Sam Simmons

The Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards

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Sam Simmons

So the Edinburgh Festival draws to a close for another year. The final weekend saw a whole array of awards being presented and futures being temporarily flipped on their heads. The Edinburgh Comedy Awards are perhaps the most prolific of the entire arts festival and the effects of winning either the overall award for best show or the prize for best newcomer results in a great deal of publicity and ticket sales for the next year and beyond. Nominations for both titles this year, which were announced on Wednesday (26th August) with winner announced yesterday, were as strong as ever.

Those shortlisted for the award for Best Comedy Show were James Acaster, Joseph Morpurgo, Kieran Hodgson, Nish Kumar, Sam Simmons, Sarah Kendall, Seymour Mace and Trygve Wakenshaw. A diverse list, to say the least, with two of the comics above coming from Australia and another one being a mime act from New Zealand. Sam Simmons (who was MoodyComedy’s Comedian Of The Month this March) took the award along with the £10,000 prize, which was presented by last year’s winner John Kearns, for his bustling, surreal show Spaghetti For Breakfast. This was the third time the comic had been nominated for Best Show, much like James Acaster who’s show Represent saw him nominated for the fourth time, showing the high calibre of nominees.

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Sofie Hagen

The award for Best Newcomer is one that has proven itself time and time again to completely catapult the careers of the world’s brightest new talent. ‘New’ that is, at least, in terms of being newly recognised. A quick glance at the list of previous winners will demonstrate to any cynic that this award is not to be overlooked. Winners over the 35 years that the award has been running have included Sarah Millican, Harry Hill, Tim Minchin, The Mighty Boosh and Josie Long. This year saw Danish stand up Sofie Hagen claim the crown for Best Newcomer with her debut show Bubblewrap. Sofie’s show has been delighting audiences with her refreshing take on growing up into a proper adult and issues such as body image and the stigma around mental health. You can catch my interview with Sofie Hagen here.

And finally, the winner of the Panel Prize was Karen Koren who has worked as the founder and artistic director of the Gilded Balloon for the past 30 years. The Guilded Balloon also saw the launch of the So You Think You’re Funny? competition which has been running for 28 years.

A full list of past nominees and winners is available on the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards website.

March: Comedian Of The Month #14, Sam Simmons

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Each Comedian of the Month on MoodyComedy is a comic who has never previously featured on the website. Reasons for selection can include various current projects the comedian is involved with, or perhaps recent appearances on television programmes or podcasts. There is no strict criteria however, as Comedian of the Month simply stands as a collection of recommendations, highlighting interesting and original aspects of certain comedians and their work.

Sam Simmons is an uncompromisingly weird Australian stand up. He’s a one-man variety performance, with musical overlays, flip charts and dancing. If you embrace the weirdness, his comedy becomes something entirely unique. Simmons works hard for his laughs, and they pay off spectacularly, but he also brings elements of art to his stand up. The video below features a fantastic moment where he throws bread into the crowd only to demand everyone suddenly launch it back, as he tries to hit the pieces with table tennis bats of course. It is a remarkable sight.

Fans of Noel Fielding, Tony Law and Paul Foot will certainly appreciate the wackiness of Simmons, but there is an additional element of organisation that is uncommon, or perhaps unnoticed, in these ‘alternative’ or ‘whimsical’ comedians. Sam brings his own set of rules as well as timed voice overs that make it clear the comedy is not spontaneous. It is highly crafted, and I think the details in the planning and the effectiveness of the timing are what make each performance so hilarious.

Sam Simmons seems to be one of those performers that splits every crowd, and with statements like, “if you don’t like it, don’t look,” I think he sees it too. I know for sure that there must be people at every gig who have absolutely no idea what is going on, which makes me think of that time Tony Law upset a lady on the front row because she didn’t understand why everyone was laughing.

I am a fan of Simmons because he is confident in his strangeness and that is something I’d love to see more of in the world, and certainly in the UK. Maybe our comedy has become a little too conservative, and this comic is one of the few working hard to amend that.

Follow Sam on Twitter or visit his website for more information.

FEBRUARY COMEDIAN OF THE MONTH