Chris Cantrill has won the Audible Best Comedy Show award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his show Rewilding. Having previously been nominated in 2024, and twice more as half of The Delightful Sausage double act, he has now won the top gong in British comedy.
“I've been in a double act for a few years. Last time [in 2025] I came here on my own I had a really good run of it, so I just wanted this to cement me as somebody that people would pay money to come to see,” he told The Standard.
There was no rest for the SNL UK writer, who had to rush from the awards gala to perform his last show of this year’s Fringe minutes later.
“There was a big cheer when I went in, so I think word got around,” he said, having darted back from performing at Monkey Barrel for the final time. “I've not processed it on any level. My friend John's driving me home after this, and I believe there will be tears in the car as we hit Tebay Services.“
He revealed he’s been granted just one day off before returning to the writing room, as the hit Sky One show returns for its second season in a week’s time.
“I don't know what it's going to be like this series, I'll find out next week.
“I've heard one of the hosts I'm really excited about. I can't say who, otherwise they'll cut my head off.”
The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, now in its 46th year, were presented by his colleague on SNL UK and last year’s winner of best newcomer, Ayoade Bamgboye, alongside Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd a decade on from his best show award.
London-based Irish comedian Marty Gleeson won best newcomer for her show Dog Ear, rated five stars in The Standard’s review.
“I was thinking about doing my debut last year - I’m glad I waited,” she told The Standard.
“I wanted a show I loved performing and find new things in it every day. It’s changed a lot, even yesterday I was changing bits and pieces. I still think I want to change things on it. It’s a constant curiosity - it’s alive and telling me where to go. I think it’s important that it does.”
Gleeson got into comedy five years ago, having already moved from Limerick to London. She made her first appearance on stage at the now defunct TNT in Kentish Town: “I remember doing that and thinking you had to pitch yourself, like ‘give me a shot!’ and they’d say ‘Yeah you can go on next week’. Then it was like, ‘Okay this is it, this is what I’m doing.’”
She says the comedy scene in London has developed over that time. “There’s more alternative voices which is really good and it’s more inclusive generally.
“When you travel around you get a raw taste of the club scenes which is really interesting. But you are spoiled in London for people who have seen different types of comedy and they go because they love comedy and not necessarily because they’re going for a night out.
“London is great but sometimes they’re like, ‘Okay, you show me what you’ve got.’ Mostly it’s fantastic. If you give something to them they give it right back.
“You know within the first two or three seconds the vibe, and then it’s an interesting kind of thing where you are showing yourself to them and they’re showing themselves to you. It’s like dating. And then you become more real as it goes on.
“You just have to be very real. Audiences can smell it a mile away.”
The panel prize went to One Joke, a show where 60 comedians tell a single joke each in the space of an hour, all in aid of charity. They announced the show’s return next year at the 750-capacity Pleasance Grand.
