Edinburgh Fringe 2019: London Hughes and Jessica Fostekew among Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist
The nominees are in for Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Award 2019, with nine acts in the running.
Darren Harriott, Demi Lardner, The Delightful Sausage, Goodbear, Ivo Graham, Jessica Fostekew, Jordan Brookes, London Hughes and Spencer Jones have all been nominated for the Best Show award.
With a record number of shows this year comes a record number of nominees.
The shortlist for the Best Newcomer award includes Crybabies, Catherine Cohen, Helen Bauer, Huge Davies, Janine Harouni, Michael Odewale, Nigel Ng and Sophie Duker.
The winner of Best Show will receive £10,000, while the Best Newcomer will take home £5,000.
The awards will be announced on Saturday August 24, with the ceremony taking place the following day. Stephen Fry, who won the first ever award with the Cambridge Footlights in 1981, will present the award. He will be joined by last year’s Best Show winner Rose Matafeo, who beat Ahir Shah, Alex Edelman, Felicity Ward, Glenn More, Kieran Hodgson and Larry Dean. The best newcomer award was snapped up by Ciarán Dowd.
A further prize, The Panel Prize, for which all shows are eligible, was introduced in 2006. The winner will also receive £5,000, but the panel can choose not to award this prize, which happened in 2017, when Hannah Gadsby and John Robins both won the main award. In 2008, the prize was awarded to every comedian and the money was put behind the bar for the end of Fringe party.
