Sofie Hagen

The Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards

August 31, 2015 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

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.

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.

Seven Questions With… Sofie Hagen

June 5, 2015 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

Sofie Hagen is a Danish stand up comic and podcaster. Winning the Chortle award for best newcomer in 2014, Hagen has successfully established herself on the British comedy scene, with her willingness to discuss more personal matters such as mental health and body image. Her podcast Comedians Telling Stuff (which Sofie briefly mentions below) is available online now and she brings her debut hour Bubblewrap to the Edinburgh Festival this August.

To find out more about Sofie, I asked her these seven questions…

1) What is your favourite comedy project that you have been involved in?

I did a sketch with a famous Danish actor called Kim Bodnia in Denmark once. It was all improvised and he tried to kiss me. I think the idea behind that thought was that I was going to say no. But I jumped up on the table that separated us and completely snogged his brains out. He is one of my favourite actors and I was just starstruck to be in the same room as him. Oh, did I mention that he’s 50 years old and slightly looks like my dad? Whenever I see him in a film, I blush. I genuinely feel like we had something. This is why I am not an actor. I would get way too attached.

2) Do you ever wear pyjamas in public?

Way too often, considering that I am techincally an adult. In Denmark, where I’m from, you can barely walk down any street without running into someone you know. Your old science teacher, your ex-boydriend, your dad… And then you meet the next person! I am just kidding, we have surprisingly little incest in Denmark. Anyways, so I moved to London where I can walk for miles (I rarely walk more than a mile) and meet NO ONE. So I started doing my grocery shopping in my pyjamas. The whole lot- two different shoes, only one sock, chocolate on my cheek. And I do not give a fuck. I probably should.

3) What item of food reminds you of your childhood?

Chips of chocolate that has been melted together. When I was a child, our fridge died overnight and what seemed like thuosands of chocolate chips melted into one huge lump that my mother let me eat. She regretted that later on, when I started turning off the fridge on a weekly basis so I could get muyself a big lump of chocolate.

4) Do you enjoy being scared?

No. Why would I? It doesn’t make sense to enjoy being scared. It’s like when women say they love “bad boys”. Why? Why would you? ‘Bad’ means, well, bad. Don’t come crying to me later and be all “Oh, I can’t believe he did this to me!”- really? The fact that he was a bad boy didn’t at all give you ANY clues as to what his future behaviour was going to be like? Scared is the same thing. So no. Because I quite like being very certain that I am not going to be eaten or killed anytime soon.

5) Is podcasting a neglected art form?

As someone who does their own podcast (www.comedianstellingstuff.com), I would definitely say that it IS a neglected art form. Because my podcast (www.comedianstellingstuff.com) is definitely art (www.comedianstellingstuff.com) and everyone should stop neglecting it (my podcast: www.comedianstellingstuff.com) and go to my website (www.comedianstellingstuff.com) and listen to it. Here is the web address: www.comedianstellingstuff.com.

6) Are you a gracious loser?

I was once on a date with a guy and we were being flirty and silly. When we both had to go to the bathroom at the sae time, he said jokingly, “Let’s see who gets back first!” and I ran to the bathroom. I did come back first, but in my desperation to win the little stupid competition, I had torn my underwear into three pieces, trying to get it off quickly- and I had not really washed my hands. So no. I am not.

7) Are you interested in living for as long as possible?

Yes! I want to be one of those old ladies that does not give a fuck anymore. I will be the opposite of what I am now: I will go to the grocery store wearing pink sequin leggings and a crop top and fake dementia and steal lots of stuff. Flirt with everyone, do fetish porn (no one I know will be alive anyways) and learn how to breakdance. Turn off my fridge every week and eat lumps of chocolate.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SOFIE HAGEN’S EDINBURGH RUN, VISIT HER WEBSITE.

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