one4review | On 26, Aug 2024

Fringe institution The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society publishes a guide to the Fringe shows they recommend, comprised of friends of ACMS. A complimentary copy is available to audients. It is extensive, and its printed form makes an excellent coaster, if not quite doorstop. It demonstrates something about ACMS – maybe how nice an atmosphere there is, for both audiences and comics (as explained by one award recipient) or how appealing a call-and-response is, or how many friends they’ve made – but also means that the annual award ceremony audience is a significant proportion comedian, because they’re all invited and eligible.

Being a perennial and favourite of the Fringe means that no admin is required; almost everyone knows the refrain, and those who don’t catch on fast. In some instances, the audience did Thom’s admin for him, calling – for this night only – a nominee! when Mr Tuck was behind in his duties, though he was diligent in enforcement of the Permitted Heckles.

In part because it was an award ceremony, and in part because it’s the end of the Fringe, this was one of the more demure and restrained ACMS; the only slap was host Thom Tuck’s delightful recreation of his favourite visual gag. Recipients of Awards, including for ‘most show’, ‘closest’, and ‘best relationship with flyerer’, were determined by random number, and included a number of Edinburgh closes. Proceedings were interspersed with performances from nominees for Best Song, including highlights such as the Duck Summoning Song (Ada Campe), and late entrant Set List (Steffan Alun).

A little shorter than most award ceremonies, and more reliably fun, the ACMS Awards are different in format to other ACMS shows, but retains all of the energy and affinity for nonsense that has made it an essential Fringe experience.

Reviewed by Laura

Monkey Barrel 1
23:55
Until 25th