The Edinburgh Comedy Awards have announced their shortlists for this year’s prizes. These will awarded at a ceremony on Saturday hosted by Richard Osman and Ahir Shah.
The Don and Eleanor Taffer Best Comedy Show and the DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer Award are the biggest prizes in comedy and are now in their 42nd year. The recipient of the Victoria Wood Award will be announced at Saturday’s awards ceremony.
The nominations are:
- The Don and Eleanor Taffner Best Comedy Show
- Amy Gledhill: Make Me Look Fit on the Poster
- Catherine Bohart: Again, With Feelings
- Chris Cantrill: Easily Swayed
- Josh Glanc: Family Man
- Natalie Palamides: WEER
- Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimidating
- Sarah Keyworth: My Eyes Are Up Here
- The DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer Award
- Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows
- Demi Adejuyigbe: Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going To Do One (1) Backflip
- Jack Skipper: Skint
- Jin Hao Li: Swimming in a Submarine
- Joe Kent-Walters: Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: LIVE!!!
Nica Burns CBE, Director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, said:“2024 is an outstanding year for comedy with our shortlist ranging from clowning to character comedy to musical comedy and traditional stand-up. 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.”
Nana Hughes, Chair of the judging panel, said: “With 563 shows to review, our panel and scouts team – the latter all former panelists – have collectively watched over 1,500 hours of comedy in three weeks to get to our shortlists. The process is thorough and rightfully so when the Edinburgh Comedy Awards can have such an impact on comedians’ careers. 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.”
These awards have been responsible for launching the careers of the UK’s comedy elite, previous award winners include Stephen Fry, Steve Coogan, Lee Evans, Al Murray, Sarah Millican, Omid Djalili, Eddie Izzard, Tim Minchin, The League of Gentlemen, Jenny Eclair and Frank Skinner.
Founded in 1981, many award winners and nominees have gone on to have a significant impact on mainstream popular culture, going on to write, direct and act on screen, in some of the most iconic television and film over the last four decades – including Green Wing and Smack The Pony (Victoria Pile), Sherlock (Mark Gatiss), Alan Partridge and Philomena (Steve Coogan), Car Share (Peter Kay), The IT Crowd (Richard Ayoade), Benidorm and No.9 (Steve Pemberton), Doctor Who and her eponymous TV show (Catherine Tate), W1A (Sara Pascoe), Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (Romesh Ranganathan), Sex Education (Hannah Gadsby), Baby Reindeer (Richard Gadd) and Starstruck (Rose Matafeo).
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
