Edinburgh Comedy Awards: The 2019 nominees

The shortlists for this year's Edinburgh Comedy Awards are here. In the first year of the Awards' new guise as Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, a record nine shows are in the running for the Best Comedy Show award previously won by the likes of The League of Gentlemen, Bridget Christie, and last year's winner Rose Matafeo.

Best Comedy Show

The list is dominated by shows from The Pleasance – Spencer Jones and Jordan Brookes each return to the shortlist having been nominated in 2017, while London Hughes is nominated for her Pleasance debut To Catch A D**k. Sketch outfit Goodbear are nominated for their new show Dougal, and stand-ups Darren Harriott and Ivo Graham are also on the list for Good Heart Yute and The Game of Life respectively. 

Elsewhere, there are nominations for Jessica Fostekew's "enthralling" show Hench at Monkey Barrel, and for the fantastically-titled Ginster's Paradise by sketch duo The Delightful Sausage at the same venue. Ditch Witch 800 by Australian comedian Demi Lardner at Gilded Balloon rounds off the shortlist for the £10,000 top prize.

Best Newcomer

The best newcomer category features a diverse list of eight nominees, with Pleasance acts at the forefront again. The debut hours from Catherine Cohen, Sophie Duker, Janine Harouni, Helen Bauer, Huge Davies, Nigel Ng and Michael Odewale are all shortlisted for the £5,000 prize.

Of the eight-strong list, only sketch trio Crybabies are performing away from The Pleasance – their "surreal sketch tour-de-nonsense" Danger Brigade is at Boteco as part of Heroes' pay-what-you-want programme.

---

The 2019 Edinburgh Comedy Awards will be presented on Sat 24 Aug