Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2026: Nominees announced for best show and newcomer prizes

UK comedy’s most prestigious awards have announced the nominees to take the coveted prize at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Among the performers in line to win the Edinburgh Comedy Awards title for best show is Lara Ricote, star of Channel 4 sitcom Make That Movie alongside Sam Campbell.

Singaporean stand-up Li Jin Hao, regularly seen on the London comedy circuit and nominated for the best newcomer award two years ago, is now up for best show in 2026.

SNL UK writer Chris Cantrill is nominated for a fourth time, having previously been in the running in 2019, 2022 and 2024. Spencer Jones was previously a nominee in 2017 and 2019, while Dan Tiernan is nominated for the second year running. Harriet Dyer appears on the list for the first time.

London-based comics up for the best newcomer award include Hackney-born star of Taskmaster Fatiha El-Ghorri, Freddie Meredith, who is a regular MOTH Club compere and star of BBC sitcom Such Brave Girls, and Irish-born comedian Marty Gleeson.

The winners will be announced on Saturday, with the awards gala broadcast on BBC Radio 4 the same day at 11pm, as the month-long festival comes to a close for another year. The awards will be presented by last year’s best newcomer and subsequent star of SNL UK, Ayoade Bamgboye, and 2016 award-winner for his show Baby Reindeer which went on to be an international sensation on Netflix, Richard Gadd.