Tim Sims (1962 – February 2, 1995) was a Canadian actor and comedian. He is known for his roles as Jack the Cave Man on ''

The Red Green Show ''The Red Green Show'' is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States (airing on more than 100 PBS affiliates a ...

'' and as Circle Researcher Rory Tate in a series of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials in the 1990s. He also performed sketch comedy with

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...

. Sims died at the age of 33 from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-related causes. The Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award and

Tim Sims Playhouse The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...

, a

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

venue used by The Second City, are both named in his honour.

Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award

The ''Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award'' is an annual award given to Canada's "most promising new comedy act". It was established by Sims' widow, comic actor Lindsay Leese. From 1996 to 2015, the Award is given annually as part of the

Cream of Comedy ''Cream of Comedy'' was an annual award show broadcast by The Comedy Network that promoted emerging Canadian comedic talent in the early stage of their careers. The show was established in the memory of Toronto comedic performer Tim Sims and has r ...

showcase at The Second City, which features performances by that year's five finalists and which was televised by

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octo ...

until the final few years. In 2015, the 20th and final Cream of Comedy showcase (CoC20) took place at Toronto's Second City, featuring performances by many previous winners and nominees. Since 2016 two Tim Sims Awards have been given out annually, one to a Second City Training Centre Conservatory Program Graduate, and another to a student of the Comedy Writing and Performance Program at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

Winners

1996-2015

*1996 – Jason Thompson: "Horror Clown" *1997 – Fast & Dirty ( Gord Oxley & Rob Hawke) *1998 –

Gavin Crawford Gavin Crawford (born 2 April 1971) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for ''The Gavin Crawford Show'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He currently hosts the panel show, '' Because News'', on CBC Radio One. Early life Crawford was b ...

*1999 –

Fraser Young Fraser Young is a stand-up comedian who lives in Toronto, Ontario but headlines right across Canada, and as far away as Hong Kong. Young has won the prestigious Tim Sims Encouragement Fund, awarded to the best up and coming comic in Toronto th ...

*2000 –

Laurie Elliot Laurie Elliott (born January 18, 1971) is a Canadian actress, voice actress, television writer, and stand-up comedian. She is best known as the voice of Jo from ''Total Drama''. Currently she is a writer of '' Corn & Peg''. Career She has appear ...

*2001 – Levi Macdougall *2002* –

Brad Hart Bradley G. Hart is an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 2018 to 2022. As the role of mayor is a part-time position, Hart continued to work as a business lawyer at Bradley & Riley during his term. ...

& Tim Polley *2003 – Ron Sparks *2004 –

Katie Crown Katherine Crown (born November 23, 1985) is a Canadian voice actress and writer. She is known for voicing Izzy in ''Total Drama'', Fin in '' Stoked'', Mary Wendle and Melanie Baker in ''Clarence'', Tulip in ''Storks'' and Ivy in ''Amphibia''. In ...

*2005 –

Jeff McEnery Jeff McEnery (1984)"Small town, single and microwave mac'n cheese", CBC Radio Laugh Out Loud podcast, 27 January 2017. is a stand-up comedian and actor born and raised in the small town of Acton, Ontario, Canada. He is a graduate of Humber College' ...

*2006 –

Nathan Fielder Nathan Joseph Fielder (born May 12, 1983) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, producer, and entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating, directing, and starring in the Comedy Central parody reality show '' Nathan for You'' (2013� ...

*2007 –

Nathan MacIntosh Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

*2008 – 7 Minutes in Heaven (

Josh Saltzman Josh Saltzman is a Canadian Comedy Award winning comedian, writer and director from Toronto, Ontario who currently resides in Los Angeles. He was the head writer of DHX Media's new ''Inspector Gadget'' series produced for Teletoon in Canada (seen o ...

Laura Cilevitz Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a ba ...

) *2009 – Calvin Storoschuk *2010 - Mike Rita *2011 - British Teeth (Filip Jeremic & Allana Reoch) *2012 - Christi Olson *2013 - Nigel Grinstead *2014 - Caitlin Langelier ''*in 2002 Hart and Polley tied for the award after the jury became hopelessly deadlocked; a new rule was made that Lindsay Leese would receive a tie-break in future years, if necessary, to avoid the same problem.''

2015-present

=Humber College Comedy Program students

= *2015 - Meg MacKay *2016 - Robbie Woods *2017 - Jordanne Brown

=Second City Training Centre Conservatory Program graduates

= *2015 - Carolina Zoccoli *2016 - Cameron LaPrairie *2017 - Tom Hearn *2018 - Ophira Calof

References

External links

*
Eye Weekly (October 28, 1993): Review of "Fun With Tim Sims And Friends"
1962 births 1995 deaths Canadian male television actors Canadian male comedians AIDS-related deaths in Canada 20th-century Canadian male actors 20th-century Canadian comedians {{Canada-actor-stub