Theatre News

Winners of the 2016 Edinburgh Comedy Awards announced

The awards recognise Best Comedy Show and Best Newcomer

Richard Gadd is nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards
Richard Gadd is winner of this year's the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Comedy Show

The winners of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards have been announced this year, with Scottish comedian Richard Gadd winning Best Comedy Show.

Gadd’s piece Monkey See Monkey Do draws on his own experiences of being sexually assaulted. In it, Gadd spends time on a treadmill and examines what it means to be a man in today’s society. Gadd was the first Scottish performer to be nominated for the award in 23 years. He took home £10,000 in prize money following the ceremony at the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.

Best Newcomer award was also given to a Scottish comedian. Scott Gibson beat five other nominees to take home the £5,000 prize money for his show Life After Death.

The awards were presented by last year’s winners Sam Simmons and Sofie Hagen.

Nica Burns, director of the awards, said: "A record- breaking year for Scotland with a double Scottish win as Best Comedy Show is won by Richard Gadd from Fife and Best Newcomer by Glaswegian Scott Gibson. Richard Gadd’s highly original, extraordinary show combines hilarity and heart and Scott Gibson is a brilliant stand-up who can make a near death experience funny. The first Scottish winners since Arnold Brown in 1987."

The panel prize was awarded to Iraq Out & Loud: Reading the Chilcot Report in Full. The piece involved the comedy community reading the Chilcot Report in a purpose built shed. Performers such as Arthur Smith, Nish Kumar and Shappi Khorsandi took part. The reading ended on Saturday 20 August after 284 hours and 45 minutes of continuous reading.