The people have spoken and the people have been heard.

They have spoken via Twitter and they have been heard via Edtwinge.

According to the tweeting punters at this year’s Fringe, Cariad Lloyd is the top comedy act of 2011.

She finished her Fringe run with a Karma score of 95 and was a very popular winner with the audience at the recording of the final Gilded Balloon Podcast, where she was presented with her award by honorary Twinger Richard Melvin, the podcast producer and MC.

Although tired out by a Fringe run that included not only her own show, but also performances in the sketch show Men Of War, she was flattered to receive the award despite being initially taken aback by its “bold”, clenched fist design. Indeed, upon first site of the fist she said…

“If you imagine how an 18 year old closet homosexual art student would make something for their end piece, that’s what’s happening right now.”

Later in the day she had composed herself sufficiently to issue the following, 140 character acceptance speech.

We at EdTwinge are delighted that Cariad won our inaugural award.

Her show was part of the PBH Free Fringe. And, as such, her victory is also a victory for the true spirit of the Fringe.

And our award is not just the clenched fist of triumph, but also the clenched fist of unofficial, unfettered, experimental, up-and-coming solidarity.

(The humorous potential of the Foster’s / Fisters wordplay is, of course, entirely coincidental.)

The appropriateness of Cariad’s award was not lost on fellow podcast guest Hardeep Singh Kohli.

“I’m part of the organised Fringe but I’m questioning the whole nature of the Fringe…. It’s a massive, massive deal for Cariad to win that, not just for herself but for the spirit of the Fringe… We shouldn’t be paying 15 quid a ticket and queuing up outside buildings to see comedy. There’s too much comedy. The Fringe ought to be as much about theatre and experiment, and the fact that you’ve got to lose money to come here means that people with great ideas… Arthur Smith would not come to the Edinburgh Fringe if he was a young man. He couldn’t afford to. Billy Connolly would not come to the Edinburgh Fringe cos he couldn’t afford to. Ask yourself those questions. It’s amazing who doesn’t come here. And I think it’s time we started claiming our festival back. And Cariad, the fight back starts here!”

Hardeep Singh Kohli chats about the Fisters Comedy Awards with EdTwinge by Live at Gilded Balloon

Amen.

Hardeep getting it said.

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Which is the best comedy act at the Fringe?

Is it the one that the critics say it is?

There’s an award for that and it’s called the Foster’s.

Or is it the one that the audiences say it is?

Well now there’s an award for that too and it’s called the Fisters.

Cast in pure Jesmonite, the clenched fist of comedic triumph will be handed to the comedy act with the highest EdTwinge Karma rating.

(Karma is the net positivity rating for each act at the Fringe based on what audience members have said about it on Twitter.)

So The Fisters represents the views of the many rather than the views of the few. It is unofficial and therefore unfettered by politics. It is transparent and democratic. It is unpolished, rough around the edges and experimental.

It’s the one that this correspondent would want to win.

The 2011 EdTwinge Fisters award will be announced during the final Gilded Balloon Comedy Podcast recording at 12pm on Sunday 28th August. Details here.

At the time of writing there are four (yes four) comedy acts all tied on a Karma score of 94. If these circumstances the winner will be decided by the act with the highest “noise”.

(Noise is the total number of tweets mentioning an act. Only tweets expressing a positive or negative sentiment count towards Karma.)

Join us tomorrow to find out which comedy act has, in the eyes of the people that matter most, made the best fist of the 2011 Fringe.

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Have you missed us, since we were gone?

We’ve missed you, but it’s so good to see you back, even though you have put a couple of pounds on, your phone’s probably been hacked by a national newspaper in the meantime, and she probably still hasn’t found her ‘Lost Cute Boy‘ in the preceding 12 months.

No matter though, you, and perhaps more importantly we, are here now.

And this year, EdTwinge, (for it is we), Edinburgh’s favourite, most admired, emulated and edgy Fringe realtime review service is giving it large.

How?!! you ejaculate?

Well, for starters the EdTwinge engine is bigger, better, faster and more accurate than ever. Rating those Fringe acts according to the reviews you give via Twitter, as they happen.

Pumping out those twitter fuelled reviews and karma scores, by the er, score.

(As you may recall from last year; Perfomances are ranked according to how many people have tweeted about the act, and how positive the tweets have been – using an ingenious, cunning and much-admired ‘karma’ rating.)

What’s more, as last year, we’re partnering with The Guardian, (yes, The Guardian ooh!), with our embeddable, honest-to-goodness, widget, which will go live next week.

What’s more, more: We’ve also got into bed with the beautifully formed, dulcet-toned temptress that is the Live at the Gilded Balloon Podcast, (come and catch it as it’s recorded live at Noon every day at The Gilded Balloon, or catch later at your leisure on iTunes.) Hear the trailer here.

Last but not least, not forgetting, room for one more on top, our alternative tweeter and alter ego @deidrebunting. (Dedicated to getting her knickers, knockers and knackers in a twist, while bringing you the inside skinny on all things Twinge, Fringe and occasional Minge.)

So, to recap, and in case you weren’t listing at the back:

If you’re a fan and would like to start reviewing shows yourself, simply visit the Ed Twinge website and log in using your Twitter account details. Type the name of the performer you’d like to review, and enter your verdict on the act in 130 characters or fewer (the remaining 10 characters are reserved for the ‘#EdTwinge’ hashtag),

While if you’re an act: tell your fans about us on your twitter feed, while for good measure, why not also add yourself to: http://crowdlistr.com/fringe-acts-2011

While, while, if you’re a reviewer for a national tabloid newspaper please feel free to plagiarise, half-inch, or if you ultimately fancy a visit to a Commons Committee room and a get a shaving cream pie in the mush, hack into our work.

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“If you’re performing or simply visiting Edinburgh for funtimes this August and you think a webmaster is Spiderman, then you need to sort your life out.

It was barely a few years ago when I would go through the Fringe programme, correlate what I wanted to see into an Excel spreadsheet that I could sort by start time, end time and my own personal rating out of 5 to make sure I got the most out of the Fringe, but the geek within me doesn’t get that chance now thanks to the explosion of websites, apps and twitter giving me a minute-by-minute lowdown on what to see.

Having done 4 years worth of shows I am having a year off this year, a bit like Glastonbury, I have a fallow one in every five, but this does mean I can now go up without having really planned to see much, and crowdsource the shows to see and avoid on Twitter.

I use Twitter far too much, as an audience member I will be publishing 140 character reviews of each show I see after seeing it, I have just shy of 4000 followers including some well known faces – ohhhh get me. This means that if I see something that I like, 4000 people will know about it. If other people talk about it on Twitter to their followers, which they are likely to do, if they hash tag it so it appears on sites like this, that is an awful lot of free PR.

How can you take advantage of all that free PR. Simple? Use Twitter, there are a lot of shows I’m planning on seeing this year because I’ve heard about them on twitter from the the performer or their fans.

Last year I found myself hugely engaged with my audience via Twitter. Getting an instant reaction to a show is a wonderfully satisfying, if not mentally disturbing thing. The important this is not to just promote your show, but to chat to people, reply, offering insight, offer entertainment, offer interest. Something as stupid as me complaining about the lack of crackers for cheese in the shop by my flat, saw someone bring me a pack to my show, which meant not only did I sell a show ticket but I also got a free pack of crackers.

If you’re interesting enough people will care about what you’re saying, how your shows are going and hopefully come along. It’s not a one way street, interact, offer your own advice, tell some funnies.

It’s all straight forward, be a nice person, use twitter, talk about what you’re going through, it’s good therapy at the very least, but hopefully a twitter buzz will start to generate and people will see your show because of it.

Don’t go thinking you can get away without flyering though.”

Thanks Chris, you’re spot on about Twitter, it’s a game-changer and hugely useful tool for acts at the Fringe.

In EdTwinge’s not-so-humble opinion; an act that says it doesn’t do Twitter is like an act that says it don’t do group sex.

A lifestyle choice yes, and not compulsory, but both unthinkable in this day and age.

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As Cilla Black would say, “We’ve ‘ad a lorra lorra laughs”.

But as Winston Churchill would say (if this were circa 1941), “This is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning”.

Andrew Burnett

Andrew Burnett – aka Treadstone, aka The Traffic Warden, aka the CEO of SEO.

Andrew knows not only how to promote online content but also has a strong sense of what is promotable. On this basis he has turned down more clients than he has worked for. Fortunately for us he didn’t turn down Deirdre Bunting when, in her own inimitable, polite, charming, but ultimately persuasive, SIS-trained style, she recruited him for Spectre EdTwinge.

Was it the twinkle in his eye, his taste in hats or his ability to blend technology, presentation and content that turned her head? Who cares? We’re just glad that he was batting for us.

Blonde

Blonde creates and builds sexy digital stuff that helps people achieve their goals.

They designed and built the Edtwinge site.

More specifically Ricky Stevens designed it, and Fraser McCormick built it. Fraser was also responsible for the maths and the code behind the Karma engine.

Phil Adams had a laugh and arsed about.

Deirdre Bunting

Deirdre Bunting, Mrs (retired)

Deirdre’s age is not something she likes to discuss. Suffice to say she’s probably an octogenarian. During the war Deirdre was an integral part of the Enigma codebreaking team at Bletchley Park. She is still faster with her slide rule and logarithmic tables than a Quad Core processor.

Deirdre is the EdTwinge data queen and charlady. She is also an unflappable regal presence around the office. She is frequently unamused by the antics of the  whippersnappers in the team. And, yes, that does include you Mike.

Deirdre’s official biographer is Mr Chris Miller, the greatest drag-writer we’ve ever met.

Jim Wolff

Jim Wolff is a digital do-gooder and social-media whizzkid who also has a keen eye for content that people will want to talk about.

When we started our EdTwinge journey Jim was a lone Wolff, but he joined Leith as a ‘digi-planner’ en route.

He also became a father.

(Deirdre is still forlornly waiting for the invitation to become a doting Godmother).

Mike Coulter

Mike is an ideas man. He has more ideas in the average morning than most agencies have in a week.

Aggregating tweets around the Fringe was his idea.

Mike registered and launched DigitalAgency.com back in 1997. Clearly he was ridiculously ahead of his time and spent several frustrated years waiting for the rest of us to catch up.

Mike started the Edinburgh Social Media Coffee Morning (EdCM), and it was there that fate lent a hand when he found himself wedged into the corner of a Centotre booth next to our very own Deirdre Bunting. The rest, as they say, is Twistory.

Stripe

Stripe is a ’smart thinking, hard working, brand focused, strategic communications consultancy.’

And Vicki Fox is a smart thinking, hard working, brand focused, strategic communications consultant.

Vicki has ‘previous’ on brands like Yell, Nokia, Amazon and Microsoft and she used her nouse and contacts to get our story into all sorts of high profile spaces.

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So now the fringe is just about over we can reveal that secret sauce that’s kept the team running over the last 4 weeks:

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Well, those ghastly days of secrecy are long gone. I can now talk with gay abandon about my WWII code-breaking exploits until interviewers politely ask me to stop. Or, failing that, until they fall asleep on top of their microphones. (Apologies to John Humphrys for my indiscretion, there.)

The past is the past, though. Onwards and upwards. Tally-ho, and all that rot. These days, when I should be spending my time being offered piña coladas by accommodating young Barbadians in their Speedos, I’m crunching data and performing algorithmic alchemy in a cramped basement in Edinburgh. A basement, moreover, that smells of smoky bacon crisps and marijuana (Acapulco Gold, if I’m not mistaken).

Still, it’s been immense fun. Creating the edtwinge.com karma score has been every bit as rewarding as deciphering dastardly Nazi plans for world domination. Perhaps even more rewarding, if you take into account that my “rider” for this “gig” consisted of a crate of vintage sherry and a Stannah stairlift. Yes, there’s a subtle connection between those two items.

Anyway, my poppets, your great-aunt Deirdre has to sign off now. Some raw data is in need of cooking. Someone’s “bigging up” @bigcox so much, he’ll soon have to call himself @evenbiggercox.

I have been Bunting. You have been wonderful. Over and out.

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But actually presenting your act from a bog, now that deserves a standing ovation.

And that’s just what the Not/Not ensemble had planned for their performance of ‘Still Waiting for Godot’.

Just a couple of shakes from the Princes Street, the play was due to have a run until 31 August at the St James’ Public Toilets, Cathedral Lane. But apparently Samuel Beckett’s Estate raised a bit of a stink about the staging, so now they’ve moved to the more fragrant venue of C-Central on North Bridge.

Of course, as the Independent noted; toilets aren’t the only off-beat venues at the Fringe, canal boats, restaurants, hotels even medical schools are all providing unusual locations for acts.

What’s the best, worst, most creative, most awful venue you’ve been to?

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This appeal is just too cute for EdTwinge not to get whole-heartedly behind. If you can offer any help to the lovelorn lassie please do get in touch with her at her email address: lostcuteboy@hotmail.co.uk

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