Why improv should be eligible for the Edinburgh Comedy Award - freestyle rapper MC Hammersmith

MC Hammersmith is at the Monkey BarrelMC Hammersmith is at the Monkey Barrel
MC Hammersmith is at the Monkey Barrel | Contributed
The Edinburgh Comedy Awards can rocket Fringe comics to fame and fortune ... so why are improvised shows deemed ineligible? Freestyle rapper MC Hammersmith makes the case for embracing improv

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards are the biggest awards in comedy. Handed out at the Fringe every year, winning Best Newcomer or Best Show can land you a big chunk of money, a powerful agent, and a career on mainstream TV. Most of your favourite TV comedians have won or been shortlisted for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. They are a very, very big deal for any comedian. However, there is a major caveat to the awards: improv shows are ineligible.

The official rules state: “The show must be stand-up, character comedy, sketch/revue or comedy musical. The material must be unique to the performer/show". The general understanding is that improv shows are considered ineligible because the content changes with every performance, and thus “consistent quality cannot be guaranteed”.

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I have brought a solo improv show to the Fringe every year since 2017. I want to make the case that improv shows are award-worthy. Because improv shows are comedy, and therefore art. Because improv shows are comedy created spontaneously: live, raw, imperfect, joyous, and entirely in the moment. And because – crucially – I want ten thousand pounds.

Firstly, improv is comedy. When I mention improv to most people, they say how much they love the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? If you go to any of the big name improv shows at the Fringe – like Showstopper!, Austentatious or Baby Wants Candy – you’re guaranteed to be howling with laughter, the same guarantee as with any big name stand-up show. The slew of 5-star reviews speak for themselves. And yet these shows are ineligible. It’s another example of the comedy mainstream maligning an entire artform. Because the executives in charge parrot that they don’t like improv – purely because they’ve never seen it done well. It’s ignorant and it’s insulting to the whole art of improvisation. God I want ten thousand pounds. I think I’d buy a boat.

Secondly, improv is art. The Edinburgh Comedy Awards famously love an hour-long stand up show with an emotional twist 45 minutes in. Regardless of your opinions on this, improv can play that card. I’ve seen improv shows which have not only been funny, but which have also had honest, powerful, beautiful emotional cores. I’ve seen improv shows which have made me cry. I’ve seen improv shows with deep, rich characters the audience care about, all manifested in the moment from the emotional intelligence of the performers. Improv shows with true heart. Undeniably art. The Edinburgh Comedy Awards would lap that up – if the people in charge could actually be bothered to watch these shows and deem them valuable. I’d definitely splurge the money on a boat. A really big one. 300 horsepower of dual prop fiberglass, all for me, simply because I could afford it with the prize money. I don’t even live near water. God I want ten thousand pounds.

Finally, improv is a craft. It’s not just a lazy parlour trick. It has mechanics, principles, different schools of thought, all of which take years of repeated practice and introspection to master. It’s more impressive to make up 25 comedy shows for 25 days than it is to sit down and write just one. And there’s even a precedent for the craft of spontaneity being rewarded. American clown Doctor Brown won Best Show in 2012, and his show is extremely interactive, with copious amounts of improvisation. Ross Noble was nominated in 1999, and his shows have so much improv they’re practically unwritten. 

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Also, improv doesn’t mean a daily variance in quality. The best improv shows are consistently brilliant, with as high a hit rate as the best stand up shows. The Comedy Awards need to get their heads out the sand and realise this. Then maybe a mainstream audience could be exposed to the genius, the laughter, and the beauty, of improv as an art form. God I want ten thousand pounds. Final night of the Fringe, I’d tug at the outboard motor of my new Toyota Powerboat, violently skimming the waves of the Firth of Forth, festival fireworks clapping above me, screaming “IT’S DIFFERENT EVERY TIME!!!” at the top of my lungs, before crashing headfirst into the columns of the Queensferry Crossing and exploding. That’s what I’d spend the money on. All based on your suggestions!

MC Hammersmith: The MC Stands for Middle Class, Monkey Barrel, 1.55pm, until 25 August

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