The Jones Bootmaker ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards have announced the long lists for Best Show and Best Newcomer for this year, 37 shows for Best Show and 22 for Best Newcomer on their website here. All are in the running for the £5,000 in prizes each for these two Awards plus there is a £5,000 Panel Prize.  100% of the sponsorship from Jones Bootmaker goes on the prizes to support artists, the shows are judged by around 30 volunteers who were at the Fringe anyway.  There were around 700 eligible shows this year (full eligibility criteria and judging process via the website).

The Awards were founded by comedian Nathan Cassidy with head judge and producer Sarah Bowles. All the judges were allocated shows and any they thought were exceptional were recommended for the long-lists. 

Sarah Bowles says: As last year, this is by no way a list of everything that is exceptional at the Edinburgh Fringe. As we all know being judged as well as judging is hard and unscientific, but our main rule was did the show make the audience and/or judge laugh lots on the day we saw it and do we think it could be judged as the best show or the best newcomer on the Fringe.   That's quite a high bar of course.  Not everyone can win and be nominated, and not being on these lists doesn't mean the other shows weren’t great, we saw a lot of great shows that aren't on this list as we need to keep the list down and make the cut somewhere - and there's always a chance that we saw your show on the wrong day for you - doesn't that always happen?! - but many shows were seen multiple times by multiple judges to try to offset this.  So, we repeat, this list obviously does not represent by any means the definitive list of what is great at the Fringe, it's just our panel of judges' opinions, and at the end of the day you will hear much better from the streets and word of mouth what to see, always listen to the streets rather than awards and reviews!

And we hope that everyone is kind to us as people were in droves last year - we are doing this purely as volunteers to support artists, and we have 100% of the £15,000 in prizes going straight to the artists. It takes many hours and we do our best, often we pay for tickets to the shows to further support the artists and thank you again for all the venues' support helping us in with free tickets when we've needed it - thank you! We now have the almost impossible job of getting this down to a list of 5 for the two short-lists which will be released in the morning of Aug 21st.  And there's always the Panel Prize of course - have you been overlooked for something amazing you're doing at the Fringe? Something extraordinary or something where you're helping other artists?  Do let us know! 

Here is, in alphabetical order, the...

JONES BOOTMAKER ISH EDINBURGH COMEDY AWARDS LONG LIST 2024

BEST SHOW

• Alfie Brown: Open Hearted Human Enquiry - Just The Tonic 23:35
• Amy Gledhill: Make Me Look Fit on the Poster - Monkey Barrel 18:10
• Ashley Haden: Political and Correct - Free Festival (Counting House) 18:00
• Chelsea Birkby: This is Life, Cheeky Cheeky - Just The Tonic 21:20
• Colin Hoult: Colin - Pleasance 20:20
• Dan Rath: Pariah Carey - Underbelly 21:50
• Dan Tiernan: Stomp - Monkey Barrel 21:00
• David Eagle: The Eagle is Candid - Just The Tonic 21:30
• Elf Lyons: Horses - Pleasance 21:20
• Eric Rushton: Real One - Monkey Barrel 15:20
• Finlay Christie: I Deserve This - Monkey Barrel 22:40
• Flat and the Curves: Rosé-Tinted - Underbelly 20:20 
• Gareth Mutch - Modern Man - The Stand 18:50
• Henry Ginsberg: Cuddle Slut - Free Festival (Counting House) 21:15
• Henry Stachini: Grenade - Underbelly 17:45
• Ian Stone is Keeping it Together - Free Festival (Counting House) 16:00
• Jo Caulfield: Pearls Before Swine - The Stand 19:25
• John Tothill: Thank God This Lasts Forever - Pleasance 20:45
• Jojo Sutherland, I Wish You Were My Mum (Careful What You Wish For) - The Stand 11:30
• Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle - Pleasance 20:30
• Kelly McCaughan: Catholic Guilt - Underbelly 22:00
• Laser Kiwi - Rise of the Olive - Assembly 20:05
• Larry Dean: Dodger Monkey Barrel 20:30
• Lauren Pattison: Big Girl Pants - Monkey Barrel 12:30
• Louise Atkinson: She's Got The Look - Gilded Balloon 17:00
• Lou Wall: The Bisexual's Lament - Pleasance 22:20
• Mark Thomas: Gaffa Tapes - The Stand 18:30
• Mat Ewins: Some You Lose Some - Monkey Barrel 21:15
• Ollie Horn: Comedy From Toxic People (and Their Friends) - Hoots @ Potterow 21:00
• Phil Ellis: Come On and Take The Rest of Me - Monkey Barrel 12:45
• Raul Kohli: Raul Britannia - Just the Tonic 18:30
• Sam Lake: Esméralda - Monkey Barrel 13:30
• Seymour Mace - Seymour F*cking Mace You C*nts! - The Stand 12:10
• Sian Davies: Band of Gold - Free Festival (City Café) 16:15
• Six Chick Flicks - Underbelly 21:30
• Ted Hill: 110 Percent Normal - Assembly 14:40
• Trevor Lock: Audience Anonymous - PBH Free Fringe (Bannermans) 14:45

JONES BOOTMAKER ISH EDINBURGH COMEDY AWARDS LONG LIST 2024
BEST NEWCOMER

• Amy Annette: Thick Skin - Pleasance 16:25
• Bella Humphries: Square Peg -  Just The Tonic 18:10
• Body, Pauline Eyre - Just The Tonic 12:30
• Catriona Dowden is Holier Than Thou - PBH Free Fringe (Banshee Labyrinth) 12:50
• Dee Allum: Deadname - Pleasance 16:30
• Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going To Do One (1) Backflip - Pleasance 18:20
• Devin Gray: How To Get Away With Marriage - Free Festival (City Café) 21:55
• Good Boys Good Time - PBH Free Fringe (Burrito and Shake) 01:45
• Hannah Platt: Defence Mechanism - Pleasance 20:10
• Henry Rowley: Just Literally - Pleasance 19:30
• I Know a Guy - PBH Free Fringe @ Uno Mas - Bar 19:15
• Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: LIVE - Monkey Barrel 23:25
• Kyle Ayers presents: Hard to Say - Just The Tonic 19:25
• Kemah Bob: Miss Fortunate - Pleasance 19:05
• Maria Fedulova: Russian. Mafia. Family - Hoots @ The Apex 22:50
• Mark Bittlestone: I Need a Straight Guy - Pleasance 21:40
• Melanie Bracewell: Attack of the Melanie Bracewell - Pleasance 17:50
• Metroland Live: The Box - Pleasance 21:45
• Mhari Black: Politics Isn't For Me - Gilded Balloon 13:15
• Peter Bazeley: Ahh I Appear to Be Having a Breakdown - Free Festival (Three Sisters) 5pm
• Runi Talwar as 'Runi Talwar' in Runi Talwar: The Runi Talwar Story - Pleasance 20:40

Pictured l- r: Sarah Bowles, Jones Head of Brand Dave Abbott, NathanCassidy. Picture credit Steve Best