Says Edinburgh awards chief Nica Burns

The head of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards has accused ‘a lot’ of new comedians of inflicting ‘absolutely terrible experiences’ on to audiences by coming to the Fringe with ill-developed acts.

Nica Burns said it was another ‘bumper year’ for comedy at the festival – but said the ballooning move towards free shows encouraged newer stand-ups to put on shows before they were ready.

Speaking to The Scotsman, she said: ‘The Free Fringe was a great idea. Edinburgh was getting very expensive and it was meaning a lot of people couldn’t afford to come.

‘But I do think that, on the downside, a lot of performers come to the Fringe when they are simply not ready. They’ve not done the work, they’re not good enough and the public go along and have an absolutely terrible experience. Where comedians have only really got 20 minutes of material they are pushing into a 50-minute or hour-long show, it’s a huge leap between the two.

‘The Free Fringe performers maybe don’t have as much financially at stake and think they’ll go along and give it a go, which in a sense is what the Fringe is all about, but if you are serious and want to be a professional you’ve got to really work at it and pace yourself, and not do it too quickly.’

In 2009, the comedy awards presented Free Fringe founder Peter Buckley Hill with the panel prize for his contribution to the festival; while judges have previously found best newcomer nominees Cariad Lloyd and Imran Yusuf on the free circuit.

Meanwhile, Burns dedicated her her annual speech at the start of the Fringe to praising the role of well-informed comedy critics – and called on the media to find a way to invest in them.

Her comments came in in the wake of the news that the Independent on Sunday has made its all its arts critics, across all genres, redundant.

Burns, who also co-owns a string of West End theatres, said: ‘There is a concern that critics may become an endangered species. It’s important that our culture is given the exposure and respect it deserves. It’s imperative that culture is written about and commented on by writers of stature and informed experience.’

She cited Bo Burnham, who told her he had not been properly reviewed ‘by a critic who understands comedy and knows how to write about it’ in five years of doing comedy before coming to Edinburgh in 2010.

Burns added: ‘We love bloggers. We love our comedy websites. But to reach new audiences we need comedy to sit alongside other artforms in the national press. Comedy is not only an essential part of the cultural life of the nation it’s part of our identity. We take it seriously. We are very good at comedy with an enormously successful industry.

 ‘We don’t know what the answers are. It’s no one’s fault. We just don’t know how to respond to all the challenges raised by the digital revolution. No one really understands how to make new media pay for age-old expertise, training and knowledge; for proper arts criticism, including comedy. Good writing must be paid for. How? This is an important debate we all need to take part in.’

At the launch Burns also confirmed that Foster’s will sponsor the awards for another three years, adding: ‘Only another 19 years to go before they beat Perrier.’

Published: 5 Aug 2013