Winners announced for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2025

The 43rd annual Edinburgh Comedy Awards have announced the winners of their 2025 awards, which celebrate the next generation of comedy talent.

The ceremony took place today, 23 August 2025, at the Ghillie Dhu in Edinburgh, hosted by 2024 winner Amy Gledhill.

The 2025 winners are: Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer winning The Taffner Family Best Comedy Show; Ayoade Bamgboye: Swings and Roundabouts picking up The DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer; and Comedy Club 4 Kids winning The Victoria Wood Award.

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards have been running for 45 years, and celebrate the best of both up-and-coming comedy and brand-new performers at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and spotlight the next generation of comedy talent.

The awards gala was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and is now available on BBC Sounds.

The 43rd Edinburgh Comedy Awards are co-sponsored by Nica Burns, Donald Taffner of DLT Entertainment and the Victoria Wood Foundation.

The prize money for Best Comedy Show, sponsored by The Taffner Family Charitable Trust, is £10,000 with £5,000 each for the DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer and The Victoria Wood Award winner.

This year’s judging panel is chaired by Audible’s Director of Original Content and Comedy Commissioner Sam Bryant. See the full list of judges, below.

Nominees for the 43rd awards were announced last Thursday, 21 August.

Last year’s winners of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards were Amy Gledhill for Amy Gledhill: Make Me Look Fit On The Poster, winning the Best Comedy Show 2024. The Best Newcomer Award went to Joe Kent-Walters, for Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: LIVE!!!; and The Victoria Wood Award 2024, went to Rob Copland for Rob Copland: Gimme (One With Everything).

Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2025 – List of winners & nominees

The Taffner Family Best Comedy Show

Dan Tiernan: All In
Ed Night: Your Old Mucker
Ian Smith: Foot Spa Half Empty
John Tothill: This Must Be Heaven
Katie Norris: Go West, Old Maid
Sam Jay: We the People
Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer – WINNER
Creepy Boys: SLUGS

The DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer Award

Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love
Ayoade Bamgboye: Swings and Roundabouts – WINNER
Elouise Eftos: Australia’s First Attractive Comedian
Kate Owens: Cooking with Kathryn
Molly McGuinness: Slob
Roger O’Sullivan: Fekken
Toussaint Douglass: Accessible Pigeon Material

Victoria Wood Award

Comedy Club 4 Kids – WINNER

What They Said

Nica Burns CBE, Director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, said in a statement: “Our 2025 winners capture the spirit of comedy right now: bold, brilliant, and deeply connected to audiences. In very different ways, they’ve each created shows that feel utterly of this moment, sparking laughter while saying something lasting. Together, they remind us why the Fringe matters, a place where the freshest voices can shine. The future of British comedy is in excellent hands.

“Sam Nicoresti’s Baby Doomer is a masterfully woven, polished and delightfully human show that captures an essential moment with, to paraphrase her words, laughs by the seconds. Packed with relatable set pieces that linger long after, Sam is a fresh, bright voice that we need in 2025.

“Ayoade Bamgboye’s debut hour is electric, constantly keeping you on your toes. What begins as an everyday anecdote about the Co-Op unfolds into a rich, often surreal world, layered with profound emotional depth. She delivers it all with remarkable charisma and presence. Ayoade has a brilliant future ahead of her.”

Sam Bryant, Chair of the judging panel, said: “I know I speak for the whole panel when I say what a massive privilege and joy it’s been to see so much incredible live comedy here. It is paramount that we make sure new young audiences get that live comedy bug too – and that young people keep making the same realisation that all the comedians here made at some point in their lives, that performing comedy is something that could be for them, whatever their backgrounds.

“This year’s Victoria Wood Foundation prize is going to an organisation that’s spent the last 20 years dedicated to exactly that idea. Founded right here at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, they run live shows for kids and families across the country, shows in which many previous winners and nominees of these awards have taken part. They also run workshops teaching kids the basics of stand-up comedy, helping their confidence and wellbeing, as well as creating new generations of comedians – in fact, some of the graduates are here this year as performers as well as audience members.

“This Award will help fund their Community Interest Company, which will create comedy workshops and shows right here in Edinburgh, with a specific remit to increase access for kids from lower-income backgrounds.”

Edinburgh Comedy Awards Judging Panel

This year’s 2025 judging panel features seven industry experts and three comedy fans: Sam Bryant: Director of Original Content and Comedy Commissioner, Audible (Chair); Josh Buckingham: Executive Producer, Hat Trick Productions; Ashley Davies: Freelance Arts Journalist, Metro, Times Scotland, Scotsman; Shukri Dirie: Development Producer, Scripted, BBC TalentWorks; Tristram Fane Saunders: Freelance Journalist and Comedy Critic, The Telegraph and Editor of The Little Review; Rachael Healy: Freelance Comedy and Theatre Writer, The Guardian and The Observer; James Robinson: Executive Producer, BBC Studios Audio; and public panellists Janet Jackson, Krishna Kapur, and Justine Teasdale.

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Main photo: Edinburgh Comedy Awards