Edinburgh Comedy Awards nominees announced

Nominees have been announced for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Stand-up Josie Long has been nominated as best show for the third year in a row.

Claudia O'Doherty, Doctor Brown, James Acaster, Tony Law and sketch team Pappy's are also in the running for the £10,000 prize.

Previous winners of the Foster's award, formerly known as the Perrier, are Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner and Harry Hill.

The five nominees for the £5,000 best newcomer prize are Daniel Simonsen, David Trent, Discover Ben Target, Joe Lycett and Sam Fletcher.

The winners will be announced on Saturday during a lunchtime ceremony at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.

Nica Burns, producer of the awards, said: "The nominees sum up an extraordinarily inventive year for comedy at this year's Fringe.

"The shows demonstrate all the comedic art forms: stand-up, mime, sketch and multimedia experimentation.

"The performers are all immensely charismatic and often thought-provoking whilst being extremely funny. Two excellent nomination lists."

Nominations for best comedy show are:

1. Claudia O'Doherty, The Telescope
2. Doctor Brown, Befrdfgth
3. James Acaster, Prompt
4. Josie Long, Romance And Adventure
5. Pappy's, Last Show Ever!
6. Tony Law, Maximum Nonsense.

Nominations for best newcomer are:

1. Daniel Simonsen, Champions
2. David Trent, Spontaneous Comedian
3. Discover Ben Target
4. Joe Lycett, Some Lycett Hot
5. Sam Fletcher, Good On Paper

PA