The Stage

Bo Burnham in the running for Edinburgh Comedy Award

Published Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 17:37 by Alistair Smith

Bo Burnham, Greg Davies, Josie Long, Russell Kane and Sarah Millican are all in the running for this year’s Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award.

Long and Millican are both former winners of the Best Newcomer Award, while Kane has now been nominated three times for the main award and once as Best Newcomer. Burnham is 20 years old and best known for his youtube comedy videos, while Davies gets his first solo nomination, but has previously been nominated as part of comedy group We Are Klang. The Best Comedy Show Award carries a £10,000 prize.

Nica Burns, producer of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards said that the nominations represented “two fantastic 30th anniversary shortlists which reflect the enormous changes in the comedy landscape”.

She added: “For the first time, two first class female comics, Josie Long and Sarah Millican, both Best Newcomer winners, join 20-year-old Bo Burnham in an outstanding Edinburgh debut, Greg Davies from We Are Klang in his first solo show and Russell Kane winning his third consecutive nomination. It took a very impassioned, intense debate to select the nominees from an extremely strong and diverse long list - 2010 will be remembered as a vintage year for comedy.”

Meanwhile, the nominees for the Best Newcomer Award are An Audience with Imran Yusuf, Asher Treleaven, Gareth Richards, Late Night Gimp Fight, Roisin Conathy and The Boy With The Tape on His Face.