Dublin comedian nominated for award

DUBLIN COMEDIAN David O'Doherty has been nominated for the prestigious If.Comedy (formerly the Perrier) award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

O'Doherty is one of four nominees on the shortlist for the award which carries a first prize of £8,000 and guarantees the winner a run in a London theatre later in the year.

He is joined on the shortlist by the US comedy double act, Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler and the British comics, Rhod Gilbert and Russell Kane.

O'Doherty is already the favourite to carry off the award, which will be announced at midnight on Saturday, August 23rd.

His show, called Let's Comedy!has been playing to full houses and superlative reviews at the city's Stand venue for the past three weeks.

He is the only nominee on the list who has been previously nominated for the award. O'Doherty narrowly missed out on the overall prize to the Australian comic, Phil Nichol, in 2006.

The Irish have typically fared very well in the If.Comedy/Perrier award. Previous winners include Seán Hughes, Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan while previous nominees include Owen O'Neill, Jason Byrne, Ed Byrne and Andrew Maxwell.

The son of jazz pianist Jim Doherty and the brother of playwright/scriptwriter Mark Doherty, O'Doherty added the "O" to his surname to distinguish himself from his brother Mark, who was also a comedian when David first started.