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Edinburgh Comedy Awards
The Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Established in 1981, they are the most prestigious comedy prize in the United Kingdom. The awards have been directed and produced by Nica Burns since 1984. Format The main prize, which was for many years the only prize, and is now known as The Donald and Eleanor Taffner Best Comedy Show, is awarded "for the funniest, most outstanding, up-and-coming comic / comedy show / act" at the Fringe. The winner receives a cash prize of £10,000. The DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer Award category was introduced in 1992 for Harry Hill, and is given to the best "performer or act who is performing their first full-length show (50 minutes or more)". The prize is £5,000. Newcomers are eligible for the Best Comedy Show Award, but no act is allowed to appear on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featured more than 51,446 scheduled performances of 3,746 different shows across 262 venues from 60 different countries. Of those shows, the largest section was comedy, representing almost 40% of shows, followed by theatre, which was 26.6% of shows. Established in 1947 as an unofficial offshoot to (and on the "fringe" of) the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The combination of Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events. It is an open-access (or " unjuried") performing arts festival, meaning that there is no selection committee, and anyon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Beginning in 1953, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists—as is the case with their Cambridge University counterparts, the Footlights. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term in the pubs and theatres around Oxford, as well as touring to cities in the United Kingdom and performing a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year. History The Oxford Revue was originally just a revue show, not a troupe—one of many yearly productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe organised by the Oxford Theatre Group, or O.T.G. (a student-run group co-founded by the brother-in-law of future Revue alumnus Michael Palin). The earliest Revue was called 1953's 'Cakes and Ale', starring Maggie Smith. Other Fringe Revues of historical note include - *1958's 'All For Money' (starring Dudley Moore) *19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Hill
Matthew Keith Hall (born 1 October 1964), known professionally as Harry Hill, is an English comedian, presenter and writer. He pursued a career in stand-up following years working as a medical doctor, developing an offbeat, energetic performance style that fused elements of surrealism, observational comedy, slapstick, satire and music. When performing, he usually wears browline glasses and a dress shirt with a distinctive oversized collar and cuffs. He won the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer at the 1992 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and began his career in radio and television comedy with the radio series '' Harry Hill's Fruit Corner'' (1993–1997). He has hosted his own television comedy shows '' Harry Hill'' (1997–2003) and '' Harry Hill's TV Burp'' (2001–2012), and narrated '' You've Been Framed!'' from 2004 to 2022. His other projects include ''The Harry Hill Movie'', released in 2013. Early life, education and medical career Hill was born in Woking, Surrey on 1 Octobe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brendon Burns (comedian)
Brendon Burns (born 19 April 1971) is an Australian stand-up comedian and author who mostly performs in the UK. He is known for his aggressive stage performance and offensive material. Career Burns's television career began as a performer on Channel 4's late-night spontaneous comedy show '' The 11 O'Clock Show''. He has subsequently appeared as a presenter on the ITV show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!'', walking off after just three shows. Furthermore, he was the conductor of masterclasses in stand-up (again on ITV). He has also appeared on ITV2's ''Comedy Cuts''. He has also performed at Montreal and South African comedy festivals. He first appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1996, hosting The Comedy Zone showcase of new acts, and performing in his debut solo show 6pm Time To Get Up For Work. He has returned to the Fringe every year since, except for 1999, and in 2007 won its top prize, the if.comedy award for his show ''So I Suppose This Is Offensive No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Addison
Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He was a panellist on several editions of TV comedy panel show '' Mock the Week''. He is known for lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4. In addition to stand-up, Addison played Ollie Reeder in the BBC Two satire series ''The Thick of It'' (2005) and Toby Wright in its spin-off film ''In the Loop'' (2009), starred in the Sky Living comedy-drama '' Trying Again'' (2014) and appeared in three episodes of series 8 of ''Doctor Who''. He co-created and starred in the BBC Two sitcom '' Lab Rats'' (2008). On radio, he previously hosted the weekly comedy news satire show '' 7-Day Sunday'' on BBC Radio 5 Live from 2009 to 2010. In 2020 he co-created the FX parental-comedy series '' Breeders'' starring Martin Freeman. Early life Addison was born in Cardiff, Wales, to English parents and moved with his parents to Worsley, Salford, England, when he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mock The Week
''Mock the Week'' is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and panellist Hugh Dennis appeared in every episode, with a variety of other stand-up comedians being regular, frequent, occasional or one-off guest panellists during the show's history. The format of the programme saw six comedians divided into two teams and performing on a faux game show, in which the quiz aspect of answering questions relating to major and regional news items, all taken from the week before each episode's filming, is sidelined to focus on satirical, topical discussions on news items, stand-up routines, and the use of improvisational comedy. Every series also included a compilation episode featuring notable scenes, out-takes and additional footage cut out after filming, with repeats of episodes being frequently shown on the cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Davies
Alan Roger Davies (; ; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only permanent panellist on the BBC panel show '' QI'' since its premiere in 2003, outlasting its original host Stephen Fry. Early life and education Davies was born in Loughton, Essex, and spent his childhood years in Chingford. When Davies was six, his mother died from leukaemia and he was raised by his father. He was sexually abused by his father from age 8 to 13, as described in his book '' Just Ignore Him''. Davies also wrote that his brother and sister were turned against him, which began his strong desire to please others. This led him to shoplift for schoolmates and play the joker at home. Davies attended Staples Road School in Loughton and was privately educated at the private Bancroft's School in Woodford Green, where he gained eight O-Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Miller
Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English comedian, actor and author. He rose to fame as a member of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, with Alexander Armstrong. He is known for roles as Angus Jeremy Bough in the '' Johnny English'' film series, DI Richard Poole in the BBC crime drama series '' Death in Paradise'' and James Lester in the ITV sci-fi series '' Primeval''. Early life Bennet Evan Miller was born in London on 24 February 1966, the son of Welsh mother Marion and English father Michael Miller. He grew up in Nantwich, Cheshire. His father taught American literature at the City of Birmingham Polytechnic. His maternal grandfather was a Lithuanian immigrant. His paternal grandfather was a tailor in the East End of London, while his paternal great-grandmother taught English at South Cheshire College. He has two younger sisters. He is a distant cousin of Abraham Lincoln. Miller was educated at Malbank School and Sixth Form College in Nantwich before ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Armstrong (comedian)
Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter, singer and farmer. He is the host of the BBC One game show ''Pointless'', and is a weekday morning-show presenter on Classic FM (UK), Classic FM. Armstrong is a member of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, with Ben Miller. His television credits include ''Armstrong and Miller (TV series), Armstrong and Miller'', ''Beast (TV series), Beast'', ''Life Begins (TV series), Life Begins'', ''Hunderby'' and ''Danger Mouse (2015 TV series), Danger Mouse''. He is also known as the voice of Mr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures), Mr Smith, Sarah Jane Smith's alien supercomputer in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' and the Doctor Who series 4, series 4 The Stolen Earth, two-part Journey's End (Doctor Who), finale of ''Doctor Who''. He is also the narrator for the hit CBeebies show "Hey Duggee". Armstrong is a bass-baritone singer and has released three studio albums. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Holness
Matthew James Holness (born 1975) is an English comedian, director, author, plus actor. He is known for creating and portraying the fictional horror author Garth Marenghi. Early life and education Born in Whitstable, Kent, Holness became a fan of Hammer horror films at a young age, to the extent that when, at the age of six, he asked Hammer star and fellow Whitstable resident Peter Cushing for his autograph, Cushing expressed concern that the child knew so much about the films. Holness received the Master of Arts from Cambridge, graduating ''in absentia'' due to his comedy work. Holness attended Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury and went on to read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As a member of the Cambridge Footlights, he appeared in a number of shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the mid-1990s. He also served as vice-president when David Mitchell was president. Other contemporaries included Robert Webb, Richard Ayoade and John Oliver. Career Holness firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 British Academy Television Awards, BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance. Ayoade was president of the Footlights club whilst a student at the University of Cambridge. He and Matthew Holness debuted their respective characters Dean Learner and Garth Marenghi at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000, bringing the characters to television with ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' (2004) and ''Man to Man with Dean Learner'' (2006). He appeared in the comedy shows ''The Mighty Boosh (TV series), The Mighty Boosh'' (2004–2007) and ''Nathan Barley'' (2005). After directing music videos for Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, he wrote and directed the comedy-drama film ''Submarine (2010 film), Submarine'' (2010), an adaptati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' is a British horror parody television series created by Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness for Channel 4. The show focuses on fictional horror author Garth Marenghi (played by Holness) and his publisher Dean Learner (played by Ayoade), characters who originated in the stage show '' Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight''. The series is presented as a special release of the fictional television series ''Darkplace''. Within the reality of the show, ''Darkplace'' was produced in the 1980s for Channel 4, but never broadcast anywhere but Peru, eventually becoming a lost series. Saved footage has recently resurfaced, with Marenghi republishing with the intent of gaining interest from a modern audience. The "original footage" of the show is intercut or bookended with commentary from many of the "original" cast, where characters such as Marenghi and Learner reflect on what it was like to make the show. ''Darkplace'' parodies the fashion, special effects, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
