More Fringe award nominees announced

The shortlist for the annual Malcolm Hardee Awards for has been announced at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The three awards, chosen by a panel of judges, are presented for performers who best capture the spirit of the Frimge in memory of the late ‘godfather of British alternative comedy’.

Winners, who receive kudos rather than a cash prize, will be announced at around midnight on Friday. 

There are three categories, and the nominations – along with the judges’ citations are:

For comic originality

Dr Brown, ‘an act where “surreal” does not quite do justice to what is or is not happening on stage.“Uncomfortable weirdness” was one attempt to categorise it’.

Lewis Schaffer ‘for turning round his act Into a highly improvised and totally unpredictable event... and for being able to literally take his show Free Until Famous onto the streets’.

Bob Slayer ‘for his continued services to anarchy in comedy, including his  gobsmackingly anarchic Punk Rock Chat Show – which usually has nothing to do with punk, rock or chat’

Robert White ‘for his enthusiastic unconventionality and for being (in his own words) “the only gay, Asperger’s, quarter-Welsh, webbed-toed dyslexic pianist debuting this Fringe”’

The Cunning Stunt award (for best Fringe publicity stunt)

Stewart Lee ‘who, while complaining about the former Perrier Award incidentally, Almost Accidentally promoted Japanese act the Frank Chickens… The fact that Stewart did not intend to unleash publicity does not negate his success’.

Manos The Greek ‘for claiming he will donate 10 per cent of the total earnings from his Free Fringe show to rescue the Greek economy’.

Arthur Smith ‘for declaring that he would pay £100 to any journalist attending his show who would juggle fish. When his bluff was called by critic Bruce Dessau, Arthur neglected to buy the required kippers, but he still got publicity out of a silly idea.’

The ‘act most likely to make a million quid’ award

Bo Burham ‘certainly one of the hottest young comedians on the Fringe for several years. Might already have made a million in the US, which might or might not disqualify him’.

Greg Davies ‘for his sense of the absurd. Known as the psychotic head of sixth form, Mr Gilbert, in The Inbetweeners and the most out-of-shape member of We Are Klang’.

Published: 23 Aug 2010