If the accolade is based on legwork, then Sarah Millican is in with a good shot at our first Legend of Comedy award.
She seems to have first popped up on our comedy radar during the 2006 Leicester Comedy Festival.
According to our old listings she was gigging here, there and everywhere, doing half a dozen gigs every festival for years before we gave her any real column inches.
Even when she made it to the preview show in 2008, our reviewer didn't give her a mention, instead favouring an enormous picture of Irish comic Jason Byrne eating a packet of Liquorice Allsorts.
Poor Sarah. But all is not lost, as she is now one of 20 funny men and women in the running for the inaugural Legend of Comedy award, launched to celebrate 20 years of the festival.
We got round to reviewing her in February 2009 at the Richard Attenborough Centre, in Lancaster Road. Alex Scoppie had very nice things to say about her – even if the show was under construction.
"You know a show is a work in progress when the artist wanders on-stage with notes and a pen, then runs off to get a cup of tea," he wrote.
"But in the presence of such a natural, bubbly performer as Sarah Millican, the Geordie hopeful with a big heart and a foul mouth, any concerns about amateurism melt away."
"Covering subjects from chatting to truckers using Morse code, to sharing the sea with obese children and wanting George Clooney for her bathrobe, her new act was a step forward from last year's."
There was even a bit of voluntary crowd participation.
"The equally relaxed crowd was soon drawn in to a question and answer session: "What would you do if you were the opposite sex for a day?" This got more smutty responses from the women, although one man did suggest "be a slut". "If Sarah continues to get quality filth back from the audience instead of just giving it, her future is assured."
LEGEND OF COMEDY: Vote for your favourite Sarah is one of 20 comedians we have picked who have performed at the festival over the years. We want you to vote for the one you think is most deserving of the Legend of Comedy title. The comedian with the most online and postal votes combined by the end of the festival will be crowned the winner. The award will be presented to the winner – or, if Sir Norman Wisdom takes the award, to his family – at a ceremony in March at the City Rooms, Leicester. A plaque naming the winner will be displayed in the Y Theatre – one of the comedy festival venues – in East Street, Leicester. To vote for your favourite comedian, fill in this form and send it to the address on the coupon. You can also vote online below. This year, Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival will see more than 520 shows performed at dozens of venues across the county from February 8 to 24.
