Richness of Hall humour wins Perrier
Rich Hall is even richer now.
The American comedian was last night awarded the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Fringe veteran scooped the £5,000 first prize as judges voted his show the best of this year's comedy outpourings.
Hall appears as Otis Lee Crenshaw, a quick-witted criminal from Tennessee.
The English duo Noble and Silver were voted best newcomers by the panel.
The Perrier winner is catapulted to instant fame and will appear in the lead spot in a series of Pick Of The Fringe shows in London in October.
The other contenders were Sean Lock, Dave Gorman, and Lee Mack, appearing in New Bits, and Garth Marenghi, star of Fright Night.
The awards have been running since 1981, when the Cambridge Footlights, which included Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, won the inaugural contest.
Most Perrier winners, including Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner, Lee Evans, Sean Hughes and The League Of Gentlemen, have gone on to become household names.
Sunday, 27th August 2000
Scotland on Sunday
"The English duo Noble and Silver were voted best newcomers by the panel."
(Shudders)
Well how exciting. A comedy veteran winning like that. How does a man who's been in the business for what must be decades keep the motivation to pull out such achievements? Good job they signed him up for mainstream success before he lost his TV makeup retaining skin elasticity. I don't know whether to celebrate a new prospect for late night channel 4 or mourn the loss of a one time channel 5 star.
>"The English duo Noble and Silver were voted best newcomers by the panel."
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>(Shudders)
To be completely fair to these two, I find it difficult to imagine that Edinburgh or Bust is showcasing their work properly (given the shite nature of this years show in general).
Having said that, I have not seen their live show and would be interested to know what the general audience response is like. Has anybody here seen it?
Surely not a bad result.
It could have been Gorman or Boosh.
Saw the first five minutes of Edinburgh Nights, which announced the shortlist for the Perrier, followed by the announcement of the winner, interspersed with a noise or scream from the performance of each act. Amazingly useful.
Then followed a montage surrounding a Best Newcomer award who would get a BBC Choice Commission - Barry Cryer opening the envelope was considered more entertaining than the winner's act. And a montage concerning some other award where Barrymore and Harry Hill's flippant comments were considered more worthy of transmission than any of the act of the winner, one Francesca Martinez. We haven't heard of her, so she's rubbish, clearly. What a fool, she probably doesn't even have an agent yet, does she? Duh....
Switched off as they began to discuss the new George Clooney film by running several clips of half-pissed punters all saying the actor's name. Even by the standards of brainless documentary making, this was stupefyingly pointless.
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>Having said that, I have not seen their live show and would be interested to know what the general audience response is like. Has anybody here seen it?
I haven't seen that particular show but I did see them prior to dabbling with technology. And let's just say I can see why they resorted to dabbling with technology.
If anybody had bothered to get their arses out of the Pleasance/Gilded Balloon/Assembley Rooms, you MIGHT have seen some good stuff...what the Fring is all about and all that.
Francesca Martinez won the Open Mic award didn't she? She's lovely.
>Well how exciting. A comedy veteran winning like that. How does a man who's been in the business for what must be decades keep the motivation to pull out such achievements? Good job they signed him up for mainstream success before he lost his TV makeup retaining skin elasticity. I don't know whether to celebrate a new prospect for late night channel 4 or mourn the loss of a one time channel 5 star.
Fair points, kinder - he has been doing odd bits of TV for years (didn't he do a slot on Jack Dee or something?) but on the other hand he is extremely good. Probably the funniest, most natural and instinctive standup I've ever seen.
He was on HIGNFY years ago.
He also hosted the Jack Docherty show for a long period. I agree though he does have seem to have a comedic confidence which makes him seem like one of the greats even if his material isn't always up to scratch.
It couldn't have been Boosh. Anything but Boosh. I let the friend I was staying with in Edinburgh book all the tickets, and he bought some for Auto Boosh. I was prepared to give them a chance, but after enduring 10 minutes of their inconsquential mitherings with nary a titter forming on my lips, I had to get out. I didn't walk out, either. I _ran_. The plaintive "COME BACK" that Julian Barrett shouted at me as I sprinted for the exit will be with me until I die.