Marenghi wins Perrier Comedy award

The winner of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s most prestigious comedy award was today named as Gareth Marenghi.

He fought off competition from four other male contenders for the Perrier Comedy Award, which is traditionally one of the high points of the festival.

The other nominees were Dan Antopolski for his show Antopolski 2000, Jason Byrne, Australian-born Adam Hills (Go You Big Red Fire Engine), and Daniel Kitson (Love, Innocence and the Word Cock).

Gareth Marenghi picked up a £5,000 cheque and the opportunity to appear in London as part of the acclaimed Perrier Pick of the Fringe Season in the West End in October.

More than 160 shows were eligible this year for the Perrier award, which is celebrating its 21st anniversary.

Previous winners include Tommy Tiernan, Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner and the League of Gentlemen.

This year it came under attack from former winners Rob Newman and Emma Thompson, who called for a boycott of the award because of the involvement of Perrier’s owners, Nestle, in marketing powdered baby milk in developing countries.

Nica Burns, director and producer of the Perrier Awards, rebutted the criticism and accused the pair of being ‘‘out of touch’’.