one4review | On 17, Aug 2014

The Amused Moose Comedy’s Laughter Awards in association with BBC Worldwide and 2Entertain have been running this competition for a few years now and it is an open competition for any full hour of comedy at Fringe each year being eligible.

The process starts with a worldwide panel of industry experts watching and voting the filmed shows on line with the highest scoring ones being watched live by a panel of judges in Edinburgh. Again once scored a short list is selected and these ten have a ten minute slot in the Symposium Hall to impress both industry and the public.

The Amused Moose crew under the watchful eye of supremo Hils Jago then stage what is an excellent showcase of these ten acts and once more voting takes place. There is an industry award, a Peoples Champion Award should the public disagree with ‘experts’,

The 10 Finalists were:-

Kraken, Tom Toal, Lou Sanders. Chris Turner, BEASTS, Celia Pacquola,Rob Deering,Pierre Novellie,Ria Lina and Lorretta Maine

The competition was hosted by Mark Dolan who did a first class job of warming everyone up and kept the information about the acts coming. A headliner set from Johnny & The Baptists who entertained while the votes were counted and ratified.

Each and every one was a worthy finalist and did themselves justice and the voting reflected it as once again there was an industry / audience difference. The decision made the trophy and cash were presented to

Runner up Kraken

Peoples Champion Chris Turner

Amused Moose Laughter Award winner Celia Pacquola

If there is a better value comedy show on the Fringe I am yet to find it and the quality is second to none, and hats off to everyone for staging an excellent afternoon of comedy.

Reviewed by Geoff

Symposium Hall

13.15 to 16.30

*****