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 at ...

'' and as Circle Researcher Rory Tate in a series of

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are an American candy consisting of a chocolate cup filled with peanut butter, marketed by The Hershey Company. They were created on November 15, 1928, by H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for M ...

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 o ...

. Sims died at the age of 33 from AIDS-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 Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

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 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 Octobe ...

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 Gord may refer to *Gord (archaeology), medieval Slavic settlement * Gord (given name), people and characters with the given name * Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), a stomach disorder * Ken Gord (born 1949), Canadian film and television pr ...

Rob Hawke Rob Hawke is a Canadian actor and Gemini Award-nominated writer. He has performed his one-man show, Norm versus Cancer: A Terminally Funny One Man Show, which is based on his personal experience of surviving thyroid cancer. Hawke is an alumnus of T ...

) *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 *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 Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Mose ...

*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 *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 *2008 – 7 Minutes in Heaven ( Josh Saltzman & Laura Cilevitz) *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