Nica Burns Officially Launches The 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Awards

Nica Burns, the longstanding Director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, has officially launched the biggest awards in live comedy at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  

Figures from across the comedy industry gathered in Edinburgh for the annual launch with Fringe Society President Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Chief Executive Shona McCarthy also in attendance. 

Here is Nica Burns’ speech in full:

“What a wonderful, warm welcome after such a nail-biting time.  It’s lovely to see you all!  So, welcome to the event that you didn’t expect to happen this year – yes, it’s the Edinburgh Comedy Awards’ movers and shakers lunch!   

“What a rollercoaster the last two months have been!  Only nine weeks ago, an article in The Telegraph on 30th May dropped the bombshell news that the Comedy Awards might not be able to happen this year with the headline: “Is it curtains for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards?”  For 40 years, the Awards have been very successful in finding big title sponsors. Even then, I sponsored them personally for two years because I couldn’t find the right sponsor.  We are now in a world where Covid has wrecked the economic climate for all of us and drastically changed the landscape for big title sponsorships in the arts. 

“I realised those days are over, and we had to rethink our approach to funding the Awards - and now we see the result: in just five weeks, three passionate comedy heroes stepped forward to join me in saving the Awards, and to a collective sigh of relief on 7th July we were able to announce that the 2023 Awards were going ahead.  It’s business as usual.  Our new partners are all from the comedy community: they work, live and breathe comedy.  They understand the opportunities that this wonderful Festival gives comics and the work the Awards do within it to spotlight comedians and comedy as a genre and serious art form.

“So, let’s have a shout out for each of our quick-acting, comedy-loving new partners who are:

“A great channel, with a great comedy unit, it’s Sky!  

“The man who has been seeing Comedy at the Fringe since 2009.  Every year he sees one more show than the previous year.  So this year it will be a whopping 127 – from DLT Entertainment Ltd, it’s the amazing Donald Taffner!

“The super-talented comedian and inspirational woman whose generous legacy has helped us today.  She first appeared at the Fringe in 1975 with a spot singing her own songs with Roger McGough in The Grimms, then started learning how to do stand-up around the London Fringe.  In 1982 she came back to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with her first full hour show of stand-up, characters and songs with “Lucky Bag”, the only solo female comic that year.  I saw it, she smashed it.  TV grabbed her and suddenly it was ten sold-out nights at the Albert Hall.  Yes, let’s hear it for a true spirit of the Fringe, Victoria Wood and her Foundation. 

“I’ve always said that we would continue to run the Comedy Awards as long as the talent and the industry wanted them, and we’ve now had a resounding ‘Yes, we do’.  I would like to thank a special group of people who gave me excellent advice, who are: Stephen Armstrong, Steve Bennett, Mark Boosey, Dominic Cavendish, Ashley Davies, Bruce Dessau, Veronica Lee, nearly all former panellists and chairs, so they really understand the process and the role the Awards play within comedy at the Festival.  Shona McCarthy, for her strategic advice and overview of the Fringe: her conversation with me regarding the ecology of the Fringe and the place of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards within it was invaluable.  And to our prestigious 2023 judging panel who changed their plans to make themselves available in just three short weeks.  You are brilliant. 

“Looking forward, the headline news is that plans are now in place to secure the future of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for the long term.  We will definitely be back next year and for as long as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe continues!  We are here to stay!

“It’s time now for our annual toast, so please raise your glasses to our Comedy Heroes: Sky, DLT Entertainment and the Victoria Wood Foundation, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and above all to Comedy!”

Following her speech, Nica Burns also paid tribute to members of the comedy community who we have lost this year, including Adam Brace, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Barry Humphries, Robbie Jack, George Logan, Paul O’Grady, Gareth Richards and Andy Smart.

Earlier this week, the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Awards judging panel was revealed, made up of eight leading industry professionals and two passionate comedy fans representing the public. They are:

Adnan Ahmed, Chair: Producer, Sky Studios
Stephen Armstrong: Comedy & Culture Critic, The Sunday Times
Andy Brereton: Senior Commissioning Editor, Comedy, Channel 4
Liz Daramola: Creator in Residence, Baby Cow Productions
Gwyn Davies: Executive Producer, BBC Studios, Audio
Rachael Healy: Comedy Critic & Culture Writer, The Guardian
Dominic Maxwell: Comedy & Theatre Critic, The Times
Anya Ryan: Freelance Comedy & Theatre Critic, The Guardian, Time Out, The Stage, BBC Three
Alex Caven: Member of the Public
Jane Dempsey: Member of the Public 

The categories for the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Awards are: 

• Sky Best Comedy Show - with a cash prize of £10,000 
• DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer - with a cash prize of £5,000 
• Victoria Wood Award (formerly the Panel Prize) - with a cash prize of £5,000 

The Shortlist will be announced on Wednesday 23rd August, and the Nominees’ photo-call will be on Thursday 24th August. The 41st Edinburgh Comedy Awards ceremony will take place on Saturday 26th August. 

A full history of the winners and nominees, eligibility rules and all other details about the Awards can be found at: www.comedyawards.co.uk