Jimmy can often be heard enthusing about how important the Edinburgh Fringe was (in the development of his comedy career) and encourages wannabe comics to go up to spend August in Scotland, instead of heading for a summer holiday.
Officially his first “performance” at the Fringe was 2001 (here) when his revue show (with Gervais, Merchant & Ince) was officially listed within the programme.
He’d said that 2000 was his first visit (to see what it was all about) and that he’d slept in his car to save money (details here).
What I’ve not heard him reference before is the comedy competition that he had entered, at Fringe 2000.
The Competition
The Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award was a search for new talent that started in 1994 and was finally wrapped up in 2002.
It attracted over 1,000 entrants every year because, as well as a cash prize, the winner would get the chance to appear at Montreal (Just For Laughs), the comedy festival in Melbourne and also a UK University venue booking (Carlsberg sponsored). That’s one heck of a prize for what, on the surface, looks like a common or garden newspaper award.
The Final
The final (at The Pleasance) was on August 22nd 2000 and Chris Addison hosted.
It was promoted as “judged by a star-studded panel” and would have 10 comics competing. A piece in The Telegraph (here) identified two of the panel of judges as being Michael Barrymore and Harry Hill.
The finalists were given 7 minutes each and were:
- Jimmy Carr
- Andy Zaltzman
- Justin Moorhouse
- Francesca Martinez
- Karl Theobald
- Mat & Mackinnon
- Jason John Whitehead
- Steve Day
- Markus Birdman
- Tom Nicholls
Francesca triumphed. Having seen her on Live at the Apollo etc. I hadn’t realised that she’d been around for so long.
What the press said…
As with the Gaslight Awards 2000 (here) I only initially found details of this award buried within very old copies of local press (which I can only view through the British Newspaper Archive – see here).
The Stage said Francesca (who has Cerebral Palsy) had “funny and self-mocking material” that they described as “adequate, but not outstanding”.
The piece described Jimmy as “extremely solid” and Andy Zaltzman as “very impressive” and said that the two were “probably better comedians” and both identified as “going on to greater things”.
It continued “With a bemused upper-class appearance, Carr simply doesn’t have a duff gag in a brilliantly witty set. His quick-fire in-and-out mutters kept the audience eager and he showed he has real talent for greater things”.
Mat & Mackinnon were described as “energetic” and “with great audience rapport”.
Jason John Whitehead apparently had “fairly good material” but “overall was a little lacklustre”.
Tom Nicols was said to have given an excellent performance but that the “laughs were not huge”.
Justin Moorhouse “seemed quite critical of himself, but did well enough”. He’s still on the UK circuit and Jimmy appeared on his podcast in 2021 (here).
Steve Day “waxed lyrical about his deafness” and was “pretty good” (also still performing).
Markus Birdman I’d not heard of before but he was described as “infectious, likeable and popular with the audience”. Another one still on the circuit – video here.
Finally, Karl Theobald is described as “angst-ridden” and the reviewer felt one of his pieces needed to be shortened.
The Stage review ends with “a good standard this year, though I think, perhaps, not the best comedian won”.
The Telegraph piece (by Sarah Sands, here) noted that Barrymore had said that he’d welled up when Francesca left the stage because a comedian’s job is “to make you laugh and make you cry”. Not sure I agree with that 2nd part…
Francesca was described as having “star quality that was breathtaking” and Andy Zaltzman as seeking “validation by pointing to his passing resemblance to Art Garfunkel”.
Sarah continued with “another extremely funny contestant, Jimmy Carr, tried to make his very middle classness a sort of adversity”.
She describes Karl Theobald as being a “talented man” that “relied on imagination”. I hadn’t realised Karl was in a show that I loved (Green Wing) with Stephen Mangan (short clip here). He also wrote on 2 episodes of S1 of Lee Mack’s The Sketch Show (here) which Jimmy contributed material to (for 3 episodes of S2).
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