Comedy award nomination puts smile on face of Irish stand-up

Irish comedian David O'Doherty has been nominated for the Eddy award, formerly the Perrier award, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

O'Doherty is on a shortlist of five acts nominated and the winner of the prize - still the most prestigious in comedy - will be announced at midnight on Saturday.

O'Doherty's show, My Name Is David O'Doherty, at the city's Assembly Rooms at 10pm each night, has been playing to full-houses for its three-week run and attracting superlative reviews from the British press.

The Eddy award is presented annually to the act the judging panel believes the best show on the Fringe. If O'Doherty prevails on Saturday night, he will join previous Irish winners Tommy Tiernan and Dylan Moran. The other nominees are Paul Sinha, Russell Howard, the sketch team We Are Klang, and Phil Nicol.

The award has changed its name this year due to Perrier pulling its sponsorship and being replaced by an internet banking company called Intelligent Finance. Originally the award was called the "Iffy", but this was changed to "Eddy".

O'Doherty has been building up a fan base on the Fringe over the last few years. This current show has travelled to the Adelaide Comedy Festival and the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival. In October, O'Doherty begins a US tour. Regardless of whether he wins, his nomination alone guarantees him a booking in a London West End theatre in September.