Comedy awards

These awards are open to comedy shows – please see the details of each award for entry specifics and sub-genres.

The Amused Moose Comedy Award seeks out breakthrough comedy talent that is yet to become well known (so could be said to be 'almost television-ready'), who have their own solo, sketch or multiple performer comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

2022 award winners

Amused Moose Comedy Award – Debut Show
Chelsea Birkby: No More Mr Nice Chelsea, Chelsea Birkby (Just the Tonic at the Caves)
Amused Moose Comedy Award – Outstanding Edinburgh Fringe show
Tall, Dark and Anxious, Richard David-Caine (Underbelly, Cowgate)
Amused Moose Comedy Award – Top Sketch Show
Grubby Little Mitts, Nicholls & Brown (Assembly George Square)

Entry information
Conditions of eligibility
- Shows must be listed in the Comedy section of edfringe.com.
- Shows must be listed as taking place on at least 18 dates during Fringe 2022 (including at least five dates in each of the three main weeks).
- Entrants must upload a film of their full show, ideally by mid-July and by no later than 23:59 on Sunday 31 July.
  
  Film your full show as a preview in June or July and upload the film online (eg YouTube). Amateur filming is fine but performers must be visible and clearly heard; we recommend you film a number of preview shows and choose the one you prefer.
- Submit your application, including the link to the upload of the preview, ideally by 21 July but no later than 23:59 on Sunday 31 July (ie the Sunday before the Fringe opens).
- The submitted film must be of this year’s Fringe show and filmed in June or July 2022, and of a similar length to the show you have listed on edfringe.com.
Shows should not be submitted for inclusion if:
- any of the performers and / or the show has already won or been nominated for any other major comedy award, in the UK or elsewhere
- any of the performers have previously been in a show which won any category in Amused Moose Comedy Awards
- the performer(s) are not permanently resident in the UK and ROI.
Respected comedy industry panellists view all the online submissions before selecting a large number of shows to be seen live during the Fringe, from which panellists select six to ten nominees.

Voting for the award winners is by Fringe audience members, as well as a judging panel of comedy industry professionals who have seen the nominated shows live.

There are usually three awards; previous winners include Janine Harouni, Tania Edwards, The Kagools, Richard Gadd, Tony Law, Marcel Lucont and Celia Pacquola.

Find out more and enter

Best Show, Best Performer and Best Person, as determined by those involved in comedy shows.

All comedy shows and performers are automatically eligible for Best Show and Best Performer – no need to do anything to put yourself forward. Best Person tends to be for someone who works behind the scenes at the festival, eg a venue manager, flyerer or agent. Each comedy show in the brochure is invited to vote once for their favourite show, performer and person. You can't vote for anyone in your own show.

In the second half of the festival, the online nominations / voting form is made available online. When voting closes, the show / person will the most votes at that point is announced as the winner of that category.

Visit comedy.co.uk for more information.

2022 award winners

Best Show
Rob Copland: Mainstream Muck (Gimme Some of That), Rob Copland/PBH’s Free Fringe (PBH’s Free Fringe @ The Banshee Labyrinth)
Best performer
Jordan Gray: Jordan Gray: Is It a Bird?, Stamptown (Assembly George Square Theatre)
Best Person
Martin Willis, Objectively Funny

Recognising the best artwork related to comedy shows at the festival. Any poster related to a comedy show performing at the festival can be entered. The winner of the Audience Award is whichever poster gets the most votes on the website. The Panel Award is determined by a jury of industry professionals.

2022 award winners

Audience Award Winner
Milo Edwards: Voicemail, Impatient Productions (Just the Tonic at the Mash House)
Panel Award Winner
Jordan Gray: Is it a Bird?, Stamptown (Assembly George Square Gardens)

2022 award winner

Masai Graham Aaaaaaaaaaargh! It's the One-Liner Show – Masai Graham (Laughing Horse)

Established in 1981 the UK’s premier Awards are now in their 39th year. There are three awards:

Best Comic / Comedy Show: For the funniest, most outstanding, up-and-coming comic / comedy show / act at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The prize is £10,000.

Best Newcomer: For the performer or act who is performing their first full-length show (50 minutes or more) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The prize is £5,000. Please note that newcomers are eligible for the Best Comedy Show Award, if that is the Panel’s decision, but no act can appear on both shortlists in the same year.

For further information on the awards, please see comedyawards.co.uk.

2022 award winners

Best Comedy Show
Sam Campbell: Comedy Show – IAM (Monkey Barrel Comedy)
Best Newcomer
Laura Ricote: GRL/LATNX/DEF – IAM (Monkey Barrel Comedy)

How to enter

Panel Prize: Like the Fringe itself, there are no rules. Everyone is eligible. It is entirely in the gift of the Panel and Award Director and may not be awarded at all. The prize is £5,000.

All shows listed in the comedy and cabaret section of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe brochure are automatically checked for eligibility. Shows needed to be playing the dates as outlined in the eligibility rules in order to be judged.

For further information on eligibility, please visit comedyawards.co.uk.

All eligible shows are seen by the judging panel, awards administration team and scouts, who start covering shows from the first day of the festival. The judging panel consists of comedy critics, industry professionals (TV and live) and punter judges. The scouts are previous members of the panel.

For further information on the judging process, please visit: comedyawards.co.uk/how-the-awards-are-judged.

Malcolm Hardee (1950–2005) was a British comic, agent, manager, club-owner and anarchic prankster. The Malcolm Hardee Awards were initiated at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005, the year of his death, to celebrate and promote the spirit of madcap, anything-goes comedy anarchy that he personified.

2022 award winners

The Flop: A Band Of Idiots (PBH’s Free Fringe @ The Banshee’s Labyrinth)
Cunning Stunt
Ivor Dembina (Laughing Horse @ Bar 50)
Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid
Jerry Sadowitz (Pleasance @ EICC)

The So You Think You’re Funny? competition was created by the Gilded Balloon and Karen Koren in 1988 to discover, support and nurture new comic talent.

2022 winner

First prize: Joshua Bethania

2022 runners up

Second prize: Mark Black
Third prize: Jack Skipper and Pravanya Pillay

How to enter

How to enter

The competition is the most successful of its kind in the UK and attracts over 500 applicants each year. Entrants must not have performed more than 15 stand-up spots (including open spots and virtual performances to live audiences) or gigged before 01 June 2021, and must be unsigned from any comedy agent or management company. For a full list of rules, please visit soyouthinkyourefunny.co.uk/essential-info.

Each competitor is given seven minutes to win over the judges; at the end of each heat a winner is announced and given a place in the Grand Final: a two-and-a-half-hour top bill of new comic talent. The winner will receive a cash prize, a run as part of Gilded Balloon's Fringe programme, paid performance slots at Latitude Festival, Glee Birmingham and the Boat Show in London, plus a complimentary headshot shoot by professional photographer to the stars Steve Ullathorne, and a complimentary filmed copy and professional photographs of their spot from the final to use in their show-reel.

As well as this, they will also win mentorship from Karen Koren and the So You Think You're Funny team, who are all committed to nurturing young comic talent with personal support and touring opportunities in the year following the Grand Final.

Previous So You Think You're Funny Award winners include Dylan Moran, Peter Kay, Lee Mack and Tommy Tiernan. Finalists include Johnny Vegas, Sarah Millican, Kevin Bridges, Rhod Gilbert, Rob Beckett, Russell Howard, Romesh Ranganathan, Jason Byrne, Lucy Porter, Mark Watson, Maisie Adam and Russell Kane.

For more information please visit soyouthinkyourefunny.co.uk/essential-info.

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Amused Moose Comedy Award

2022 award winners

The Comedian's Choice Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2022 award winners

The Comedy Poster Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2022 award winners

Dave's Joke of the Fringe

2022 award winner

Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards

2022 award winners

Malcolm Hardee Awards

2022 award winners

So You Think You’re Funny?

2022 winner

2022 runners up

Thank you!

Menu

Amused Moose Comedy Award

2022 award winners

The Comedian's Choice Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2022 award winners

The Comedy Poster Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2022 award winners

Dave's Joke of the Fringe

2022 award winner

Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards

2022 award winners

Malcolm Hardee Awards

2022 award winners

So You Think You’re Funny?

2022 winner

2022 runners up

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