Comedian's calls for awards 'fairness' to recognise performers working 'with no safety net' rejected

Barry Ferns, who has been performing at the Fringe for 25 years, wrote in an open letter to the organisers of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards that there needed to be "fairness" in the awards, pointing to the difference between performers with teams of technical staff, producers and marketing budget and solo artists.

The awards, which have been running for 45 years and are known as the “Oscars of Comedy”, have four categories including the headline Best Comedy Show title, the Victoria Wood Award, the Best Newcomer Award and the Comedy Hall of Fame.

Previous winners of the Best Comedy Show award include Stephen Fry, Steve Coogan and Sarah Millican.

Nica Burns, director of the awards, wrote in a response to Mr Ferns that whether an act is unrepresented or represented is “not a consideration” in the judging process.

In the letter, Mr Ferns said: "One of these two acts is chauffeured to the start line, fresh and focused. The other has had to run to the stadium just to be allowed to compete - and when they finally get there, they discover it’s not the 100m sprint everyone else is running, but the hurdles, and they’re still expected to be just as fast.

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"They’ve been flyering their own path through the city in the rain, sorting their own press releases, funding the whole thing from savings or debt without the hope of selling enough tickets to recoup it even if they sell out, designing their own posters, finding and managing their own flyerers, booking their own venue, and often collapsing into bed each night too tired to rework a joke, let alone pitch to a journalist."

Mr Ferns, whose show Barry Ferns: My Seven Years As Lionel Richie, is about how performing at the Fringe over decades left him bankrupt, said there should be two separate categories in the awards: one for acts with professional support such as management, an external producer, or external funding and another for performers who have entirely self-produced their show.

He said: “This is not about handing out prizes for hardship. It’s about recognising the vast disparity in resources and opportunity that currently goes unspoken — but shows up clearly in the final polish of each production. When your panel or reviewers say one act had ‘sharper writing, ‘clearer ideas’, ‘More nuanced narrative’, they are often praising privilege. Because one performer had the time and support to focus fully on the art. The other had to do everything else besides.

“The Fringe is full of extraordinary comedians with no safety net. They flyer for hours in the morning and perform to half-full rooms in the evening. They are creating brilliant work under enormous pressure, often with zero guidance. And yet they are judged by the same criteria as acts whose biggest concern is the running order and checking whether they have reviewers in that day.”

Ms Burns wrote: “We want to reassure you that whether an act is unrepresented or represented is not a consideration in the Awards judging process. Treating every artist equally is fundamental to the principles of the Awards.

“Edinburgh Fringe is open access and offers the opportunity for everyone to come and show what they can do. We are a long way into this year’s legally bound and rigorous judging process, conducted in line with the guidance published on our website.”