUP
BoF (Best of Friends)
Elephant Larry
Murderfist
New Exc!tement
Team Submarine

BEST IMPROV GROUP
Big Black Car
Death by Roo Roo
I Eat Pandas
Improvised Shakespeare Company
Stepfathers

BEST HOST
Chris Gethard
Seth Herzog
Pete Holmes and Jessi Klein
Gabe Liedman, Jenny Slate, and Max Silvestri
Joe Mande and Noah Garfinkel

BEST MUSICAL COMEDY ACT (SOLO OR GROUP)
Adira Amram
Shayna Ferm
Leibya Rogers (Mindy Raf)
Snakes
Stuckey & Murray

BEST ONE-PERSON SHOW
“Big in Japan,” Dave Hill
“Dead Millionaire,” Jenny Slate
“Fag Life: A Conversation With Fred Phelps,” Brent James Sullivan
“Supernormal,” Tom Shillue
“Use It,” Ann Carr

BEST SHORT COMEDIC FILM
“DAMN (You Wish),” Carolyn Castiglia, Tom McCaffrey, Mara Harron, and Anya Garrett
“Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses,” BriTANick
“Everyone Poops Trailer,” Landline TV
“Hey That’s Awesome!: 2012,” Rob Lathan with Bobby Moynihan
“What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?,” Elephant Larry

BEST TECHNICIAN
Jon Gutierrez
Geoff Grimwood
Carol Hartsell
Frank Heijl
Beowulf Jones

BEST VARIETY SHOW
“Fifty First Jokes”
“Moonwork: An Evening of Original Works”
“Rejection Show”
“Risk! True Tales Boldly Told”
“Whiplash”

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FLYER OR POSTCARD DESIGN
“Agorafabulous,” Mike Wang and Lauren Goldberg
“Brown Ambition,” Anya Garrett
“Fag Life: A Conversation With Fred Phelps,” Mindy Tucker
“Heart of Darkness,” Dimitri Drjuchin
“Swords Improv,” Bradford Jordan and Eric Michael Pearson

BEST WEBSITE
http://www.frontpagefilms.com
http://www.theapiary.org
http://www.thecomedynerds.com
http://www.thecomicscomic.com
http://www.urdb.com
http://www.videogum.com

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF TWEETING
@friedmanjon
@julieklausner
@lizzwinstead
@mrdavehill
@Randazzoj

BEST BOOK
“All Local Bands Suck (Except Ours),” Porter Mason
“And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations With 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft,” Mike Sacks
“Get Rich Cheating: The Crooked Path to Easy Street,” Jeff Kreisler
“Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped and Cancelled,” Jon Friedman
“The Terrible, Horrible Temp-to-Perm Debacle: Book Two in the Just Make a Choice! Series,” Bob Powers
“The Will to Whatevs: A Guide to Modern Life,” Eugene Mirman

EMERGING COMIC AWARD
Myq Kaplan
Mike Lawrence
Kate McKinnon
Thomas Middleditch
Dan St. Germain
Brent Sullivan

This story was published online March 10, 2010 at BackStage.com. Photos by KirillWasHere.