ISH accolades add a category

The ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards have announced they will be handing out a Joke Of The Fringe title, after broadcaster Dave dropped its long-running prize.

Organisers say they are keen that the new accolade is not restricted to a family-friendly one-liner that could be printed in a newspaper, as the previous high-profile award was.

Comedian Nathan Cassidy, who founded the awards, said ‘For the first time at the Fringe, we believe, this is a joke competition that's not just one-liners.  

‘This will be the best joke of the Fringe, however long or short it is, and if it's too long to print, or indeed the act doesn't want us to print it, we won’t.

‘I still think about Glenn Wool's joke years ago about finding a terrorist as one of the funniest jokes I've ever seen at the Fringe, however I'm not sure it would have played that well as a fluff piece the next morning on GMTV.  

‘Requiring all jokes to fit into a few words is a bit silly, really, and just attracts backlash. It would be like judging an artist contest on who can paint the best Titanic, there is more to great art than one liner.  Then again, maybe all awards are silly, let's not think about that now…'

As soon as Dave announced they were withdrawing their contest this year, comic Will Mars announced he was reviving his '(Some Guy Called) Dave Joke of the Fringe' competition, with a random bloke picking his favourites from a shortlist drawn up by industry experts. For this award, comedians can submit up to five of their best one-liners from their 2025 Edinburgh Fringe show to needtoknowcomedy@gmail.com by midday on August 11.

However, the ISH award will be picked entirely by the voluntary panel of judges who see every eligible comedy show at the Fringe.

Awards producer Sarah Bowles says: ‘No submissions needed, we will see all the shows and we'll pick a top ten of jokes and a winner. 

‘Like all our awards, this will just be our judges' opinion. By far the more important thing in Edinburgh is word of mouth about the shows themselves, but hey, it's a bit of fun, and a bit like our inception, we just love plugging holes.’

The awards were set up in 2022 when it looked as if the original Edinburgh Comedy Awards – which started life as the Perriers – might not take place. In the end, they did go ahead, but ISH - which stands for Insert Sponsor Here – decided to continue anyway. They promise that any sponsorship they do attract will go to the winning comedians. 

Bowles called on someone to make a £500 donation to add their name to the new joke award by emailing edinburghcomedyawards@gmail.com, adding: ‘We will be heavily favouring as a sponsor anyone called Dave.’

Earlier this month, Elf Lyons pledged £500 for a new ISH award to honour techs working on comedy shows at the Fringe.

The tongue-in-cheek Pegasus Comedy Awards – 'proud to be the most pointless awards in comedy’ –  has also announced that it will be awarding a ‘ Joke Of A Fringe’ title, worth 1p, this year. 

The rules are that: ‘The joke should not be from your show this year, it should be from a future show and not a past show. Jokes must be submitted in the correct font. No, we will not tell you what that font is. There is a set limit on how many jokes can enter. No, we will not tell you what that number is. There is also one secret, complicated rule. But that’s a secret. Obviously.’ Entries are now open and can be submitted to jokeofafringe@gmail.com by August 10.

• Neurodiverse Review has announced a new award for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent comedy writing at this year’s  Fringe, backed by Edinburgh-based production company North Bridge Media. The winner will receive a £500 treatment commission and mentoring support from the firm. Neurodiverse Review already hands out several other awards and the site’s Simon Jay said: ‘I’m thrilled that year-on-year we are getting more sponsorship for our awards. Disabled talent needs to be recognised but also developed - and with commissions like these it means we can begin to level the playing field.’

Published: 22 Jul 2025