Steve Bennett reports from the Richard Pryor Award presentation. It's party week in Edinburgh now. Everyone knows if their show has hit or flopped, and are celebrating or drowning their sorrows at some suitably rowdy do.
Comedy agency Avalon got the ball rolling on Tuesday with a do in the plush Hallion Club, the new private members venue where Christian Slater held his birthday party earlier in the festival.
Last night was the announcement of the first Richard Pryor award winner, and the second night where the Sea Breeze cocktails were flowing freely, meaning both liberally and without charge. It's a lovely vodka-based concoction and tastes almost non-alcoholic: like getting drunk on Sunny Delight.
The Richard Pryor award has attracted its fair share of controversy: Do ethnic comics need to be judged on a different standard to other acts? Clearly not, as Reginald D Hunter's second appearance on the Perrier shortlist shows.
He wasn't among the Pryor nominees, and no wonder since he's been the most outspoken critic of this affirmative action, but Stephen K Amos, Danny Bhoy, Matt Blaize and Egyptian-American comic Ahmed Ahmed were. They were all in attendance, practicing their 'graceful loser' faces. Pryor's wife, Jennifer Lee, was there too and was genuinely delighted and overwhelmed to be at the Fringe.
She read out his praise for the comics, and they in turn paid gushing tributes to him. Remarkably, it was all heartfelt, unlike some of the insincere back-slapping prevalent at most showbiz dos.
Ahmed seemed genuinely surprised to be chosen as the winner, though of all the nominees he probably tackles his ethnicity most directly. This appealed to Pryor, who judged the shortlist by watching tapes of their act. His multiple sclerosis prevented him from flying to Edinburgh.
The award was prompted by the re-release of Pryor's seminal stand-up performance Live In Concert on DVD. Jennifer promised the award would be back next year and with a mysterious second category she remained tight-lipped about.
Looking forward to it, especially if they serve Sea Breezes again. Cheers! Oh, and a few celebrity spots from the past couple of days: Fran from Travis in the Assembly Rooms bar, Jimmy Carr flyering for Robin Ince in the Pleasance Courtyard and David Baddiel watching Russell Brand's show about how he overcame heroin addiction.
