Malcolm Hardee nominees out

An exhibition of Arthur Smith’s socks has been nominated for all three categories in the Malcolm Hardee awards at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The display at the Pleasance Dome is shortlisted for comic originality, for cunning stunt and for ‘act most likely to make a million quid’, based on the unlikely assumption that art collector Charles Saatchi might buy it.

Tech-heavy double act Foxdog Studios have been nominated in two categories: comic originality and million quid.

Also up for the originality prize is surreal act Twonkey, and Come Look At The Baby – in which audiences simply watch a baby do whatever it does for half an hour.

The ‘million quid’ shortlist is completed by Irish comic Al Porter.

And the other ‘cunning’ stunt nominees are Richard Gadd, for taking a smaller room in the Banshee Labyrinth this year than last, even though he was oversubscribed and critically acclaimed in 2015; and Becky Fury, who put her flyer put on Tinder and slapped ‘Last Minute Comedy finalist’ across the printed version. It’s thought this relates to the Last Minute Comedy Club in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, which has no relation to the travel website sponsoring this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Published: 22 Aug 2016