The top comedy awards at this year’s Edinburgh festival have gone to foreign talent. Australian comedian Sam Campbell has been named the winner of the Dave’s Edinburgh comedy Awards, the prestigious competition which celebrated its 40th anniversary this summer.
Campbell, 30, from Queensland, is now the fifth winner of the best show award to come from Australia, beating winners from Ireland who have won the award four times.
The newcomer award went to the American of Mexican origin Lara Ricote, for her program GRL/LATNX/DEF. “You’re being very kind to me. That’s crazy!” said the 25-year-old comedian, who is hard of hearing and speaks about her disability on stage.
Ricote’s show addresses his “multiple minority status”, as well as the fact that not all are visible categories. “Being a minority is very present now,” he joked after winning his award. “I’m a girl, young, Latina, and I have a disability, so I check a lot of boxes. But I have to talk a lot about the minorities I’m in. I am in an interesting place and in a very privileged place”. Ricote also won the Funny Women award for stage performers last year.
The show that won Campbell the top prize of £10,000 is the simply titled comedy show. “I deserve the award and I expected it,” he told the crowd, before correcting himself: “No. It was a big surprise. It’s crazy.” The comedian added that he would use the prize money “to get taller.”
Campbell’s midnight show, which only ran during the second half of the festival, came with a special “warning” from the comedian: “I want to be a world performer. I hope you don’t mind, but this show will only involve go up there and be kind to him.”
A former winner of the award at the 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Campbell beat nine contenders, including Alfie Brown, the son of actor Jan Ravens; Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Seann Walsh; and Jordan Gray, the pageant’s first transgender candidate.
Supporters of the awards judge’s verdicts included Shaun of the Dead film director Edgar Wright, who tweeted how much he enjoyed Ricote’s festival performance.
The organization Best in Class, which supports performers from a working-class background, won the jury’s prize for the spirit of the strip, an award that is not given every year. Noting the difficulty of funding a fringe show, Best in Class’ Sian Davies said: “People can’t afford to live in the moment, let alone come here. Best in Class is a sticking plaster in the at best. The strip is full of systematic bias.”
His cause was endorsed by Campbell, who said: “It sucks when people can’t afford to do this. I’m no expert, but for anyone who loses money here, this stinks.”
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Davies explained that in 2018 he was asked to audition for a fringe showcase. When he got it, he was told he would have to pay £1,800 to secure his place. “When I tell people in the industry this, they roll their eyes. They can’t believe it,” Davies said. As a result, her promoter dropped her, despite her friends’ efforts to raise the money. At first he said he was “pissed off”, then decided to bring his own working-class comic showcase to the festival: “I don’t charge anyone for the privilege of coming and they get paid. When you give us a seat at your table, we can do it,” he said.
The lunch ceremony at the city’s Dovecot Studios art gallery was presented by awards director Nica Burns, who said: “Together we have built the best comedy industry in the world. Our doors are open to everyone. All they need to be is super talented and most of all fun.”
This year the judging panel for the award, formerly known as the Perrier and now sponsored by comedy channel Dave, was chaired by Sky Studios comedy producer Adnan Ahmed and included Dave director Cherie Cunningham and commissioning executive by Channel 4’s Joe Hullait.