Edinburgh Fringe reviews round-up: All the nominees for the best show award

Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2026 best show nominees The Standard Andy Beill , Senior Editor | Bruce Dessau in Edinburgh 1 minute ago COMMENTS With this year’s Edinburgh Fringe almost at a close, the nominees have been chosen for the most coveted prize in UK comedy . See what to expect from all six nominees for best show ahead of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards gala on Saturday. Reviews by Andy Beill of shows performed 26-28 August, 2026.

Li Jin Hao poster at Edinburgh Fringe Andy Beill A large model moon/sun hangs above the stage, beautifully illuminated at different points throughout the show with no cause for concern that you’ve not brought along your recently purchased eclipse glasses.

The sun and the moon is part of the symbolism Li Jin Hao - born in China, brought up in Singapore, and now living in the UK - keeps coming back to throughout the show: the flick between then and now, being here or there.

The more philosophical or poetically minded may appreciate these bigger themes. But the laughs come from the smaller subjects; the cute whimsy and surrealism of the everyday, well crafted and confidently performed. ★★★½☆

This shaggy-dog story is part Tim Robinson’s Friendship, part Chris the sheep in Father Ted - lite

Chris Cantrill poster at Edinburgh Fringe Andy Beill Chris Cantrill is up for best show for the second time as a solo performer, having previously also been nominated twice for The Delightful Sausage, his double act alongside Amy Gledhill. More recently he’s worked as a SNL UK writer - but he won’t be talking about that besides the fact he’s happily been welcomed into the young girls and gays group on the team by ‘always having a charged power bank’.

In his latest show, Rewilding, he talks about ageing into his 40s, willingly shedding his now tediously middle-aged friends, and the characters he encounters living in a remote rural village where people take matters into their own hands.

He eventually gets round to sharing what he found when he investigated an act of vandalism within the community. In truth this doesn’t really offer the show the climax that the early laughs had started building to, which would be especially suited to fans of Sophie Willan or Lucy Beaumont’s brand of humour.

This shaggy-dog story (as many reviews before this one have aptly described it) is part Tim Robinson’s Friendship, part Chris the sheep in Father Ted - lite. ★★★☆☆

A tiresome number of crude jokes and shouting belies the strength of some genuinely top rate gags elsewhere in the set

Dan Tiernan poster at Edinburgh Fringe Andy Beill Dan Tiernan berates a family unwittingly sitting in the front row who are yet to break into laughter. “They’ve not seen me before - they think I’m going to leave it there,” he says gleefully. And indeed he does continue to return to them, sometimes uncomfortably to the detriment of the rhythm of the show, so clearly is it irking him that he’s getting big laughs from most of the room but not the three people out of the corner of his eye.

It’s not unreasonable that not everyone will get on board with Dan Tiernan’s performance style so I doubt this is a one-off.