IT’S the comedy competition that has given a break to the likes of The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird, his Friday Night Dinner co-star Tom Rosenthal, Radio One’s Tom Deacon and Chris Ramsey, star of BBC Two comedy Hebburn.

Now 24-year-old Danny Hyde, a student at Southampton Solent University, is set to follow in their footsteps, after winning a place in the Chortle Student Comedy Award semi-final.

The aspiring stand-up, who has only performed a couple of dozen times before, is studying comedy writing and performance and won the heat in the city this week.

He now goes on to a semifinal in either London on Manchester in May and a shot at the final in the Edinburgh Fringe – where the top prize is £2,000.