ED2012 Awards ED2012 News

Physical comedy triumphs as Doctor Brown takes Edinburgh Comedy Award

By Chris Cooke | Published on Saturday 25 August 2012

Having won a Total Theatre Award for his visual comedy on Thursday, American performer Phil Burgers has now also taken the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for his show ‘Befrdfgth’, performed as his on-stage persona Doctor Brown.

Confirming Burgers as winner, Comedy Award chief Nica Burns said of ‘Befrdfgth’: “Doctor Brown’s show starts with fun pranks and then takes the audience on a roller coaster from inspired lunacy to pulling your heart strings. He can express emotion with a gesture, a look or an eyebrow. A breathtakingly brilliant clown with enormous charisma in a fantastic show”.

Elsewhere at the Comedy Awards prize giving, London-based Norwegian stand-up Daniel Simonsen was named Best Newcomer, while the Panel Prize went to another physical comedy show, Sam Wills’s ‘The Boy With Tape On His Face’. Burns added: “What an extraordinary year for physical comedy with two out of the three Comedy Awards being won by shows without words. Both Doctor Brown and The Boy With Tape On His Face bring physical comedy to new levels wowing audiences who enjoy joining in the fun and laughter”.