Campbell, 30, from Queensland, is the fifth winner of the best act award to come from Australia, beating winners from Ireland who have won the award four times. And this year’s Edinburgh newcomer award went to Mexican-American Lara Ricote, for her show GRL/LATNX/DEF. “You are so good to me. This is crazy!” said the 25-year-old, who is hearing impaired and speaks about her disability on stage. Ricote’s show deals with her “multiple minority” and the fact that hers are not all visible categories. “Being a minority is very intense now,” she joked after winning her award. “I’m a girl, young, Latina, and I have a disability, so I check a lot of boxes. But I have to be very vocal about the minorities I belong to. I’m in an interesting place and a very privileged place.” Ricote also won the funny women award for stage performers last year. The show that won Campbell the £10,000 top prize is the more simply titled Comedy Show. “I deserve the award and I’ve been waiting for it,” he told the crowd, before correcting himself. “No. It was a big surprise. It’s crazy.” The comedian added that he was going to use the prize money “to be taller”. Campbell’s late-night show, which only ran for the second half of the festival, came with a special ‘disclaimer’ from the comic: ‘I want to be a performer around the world. I hope you don’t mind, but this show is going to make me go up there and be good.” A former Melbourne International Comedy Festival winner, Campbell beat nine other fringe contenders, including Alfie Brown, son of Dead Ringers star Jan Ravens, Seann Walsh, a former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, and Jordan Gray, the pageant’s first transgender candidate. Lara Ricote, who is hard of hearing and speaks about her disability on stage, receives her award in Edinburgh yesterday. Photo: Euan Cherry/Getty Images Among those applauding the judges’ verdicts was Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright, who tweeted how much he enjoyed Ricochet’s show at the festival. Campbell, he later added, is “an absolute lunatic.” Support organization Best in Class, which helps artists from working-class backgrounds, won the Spirit of the Margin award, an award that doesn’t happen every year. Pointing out the difficulty of funding a fringe show, Sian Davies, who runs the organisation, said: “People can’t afford to live in the moment, let alone come here. Best in Class is a sticking plaster at best. The margin is full of systematic bias.” Her message was met with approval by Campbell, who said: “It’s crazy when people can’t afford to do that. I’m no expert, but for anyone losing money here, this stinks.” Davies explained that in 2018 she was asked to audition for a fringe showcase. When she made it, she was told she would have to pay £1,800 to secure her place. “When I tell people that, they roll their eyes. They can’t believe it,” Davis said. As a result, she was dropped by her sponsor, despite her friends’ efforts to raise the money. At first she said she got “angry,” then decided to launch her own showcase for working-class comics. “I don’t charge anyone for the privilege of coming and they get paid,” he added. “When you give us a seat at your table, we can do that.” Saturday’s ceremony at the city’s Dovecot Studios art gallery was presented by award producer Nica Burns, who insisted the festival’s doors were “open to everyone” and said: “Together we have created the best comedy industry in the world. Our doors are open to everyone. All they need to be is super-talented and, above all, funny.” This year the panel for the award, formerly known as ‘The Perrier’ and now sponsored by comedy TV channel Dave, was chaired by Sky Studios comedy producer Adnan Ahmed and included Dave’s Channel Director Cherie Cunningham and Channel 4 executive Joe Hullait.
