Joe Kent-Walters best newcomer, Rob Copland takes Panel Prize

Amy Gledhill has won this year's Edinburgh Comedy Award for best show for Make Me Look Fit On The Poster.

Accepting her award, she said: 'This is insane. I saw the other people on this list and I thought "I don't have to write a script!"'

Among those she thanked were her Delightful Sausage double-act partner Chris Cantril, who had also been nominated for his solo show.

Joe Kent-Walters won the best newcomer prize for his show Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: Live!!!

Accepting his award, the former BBC New Comedy Award and Chortle Student Comedy Award winner joked that despite his demented alter ego: 'I am a well man!'

 Rob Copland won the Panel Prize, sponsored by The Victoria Wood Foundation, for his much talked-about show Gimme (One With Everything).

He said: ‘I always saw the Fringe as a place to develop and grow and build a show. And the truth about the show is that I didn't actually really believe in it until about show 10.’

‘I was kind of mad about the Fringe, and I just think it's crazy. Good luck to everyone who does it. Be good to yourself be kind to each other and make the most of it.’

The awards were announced at a ceremony in Edinburgh hosted by Richard Osman and Ahir Shah.

Osman said: ‘The Fringe is absolutely in my DNA. I’ve been coming for many, many, many years, even my kids have been up to the last 15 years as well. My wife [Ingrid Oliver] has performed here many times, and I suspect will again sometime soon.

‘So from my family to all of you, rather than say congratulations, I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for the last year,  thank you so much for every single year that we come up here and just have the most wonderful time. And that's thanks to you, the hard work you put in

‘I can exclusive reveal to you that I'm a white man born in 1970 and when I first came to the Fringe of the early 1990s, it's fair to say I was represented. Stories of white people were represented. 

‘And one of the real joys of the Fringe, especially over the last 15 years or so, is the extraordinary new stories that I get to hear. It's very easy, if you're from a certain generation, to calcify and to take the certainties of your teens and 20s and 30s as truths, and they're not truths. 

‘I love coming up here, to hear the truths of a new generation. I love coming up here and having my eyes open and I love the bravery and intelligence which people talk about their identity and their stories and things they wouldn't have been able to say in the early 1990s. So I want to thank you all for that makes me a better human being.’

He added: ‘Thanks to a culture, where a lot of people are making a lot of money, making people angry, you're doing the opposite, you're making people laugh’ – without completing the financial part of that comparison. 

Shah added: ‘I love being here because it's the month of my year where I genuinely always know that I'm with my colleagues, and we're a team, and we're doing something together. We're working towards the same thing. We might be able to create something wonderful. It's an astonishing way to feel that we get to feel very rarely in our live work. And the principal thing is that it’s fucking fun.’

The other nominees for best show were Catherine Bohart for Again, With Feelings; Chris Cantrill for Easily Swayed; Josh Glanc for Family Man; Natalie Palamides for Weer; Reuben Kaye for Live and Intimidating and Sarah Keyworth for  My Eyes Are Up Here.

And the other best newcomer nominees were: Abby Wambaugh for The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows; Demi Adejuyigbe for Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going To Do One (1) Backflip; Jack Skipper for Skint; and Jin Hao Li for Swimming in a Submarine (Review)

Nica Burns the director of the awards, said when the shortlists were announced: 'For the first time ever, we have a Best Comedy Show shortlist where male-identifying comedians are in the minority with representation across gender and sexuality spectrums, and comedians from the Midlands and North of England lead the list, alongside comedians from Australia, Ireland and America.

'The nominees are united by an ability to create jokes out of every situation, combining some serious insights with a high laugh rate. This year’s focus is on personal experience rather than political issues." '

And Nana Hughes, chair of the judging panel, added: 'The best newcomer shortlist is extraordinary and reflects the diversity and talent of emerging comedians. It is incredibly exciting to be able to see the next stars of tomorrow, with one of them graduating to stand-up from TikTok. The future of comedy is bright.'

The best show winner receives £10,000 with £5,000 for both best newcomer and the panel prize.

The best newcomer award is sponsored for a second year running by DLT Entertainment, a production company which owns several comedy agencies as well as London's Shaftesbury Theatre.

DLT Entertainment owner Donald Taffner Jr, pictured above with Burns, is also backing the main award, which has been renamed the Donald and Eleanor Taffner Best Comedy Show in honour of his parents, who founded the company.

The Victoria Wood Foundation sponsors the panel prize with Nica Burns, whose company Nimax owns several West End theatres,  also putting in funding.

The judging panel for the awards – now in their 42nd year – is:

Nana Hughes: head of scripted comedy at ITV
Dominic Cavendish: theatre critic at The Daily Telegraph
Liz Daramola: creator in residence at Baby Cow Productions
Georgia Keating: producer at BBC Studios Comedy and Entertainment
Dominic Maxwell: comedy & theatre critic for The Times and The Sunday Times
Anya Ryan comedy & theatre critic at The Guardian, The Times, Time Out, The Stage
Darren Smith: creative director at DLT Entertainment Ltd
Sam Anderson: Public panellist
Jake Helliwell: Public panellist
Beth Moon: Public panellist

Published: 24 Aug 2024