The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, formerly known as the Perrier Comedy Awards, the if.comedy awards and briefly as the if.comeddies, are a group of prizes awarded annually since 1981 to comedy shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Each award currently has a separate sponsor, being sponsored by Sky TV, DLT Entertainment and The Victoria Wood Foundation, respectively.
They have previously been sponsored by Perrier, lastminute.com, Dave,[1] and Foster's Lager.
Currently three awards are given – Best Comedy Show, Best Newcomer and the Panel Prize.
| Perrier Comedy Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Main prize winner | Main prize nominees | |
| 1981 | Cambridge Footlights (Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery, Emma Thompson, Penny Dwyer and Paul Shearer) | ||
| 1982 | Writer's Inc (Gary Adams, Steve Brown, Vicki Pile, Trevor McCallum, Helen Murry, Jamie Rix, and Nick Wilton, with additional material by Kim Fuller) | ||
| 1983 | Los Trios Ringbarkus | ||
| 1984 | The Brass Band | Fascinating Aïda Hank Wangford Band Frank Chickens The Bodgers Paul B. Davies & Dave Cohen | |
| 1985 | Theatre de Complicité | The Bodgers Merry Mac Fun Show John Dowie Sue Ingleton | |
| 1986 | Ben Keaton | Paul B. Davies Roy Hutchins Jenny Lecoat Merry Mac Fun Show | |
| 1987 | Brown Blues... Arnold Brown with Barb Jungr and Michael Parker | Nick Revell Jeremy Hardy Simon Fanshawe John Sparkes | |
| 1988 | Jeremy Hardy | Doug Anthony Allstars Roy Hutchins – Spacehoppers Clackers & Really Big Fish Robert Llewellyn's Mammon Robot Born of Woman The Wow Show | |
| 1989 | Simon Fanshawe | John Hegley – Can I Come Down Now Dad? Al and George – Unscheduled Stop Will Durst Live Bed Show The World of Les and Robert | |
| 1990 | Sean Hughes – A One Night Stand | Dillie Keane – Single Again Pete McCarthy – The Hangover Show Jimmy Tingle | |
| 1991 | Frank Skinner | Avner the Eccentric Jack Dee Eddie Izzard – Just the Words Lily Savage – The Live Experience | |
| 1992 | Steve Coogan – In Character with John Thomson | Jo Brand Bruce Morton – Sin John Shuttleworth's Guide to Stardom Mark Thomas | |
| 1993 | Corky and the Juice Pigs Phil Kay Johnny Meres – My Booze Hell by Little Johnny Cartilage Donna McPhail Parrot – Sick as a Parrot Greg Proops | ||
| 1994 | Alan Davies Jeff Green Harry Hill's Pub Internationale with Al Murray Owen O'Neill – It's a bit like this... Robert Schimmel | ||
| 1995 | Jenny Eclair – Prozac & Tantrums | Simon Bligh – Banzai Scott Capurro – The Love and Affection Tour Boothby Graffoe – The Love and Affection Tour The Umbilical Brothers – Heaven by Storm | |
| 1996 | Dylan Moran – Dylan Moran Is Indisposed | Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller – Armstrong and Miller: The Quality Shag Bill Bailey Rich Hall – Freewheelin Dominic Holland – Holland-Days Sauce Al Murray | |
| 1997 | Milton Jones – Joyrider Al Murray – King of Beers Graham Norton – Charlie’s Angels go to Hell The Johnny Vegas Show | ||
| 1998 | Tommy Tiernan – Undivine Comedy | Ed Byrne – A Night at the Opera Seán Cullen – Wood, Cheese & Children Peter Kay Al Murray – Pub Landlord's Keeper of the Pint Cosmic | |
| 1999 | Al Murray as The Pub Landlord – And a Glass of White Wine for the Lady | Terry Alderton The Arctic Boosh Simon Munnery as The League Against Tedium – Ubertechnocomedie Ross Noble – Laser Boy | |
| 2000 | Rich Hall – Otis Lee Crenshaw | Dave Gorman – Are You Dave Gorman? Lee Mack's New Bits, with Lee Mack, Catherine Tate and Dan Antopolski Sean Lock – No Flatley, I am the Lord of the Dance Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight, with Matthew Holness, Richard Ayoade, and Alice Lowe | |
| 2001 | Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, with Matthew Holness, Richard Ayoade, and Alice Lowe | Dan Antopolski – Antopolski 2000 Jason Byrne Adam Hills – Go You Big Red Fire Engine Daniel Kitson – Love, Innocence and the Word Cock | |
| 2002 | Daniel Kitson – Something | Noel Fielding – Voodoo Hedgehog Jimmy Carr – Jimmy Carr's Bare Faced Ambition Omid Djalili – Behind Enemy Lines Phil Nichol – Things I Like, I Lick Adam Hills – Happy Feet | |
| 2003 | Demetri Martin – If I... | Reginald D. Hunter – White Woman Adam Hills – Cut Loose Flight of the Conchords – High on Folk Howard Read and Little Howard – The Big Howard and Little Howard Show | |
| 2004 | Will Adamsdale – Jackson's Way | Chris Addison – Civilisation Epitaph with Ethan Sandler and Adrian Wenner Reginald D Hunter – A Mystery Wrapped in a N***a Sarah Kendall | |
| 2005 | Laura Solon – Kopfraper's Syndrome | Chris Addison – Atomicity Jason Manford – Urban Legend Jeremy Lion (AKA Justin Edwards) with George Cockerill – What's the Time Mr Lion? Dutch Elm Conservatoire – Conspiracy | |
| if.comedy awards (styled as if.comeddie for 2006) | |||
| Year | Main prize winner | Main prize nominees | |
| 2006 | Phil Nichol – The Naked Racist | David O'Doherty – David O'Doherty Is My Name Russell Howard – Wandering Paul Sinha – Saint or Sinha? We Are Klang – Klangbang | |
| 2007 | Brendon Burns – So I Suppose THIS Is Offensive Now | Andrew Lawrence – Social Leprosy for Beginners and Improvers Andrew Maxwell – Waxin Tom Binns – Ivan Brackenbury's Hospital Radio Roadshow Pappy's Fun Club – Pappy's Fun Club | |
| 2008 | David O'Doherty – Let's Comedy | Rhod Gilbert – Rhod Gilbert and the Award-winning Mince Pie Russell Kane – Gaping Flaws Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler – Double Down Hearts | |
| Edinburgh Comedy Awards (known as the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards since 2010) | |||
| Year | Main prize winner | Main prize nominees | |
| 2009 | Tim Key – The Slutcracker | Idiots of Ants – This Is War John Bishop – Elvis Has Left the Building Jon Richardson – This Guy at Night Russell Kane – Human Dressage Tom Wrigglesworth – Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Return Letter to Richard Branson https://web.archive.org/web/20090918201350/http://www.comedyawards.co.uk/2009_shortlist.asp | |
| 2010 | Russell Kane – Smokescreens and Castles | Bo Burnham – Words, Words, Words Greg Davies – Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog Josie Long – Be Honourable Sarah Millican: Chatterbox[2] | |
| 2011 | Adam Riches – Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches | Andrew Maxwell – The Lights Are On Chris Ramsey – Offermation Josie Long – The Future Is Another Place Nick Helm – Dare to Dream Sam Simmons – Meanwhile [3] | |
| 2012 | Doctor Brown – Befrdfgth | Claudia O'Doherty – The Telescope James Acaster – Prompt Josie Long – Romance and Adventure Pappy's – Last Show Ever! Tony Law – Maximum Nonsense | |
| 2013 | Bridget Christie – A Bic for Her | Carl Donnelly – Now That's What I Carl Donnelly! Volume V James Acaster – Lawnmower Max & Ivan – The Reunion Mike Wozniak – Take The Hit Nick Helm – One Man Mega Myth Seann Walsh – The Lie-in King | |
| 2014 | John Kearns – Shtick | Alex Horne – Monsieur Butterfly James Acaster – Recognise Liam Williams – Capitalism Romesh Ranganathan – Rom Wasn't Built in a Day Sam Simmons – Death of a Sails-Man Sara Pascoe – Sara Pascoe vs History | |
| 2015 | Sam Simmons – Spaghetti for Breakfast | James Acaster – Represent Joseph Morpurgo – Soothing Sounds for Baby Kieran Hodgson – Lance Nish Kumar – Long Word. Long Word.. Blah Blah Blah.. I'm So Clever Sarah Kendall – A Day in October Seymour Mace – Seymour Mace Is Niche as F**k! Trygve Wakenshaw – Nautilus | |
| Edinburgh Comedy Awards (known as the lastminute.com Edinburgh Comedy Awards since 2016) | |||
| Year | Main prize winner | Main prize nominees | |
| 2016 | Richard Gadd – Monkey See Monkey Do | Al Porter – At Large James Acaster – Reset Kieran Hodgson – Maestro Nish Kumar – Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Unless You Shout The Words Real Loud Randy Feltface – Randy Writes A Novel Tom Ballard – The World Keeps Happening Zoe Coombs Marr – Trigger Warning | |
| 2017 | Hannah Gadsby – NanetteJohn Robins – The Darkness of Robins | Ahir Shah – Control Elf Lyons – Swan Jordan Brookes – Body of Work Mae Martin – Dope Mat Ewins – Presents Adventureman 7: The Return of Adventureman Sophie Willan – Branded Spencer Jones – The Audition | |
| 2018 | Rose Matafeo – Horndog | Ahir Shah – Duffer Alex Edelman – Just For Us Felicity Ward – Busting A Nut Glenn Moore – Glenn Glenn Glenn, How Do You Like It, How Do You Like It Kieran Hodgson – 75 Larry Dean – Bampot | |
| Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards | |||
| Year | Main prize winner | Main prize nominees | |
| 2019 | Jordan Brookes – I've Got Nothing | Darren Harriott – Good Heart Yute Demi Lardner – Ditch Witch 800 Goodbear – Dougal Ivo Graham – The Game of Life Jessica Fostekew – Hench London Hughes – To Catch a D*ck Spencer Jones – The Things We Leave Behind The Delightful Sausage – Ginster's Paradise | |
| 2020 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2021 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe in reduced scope due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2022 | Sam Campbell – Comedy Show | Alfie Brown – Sensitive Man Colin Hoult – The Death of Anna Mann The Delightful Sausage – Nowt but Sea Jordan Gray – Is It a Bird? Josh Pugh – Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips and Beans Larry Dean – Fudnut Lauren Pattison – It Is What It Is Liz Kingsman – One-Woman Show Seann Walsh – Is Dead. Happy Now? | |
| Edinburgh Comedy Awards (sponsored by Sky, DLT Entertainment and the Victoria Wood Foundation) | |||
| Year | Main prize winner | Main prize nominees | |
| 2023 | Ahir Shah – Ends | Ania Magliano – I Can't Believe You've Done This Emmanuel Sonubi – Curriculum Vitae Ian Smith – Crushing Janine Harouni – Man'oushe Julia Masli – ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Kieran Hodgson – Big in Scotland Phil Ellis – Phil Ellis's Excellent Comedy Show | |
| Best Newcomer Award | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=4% | Year | width=48% | Winner | width=48% | Nominees |
| 1992 | Harry Hill – Flies! | ||||
| 1993 | Dominic Holland – Red Hot Dutch with Dominic | ||||
| 1994 | Scott Capurro – Risk Gay | ||||
| 1995 | Tim Vine – The Tim Vine Fiasco | ||||
| 1996 | Milton Jones – The Head | ||||
| 1997 | Arj Barker – Arj Barker's Letter to America | ||||
| 1998 | The Mighty Boosh, with Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Rich Fulcher | Chris Addison Jason Byrne Jon Reed Paul Foot | |||
| 1999 | Ben'n'Arn's Big Top, with Ben Willbond, Arnold Widdowson | Infinite Number of Monkeys, with Tim FitzHigham and James Cary – Sketch Comedy of Hypotheticals The Arthur Dung Show, with Dave Lamb and Jim North Wil Anderson – Wilennium | |||
| 2000 | Noble and Silver | Andrew Clover – A Man of Substance in a World of Filth Dan Antopolski – Second Coming David O'Doherty – David O'Doherty's The Boy Who Saved Comedy | |||
| 2001 | Garth Cruickshank & Eddie McCabe - Let's Have a Right Royal Shambles | Andy Zaltzman – Andy Zaltzman versus the Dog of Doom, with John Oliver Cambridge Footlights – Far too Happy, with Edward Jaspers, Tim Key, Day Macaskill, James Morris, Mark Watson and Sophie Winkleman Danny Bhoy | |||
| 2002 | The Consultants – Finger in the Wind | Hal Cruttenden Natalie Haynes Reginald D. Hunter | |||
| 2003 | Gary Le Strange – Polaroid Suitcase | Alex Horne – Making Fish Laugh with Tim Key Michael McIntyre Miles Jupp – Gentlemen Prefer Brogues | |||
| 2004 | Wil Hodgson – The Passion Of The Hodgson | Alun Cochrane – My Favourite Words in My Favourite Stories Joanna Neary – Joanna Neary is not feeling herself Sabotage: In Fine Form, aka Shenoah Allen and Mark Shavez | |||
| 2005 | Tim Minchin – Dark Side | Charlie Pickering – Betterman Mark Watson – 50 years before I die Rhod Gilbert – Rhod Gilbert's 1984 Toulson and Harvey, aka Stephen Harvey and Luke Toulson | |||
| 2006 | Josie Long – Kindness & Exuberance | Fat Tongue with Sophie Black, Seb Cardinal and Dustin Demri Burns God's Pottery – Concert for Lavert Russell Kane – Russell Kane's Theory of Pretension | |||
| 2007 | Tom Basden – Won't Say Anything | Jon Richardson – Spatula Pad Micky Flanagan – What Chance Change? Zoe Lyons – Fight or Flight | |||
| 2008 | Sarah Millican – Sarah Millican's Not Nice | Mike Wozniak Pippa Evans | |||
| 2009 | Jonny Sweet – Mostly About Arthur | Carl Donnelly – Relax Everyone, It's Carl Donnelly! Jack Whitehall – Nearly Rebellious Kevin Bridges – An Hour to Sing for Your Soul Pete Johansson – Naked Pictures of My Life | |||
| 2010 | Roisin Conaty – Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar | An Audience with Imran Yusuf Asher Treleaven – Secret Door Gareth Richards – Stand Up Between Songs Late Night Gimp Fight! The Boy With Tape on His Face | |||
| 2011 | Humphrey Ker – Humphrey Ker is Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher | Cariad Lloyd – Lady Cariad's Characters The Chris and Paul Show Hannibal Buress – My Name is Hannibal – The Hannibal Montanabal Experience Josh Widdicombe – If This Show Changes One Life Holly Walsh – Hollycopter Thom Tuck – Thom Tuck Goes Straight-to-DVD Totally Tom | |||
| 2012 | Daniel Simonsen – Champions | David Trent – Spontaneous Comedian Discover Ben Target Joe Lycett – Some Lycett Hot Sam Fletcher – Good on Paper | |||
| 2013 | John Kearns – Sight Gags For Perverts | Aisling Bea – C'est La Bea Liam Williams Matt Okine – Being Black & Chicken & S#%t Romesh Ranganathan – Rom Com | |||
| 2014 | Alex Edelman – Millennial | Dane Baptiste – Citizen Dane Gein's Family Giftshop – Gein's Family Giftshop Volume 1 Lazy Susan – Extreme Humans Lucy Beaumont – We Can Twerk it Out Steen Raskopoulos – I'm Wearing Two Suits Because I Mean Business | |||
| 2015 | Sofie Hagen – Bubblewrap | Adam Hess – Salmon Daphne – Daphne Do Edinburgh Larry Dean – Out Now! John Henry Falle – The Story Beast Tom Ballard – Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred Tom Parry – Yellow T-shirt | |||
| 2016 | Scott Gibson – Life After Death | Bilal Zafar – Cakes Brennan Reece – Everglow Jayde Adams – 31 Michelle Wolf – So Brave Nath Valvo – Happy Idiot | |||
| 2017 | Natalie Palamides – LAID | Chris Washington – Dream Big (Within Reason) Darren Harriott – Defiant Ed Night – Anthem for Doomed Youth Kwame Asante – Open Arms Lauren Pattison – Lady Muck Lucy Pearman – Maid of Cabbage Rob Kemp – The Elvis Dead | |||
| 2018 | Ciarán Dowd – Don Rodolfo | Maisie Adam – Vague Olga Koch – Fight Sara Barron – For Worse Sarah Keyworth – Dark Horse Sindhu Vee – Sandhog | |||
| 2019 | Catherine Cohen – The Twist? She's Gorgeous | Crybabies – Danger Brigade Helen Bauer – Little Miss Angel Baby Face Huge Davies – The Carpark Janine Harouni – Stand Up With Janine Harouni (Please Remain Seated) Michael Odewale – #BLACKBEARSMATTER Nigel Ng – Culture Shocked Sophie Duker – Venus | |||
| 2020 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2021 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe in reduced scope due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2022 | Lara Ricote – GRL/LATNX/DEF | Amy Gledhill – The Girl Before The Girl You Marry Emily Wilson – Fixed Emmanuel Sonubi – Emancipated Josh Jones – Waste of Space Leo Reich – Literally Who Cares?! Vittorio Angelone – Translations | |||
| 2023 | Urooj Ashfaq – Oh No! | Bill O'Neill – The Amazing Banana Brothers Dan Tiernan – Going Under Lindsey Santoro – Pink Tinge Louise Young – Feral Martin Urbano – Apology Comeback Tour Paddy Young – Hungry, Horny, Scared | |||
| Panel Prize | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | |
| 2006 | Mark Watson – For his 36 hour show during the festival | |
| 2007 | Arthur Smith – Arturart, an exhibition of comedians' artwork | |
| 2008 | All the performers – £4000 was put behind the bar in lieu of giving a prize[4] | |
| 2009 | Peter Buckley Hill – Peter Buckley Hill Free Fringe | |
| 2010 | Bo Burnham – Words, Words, Words | |
| 2011 | The Wrestling – Max & Ivan | |
| 2012 | The Boy With Tape On His Face – More Tape | |
| 2013 | Adrienne Truscott – Adrienne Truscott's Asking For It: A One Lady Rape About Comedy | |
| 2014 | Funz and Gamez | |
| 2015 | Karen Koren – Head of Gilded Balloon since 1986 | |
| 2016 | Iraq Out & Loud (Heroes of Fringe) – Reading the Chilcot Report in Full | |
| 2017 | No Panel Prize awarded, as the Best Show prize was awarded to both John Robins and Hannah Gadsby | |
| 2018 | Angela Barnes, Sameena Zehra and Pauline Eyre for the Home Safe Collective[5] – An initiative set up to help vulnerable groups get home safely | |
| 2019 | Fringe of Colour[6] | |
| 2020 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |
| 2021 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe in reduced scope due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |
| 2022 | Best in Class | |
| 2023 | A Show for Gareth Richards | |