Standup about infertility, jokes about a Georgian gourmand, and an experimental clowning fever dream: the shortlist has been announced for the 45th Edinburgh comedy award, and it’s as eclectic as ever. Featuring just the one previous nominee in the best show category (the Yorkshireman Ian Smith), the list highlights eight shows from more than 500 eligible, and includes previous best newcomer nominee Dan Tiernan, one half of the former double-act Norris and Parker, Katie Norris, and a man whose first two fringe shows almost killed him, the teacher turned standup John Tothill.
Also included among the nominations, for an award recognised as the live comedy “Oscars” and with a star-making pedigree, are Ed Night, son of the comedian Kevin Day, with his show Your Old Mucker, and the only American act on the list, sometime SNL writer Sam Jay, with We the People – not the only show suggesting pushback against political correctness from unexpected quarters. From Canada, the “little bit niche and mostly gross” duo Creepy Boys are shortlisted for Slugs, in which they star as gastropods trying not to explore the state of the world. Arguably the favourite, meanwhile – probably the buzziest of the shows selected for the list – is Sam Nicoresti’s Baby Doomer, a high joke-count, leap-into-the-mainstream set about the comic’s gender transition.
