Second Place: Kenny Wingle

Third Place: David Marie-Garland

For someone relatively new to the profession, comedian Corey Marshall, aka Madman, is wisecracking large. It helps that the comic — a raucous mixture of Chris Rock and Bill Cosby — is truly funny and just a wee bit caustic, focusing his wit on hot-button topics ranging from faith and family to political and social issues. "When I first started four years ago, the Richmond comedy scene was nothing like it is now," Marshall recalls. "Now you can get onstage for an open-mic night almost every night of the week in Richmond. This is really helpful to a young comedian. The only way to know if a joke works is to try it out on a crowd." Madman's hilarious audition video for the revamped "In Living Color" television show is earning kudos on the Internet, so you may want to catch this native son before Hollywood snatches him up. The laid-back Kenny Wingle comes in second in this category, and bearded indie comic David Marie-Garland places number three.