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Scotsman
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Fringe Hot Tickets 2025: Here are all 17 Edinburgh Comedy Award winners returning this year
With a over 3,300 shows to choose from across 265 venues at this year's feast of culture, there's something to be said for opting for performers who have a winning record – and there's no bigger prize in British comedy than the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Launched in 1981, the award is presented to the comedy show judged to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is recognised as the most prestigious comedy prize in the UK. Formerly known as the Perrier Award , it is designed to promote acts that have yet to become household names, so comedians judged to have 'star status' are not eligible - for instance if they have a show on a major television channel or can regularly fill a 500-set venue. The first winners were a talent-packed Cambridge Footlights featuring Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery and Emma Thompson, while other names catapulted to fame by the award over the years include Steve Coogan, Jenny Eclair, The League of Gentlemen, Dylan Moran, Al Murray, Tim Key, and Emmy -winning Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd . A Best Newcomer Award was added in 1992, followed by a Panel Prize in 2006 - for those who have made a particularly special contribution to the Fringe Festival. Here are all 17 winners you can see in Edinburgh this year. 1 . Urooj Ashfaq Urooj Ashfaq won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for best Newcomer in 2023 for her show 'Oh No!', about "her, her family, things that annoy her, and things she loves". This year she's back with a new hour entitled 'How To Be A Baddie' in which she promises to be a "bona fide bad girl and edgelord who at times mentions sexy things and topics..." She's on at the Monkey Barrel from July 30-August 24. | Getty Images Photo Sales 2 . Jordan Brookes Officially the longest-reigning Edinburgh Comedy Award winner of all time (he won in 2019 before the global pandemic led to a three year break before the prize was awarded again), Jordan Brookes is back in Edinburgh with a work in progress show called 'Until The Wheels Come Off'. The only thing he guarantees is that he'll show up! See him at the Pleasance Courtyard from July 30-August 24. | Getty Images Photo Sales 3 . Lara Ricote Another former winner bringing a work in progress show to Edinburgh is Lara Ricote, who took home the Best Newcomer trophy in 2022 with her show 'GRL/LATNX/DEF'. She didn't even have an idea for a show when she had to submit a description for the Fringe programme, so we know nothing about it. Find out what she's up to at the Monkey Barrel from August 11-17. | Getty Images Photo Sales 4 . Adam Riches The Edinburgh Comedy Award shortlist was particularly strong in 2011, including Andrew Maxwell, Chris Ramsey, Josie Long, Nick Helm and future winner Sam Simmon. But it was the character and sketch comedy of Adam Riches, in 'Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches' that most impressed the judges. The hugely-entertaining performer last year made the switch to the theatre section with a critically-acclaimed show about tennis player Jimmy Connors. This year he's back to comedy with a typically singular slant, namely "medieval heartstab Sean Bean is going to read 15th century Middle English tome Le Morte d'Arthur out loud, for an hour. That's it." Discover if that really is 'it' at the Monkey Barrel from August 11-13. | Getty Images Photo Sales
Scotsman
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
What to see at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025: Here are all 17 Edinburgh Comedy Award winners returning this year
With a over 3,300 shows to choose from across 265 venues at this year's feast of culture, there's something to be said for opting for performers who have a winning record – and there's no bigger prize in British comedy than the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Launched in 1981, the award is presented to the comedy show judged to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is recognised as the most prestigious comedy prize in the UK. Formerly known as the Perrier Award , it is designed to promote acts that have yet to become household names, so comedians judged to have 'star status' are not eligible - for instance if they have a show on a major television channel or can regularly fill a 500-set venue. The first winners were a talent-packed Cambridge Footlights featuring Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery and Emma Thompson, while other names catapulted to fame by the award over the years include Steve Coogan, Jenny Eclair, The League of Gentlemen, Dylan Moran, Al Murray, Tim Key, and Emmy -winning Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd . A Best Newcomer Award was added in 1992, followed by a Panel Prize in 2006 - for those who have made a particularly special contribution to the Fringe Festival. Here are all 17 winners you can see in Edinburgh this year. 1 . Urooj Ashfaq Urooj Ashfaq won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for best Newcomer in 2023 for her show 'Oh No!', about "her, her family, things that annoy her, and things she loves". This year she's back with a new hour entitled 'How To Be A Baddie' in which she promises to be a "bona fide bad girl and edgelord who at times mentions sexy things and topics..." She's on at the Monkey Barrel from July 30-August 24. | Getty Images Photo Sales 2 . Jordan Brookes Officially the longest-reigning Edinburgh Comedy Award winner of all time (he won in 2019 before the global pandemic led to a three year break before the prize was awarded again), Jordan Brookes is back in Edinburgh with a work in progress show called 'Until The Wheels Come Off'. The only thing he guarantees is that he'll show up! See him at the Pleasance Courtyard from July 30-August 24. | Getty Images Photo Sales 3 . Lara Ricote Another former winner bringing a work in progress show to Edinburgh is Lara Ricote, who took home the Best Newcomer trophy in 2022 with her show 'GRL/LATNX/DEF'. She didn't even have an idea for a show when she had to submit a description for the Fringe programme, so we know nothing about it. Find out what she's up to at the Monkey Barrel from August 11-17. | Getty Images Photo Sales 4 . Adam Riches The Edinburgh Comedy Award shortlist was particularly strong in 2011, including Andrew Maxwell, Chris Ramsey, Josie Long, Nick Helm and future winner Sam Simmon. But it was the character and sketch comedy of Adam Riches, in 'Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches' that most impressed the judges. The hugely-entertaining performer last year made the switch to the theatre section with a critically-acclaimed show about tennis player Jimmy Connors. This year he's back to comedy with a typically singular slant, namely "medieval heartstab Sean Bean is going to read 15th century Middle English tome Le Morte d'Arthur out loud, for an hour. That's it." Discover if that really is 'it' at the Monkey Barrel from August 11-13. | Getty Images Photo Sales
Telegraph
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Two Men on a Bike, review: inoffensive viewing for the Lycra-clad centrist dad
Why are there so many TV shows in which middle-aged men chunter away about life, death and aching joints, but none with women? Perhaps it's because women are too busy holding the fort at home and don't have time for all this self-indulgent waffle? Just kidding! Women are all recording podcasts about the menopause and giving midlife make-up tips on Instagram. Two Men On a Bike (More4) follows in the footsteps of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, The Trip and Rob and Romesh vs (listed in descending order of brilliance), by featuring two male comedians being droll while engaging in an activity. The comedians in this case are Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel, whose 40-year friendship dates back to the Cambridge Footlights, and the activity is cycling across the South of France. It's affably inoffensive viewing for the Lycra-clad centrist dad, a view which I formed by myself but had confirmed when my husband caught a moment of it after cycling home from work and said: 'This sounds good, what is it?' The dynamic is that Dennis is a seasoned cyclist, while Baddiel has turned up on an electric bike and says that the padded insert in his cycling shorts makes him feel like he's wearing a nappy. The furthest that Baddiel has ever cycled is from his home in north London to Wembley Stadium, while Dennis has done 210km in a day. Temperamentally, they're different too. Baddiel anxiously contemplates his own mortality and says he's very much with Dylan Thomas on the raging against the dying of the light thing. 'I don't think I've ever raged against anything,' says Dennis, equably. It's unlikely that anyone watching has ever said to themselves, 'I wish I could go on a cycling holiday with Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel,' including the partners of Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel, but the hour passes pleasantly. We see the sights, including a food market in Bordeaux and a ride along the canal to Pont des Sables. It looks to be a delightful part of the world, and our enjoyment of the scenery is somehow not dented by these two discussing which of them is better at growing a beard.
