Irish comedians fizz at the festival

IRISH comic Dylan Moran has won the Perrier Prize at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Moran (24) from Navan, Co Meath, is one of the youngest winners of the award, which carries a cash prize of £3,000 and guarantees a major run in a London theatre. The Perrier is the biggest stand up comedy award in the business.

There was further success for Irish comics at the Edinburgh Festival when Tommy Tiernan (27) from Navan, Co Meath, won the So You Think You're Funny (Baby Perrier) competition.

So You Think You're Funny is known as the Baby Perrier as it is awarded to first time comics who are predicted to be the stars of the future. This means there was a clean sweep for the Irish at this year's festival and in a bizarre coincidence both Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan were educated in the same school in Navan - St Patrick's Classical School.

Tommy won £1,500 for his efforts and the offer of bookings on the professional London comedy circuit.

Indeed there was a clean sweep for the Irish in the So You Think You're Funny final because the top three places went to Irish comics. Dubliners Jason Byrne (24) and John Henderson (29) came second and third respectively.

Interestingly enough, the last Irish person to win So You Think You're Funny did it in 1993. His name? Dylan Moran.

More than 120 comics from around the world contested this year's Perrier award. Moran made it onto a shortlist of six last Wednesday and at midnight on Saturday, in an extravagant ceremony, he was deemed to be the best comic performer on the fringe.

Moran became the third Irish winner of the award, after Ben Keaton in 1986 and Sean Hughes in 1990. And, judging by the experiences of previous winners, he now seems destined for a successful career in television comedy. "I'm totally shocked," he said after winning the award. "I thought I was far too young to win it."

The Irish contingent in Edinburgh celebrated a third "first" when Terry George's controversial film, Some Mother's Son, based on the 1981 Maze hunger strikes, won the Granada award for Best Gala Film at the 50th Edinburgh Film Festival last night.