Lara Ricote best newcomer; Best In Class wins panel prize

Sam Campbell has won the top prize at Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

The Australian comic said: ‘Thanks to all the people who came to see my show, especially all the other comedians. People say I only play to the back of the room. That’s not true. The other night Phil Wang was in - and he was in the second row.’

He takes home the £10,000 for best show for his offering, Comedy Show, which has been playing at midnight – but only in the second half of the festival.

Campbell previously won the award for the most outstanding show at the 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, three years after scooping best newcomer there.

Lara Ricote won the £5,000 best newcomer award for her show GRL/LATNX/DEF.

The Mexican-born, American comic, above, said: ‘You are being so nice to me. This is crazy! I was thinking my show isn’t that good but I appreciate it so much and I will make a better one I promise. I’m shaking I’m so excited. Thank you, thank you, thank you.’

Best in Class, which supports working class comedians at the festival, won the panel prize for spirit of the Fringe, with panel chairman Adnan Ahmed saying ‘class is at the forefront of our minds’.

Organiser Sian Davies, above, said: ‘Couple of things.  I really appreciate this. I really appreciate the recognition. The money from this [£5,000] will help a lot to help the comedians we bring up here.’

She explained she set up the scheme after auditioning for a Fringe showcase, which would have cost her  £1,800 to take part. She set up a crowdfunder to raise the money - prompting the promoter to immediately drop her, saying she had lied over the state of her finances and did not want to work with the likes of you’.

And she disputed the claim that the Fringe was open to everyone saying: ‘People can’t afford to live at the minute let alone come up here.'

Pointing to the number of working-class comics nominated this year, she said:  ‘This doesn’t show we’ve fixed it, it shows that when you give us a seat at your table we can do this.

‘I haven’t got the answers. Best in Class is a sticking plaster at best. The Fringe is full of systematic bias.’

Introducing the ceremony, awards producer Nica Burns had said: ‘Our doors are open to everyone. All they need to be is super-talented and above all funny.’

And of the winners she said: 'A truly outstanding international year. Sam Campbell, winner of the best comedy show award is original, sometimes surreal, his show is full of jokes and often unexpected. He changes gear throughout and takes his audience on a journey of laughter.

'Lara’s debut act at the Festival is an absolute delight. She’s completely distinct and very funny. She is a stand-out performer who happens to be hearing.'

'We’ve had the widest representation from across the whole country, from Scotland to Sussex and everywhere in between. The Panel Prize for Best in Class championing and supporting those who cannot afford the cost of performing in Edinburgh has caught the spirit of this year’s Fringe.'

Burns added that the panel had watched a total of 1,558 hours of comedy between them, and said it was a ‘superb’ year for nominees

She told the gathered industry audience: ‘Together we have built the best comedy industry in the world. Our doors are open to everyone. All they need to be is super-talented and above all funny.’'

Campbell is the sixth Australian to win the main award following Los Trios Ringbarkus (1983). Lano and Woodley (1994), Brendon Burns (2007), Sam Simmons (2015) and Hannah Gadsby (2017, shared with John Robins)

The other nominees for Best Comedy Show this year were:

• Alfie Brown: Sensitive Man @ Monkey Barrel Comedy
• Colin Hoult: The Death of Anna Mann @ Pleasance Courtyard, Beneath
• Jordan Gray: Is It a Bird? @ Assembly, George Square
• Josh Pugh: Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips and Beans @ Monkey Barrel Comedy
• Larry Dean: Fudnut Monkey Barrel Comedy
• Lauren Pattison: It Is What It Is @ Monkey Barrel Comedy
• Liz Kingsman: One-Woman Show @ Traverse Theatre
• Seann Walsh: Is Dead. Happy Now? @ The Stand Comedy Club
• The Delightful Sausage: Nowt but Sea - Amy Gledhill and Chris Cantrill with Paul Dunphy @ Monkey Barrel 4

And for Best Newcomer:

• Amy Gledhill: The Girl Before The Girl You Marry @ Monkey Barrel Comedy - Carnivore
• Emily Wilson: Fixed @ Pleasance Courtyard – Beneath
• Emmanuel Sonubi: Emancipated @ Underbelly, Bristol Square
• Josh Jones: Waste of Space @ Pleasance Courtyard - Bunker Three
• Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?! @ Pleasance Courtyard – Baby Grand
• Vittorio Angelone: Translations @ Monkey Barrel Comedy – Carnivore

This year’s panel was chaired by Sky Studios comedy producer Adnan Ahmed and comprised Dave channel director Cherie Cunningham, Channel 4 commissioning executive Joe Hullait, BBC Studios Audio executive Pete Strauss; arts journalists Ashley Davies, Isobel Lewis and Dominic Maxwell and public competition winners Paul Abbey, Jo Kinsella and Monique Munroe.

Published: 27 Aug 2022