Edinburgh Comedy Awards

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The Edinburgh Comedy Awards , formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards , are an award given annually for best performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe . The prize was first awarded in 1981 and is now one of the most prestigious comedy prizes in Great Britain.

history

The prize was first donated in 1981 by the French mineral water brand Perrier to promote up-and-coming comedy talent. Perrier remained the founder of the award until 2005, which was then called the Perrier Comedy Award . Since the award was initially donated by the Bank Intelligent Finance in the following years, it was renamed if.comeddies in 2006 and if.comedy awards in 2007 . After Intelligent Finance left as a sponsor, AbsoluteRadio.co.uk was the sponsor in 2009 and Foster's Lager in 2010. Since then, the award has been called Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards .

Award winners

The winner of the Best Comedy Show category will receive £ 10,000 and perform at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festivals in Montreal, Toronto and Chicago. The winners of the Best Newcomer and Panel Price categories will each receive £ 5,000. As Best Newcomer can be excellent, who for the first time his show full-length (at least 50 minutes) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe presents. The jury has been awarding the Best Newcomer prize since 1992, the Panel Prize has been awarded since 2006.

The winners included actors Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry , singer Barb Jungr and comedians Steve Coogan , Lee Evans , Dylan Moran and Tim Minchin ( Best Newcomer ).

criticism

The award first came under fire in 1995 because Perrier had been bought by Nestlé and Nestlé was accused of aggressively marketing infant formula in developing countries. There were calls to boycott the awards, including from previous Perrier Comedy Award winners.

In 2002, critical voices rose again, as no female comedians were nominated for the awards for the second year in a row. In 2009 it was criticized that all nominees were white, male and of English origin. Although the award is presented every year in Edinburgh, it has never been won by a Scot. No Scottish comedians were nominated between 1993 and 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Telegraph: Time to stand up for the Perrier
  2. ^ The Guardian: Edinburgh Festival
  3. ↑ The Awards: Eligibility rules
  4. ↑ Best Comedy Show
  5. ↑ Boycott Perrier
  6. ↑ It's the end of the Perrier, and nobody's laughing ( Memento from September 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ The Independent: Saunders bemoans absence of female stand-up comedians