Francais | English | Espanõl

Perrier Comedy Award

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Perrier Award)
Jump to: navigation, search

The Perrier Comedy Award was a prestigious award for comedy, awarded for the best comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe which was sponsored by the Perrier brand of bottled water. In 2006 it was replaced by the If.comeddies.

The prize was initially a week's run at the New End Theatre in Hampstead and a small cheque. Now winners receive £7,500 and a run in London's Theatreland. Since 1992, there has also been a "Best Newcomer" award.

In June 2006 Perrier announced it would no longer sponsor the award [1]. Its replacement, sponsored by Scottish bank Intelligent Finance, was first awarded in August 2006.

Contents

[edit] Controversy

In 1995 Perrier was bought by Nestle, whose ambivalent relationship with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes led to calls to boycott the awards, which were taken up by some fringe venues and performers on an individual basis. The takeover also led to former winners Emma Thompson and Steve Coogan calling for the awards to be scrapped. In 2001 Rob Newman led a campaign of protest against the award. [2]. On his DVD "Stand Up Comedian", Stewart Lee also issued a call for the boycotting of the award based on the practices of Nestle.

[edit] Beneficiaries since 1981

Note: the 2001 awards were notable for the campaign Baby Milk Action criticising Nestle, owners of the Perrier brand (see above).

External link - Guardian critical round-up of the 2001 shortlist.

Note: the 2002 awards were criticised for being the second consecutive year in which no female acts were shortlisted.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Perrier_Comedy_Award"
Personal tools