St Albans comedienne in line for Edinburgh Fringe award

A top comedienne whose musical parodies have racked up more than 27,000 hits on YouTube has been nominated for an award for her performance at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

St Albans-based Vicky Arlidge is one of only three females in the running for the Best Show gong in the Funny Women awards for her piece “Mum, can you wipe my bum?”.

The thrilled mum-of-two said: “It was my first time at Edinburgh which this year was officially the largest arts festival ever in the world.

“With over 45,000 performances happening over three weeks the competition was always going to be tough.”

But the 42-year-old music teacher confessed she almost did not make it to the arts festival making the nomination even sweeter: “Twelve hours before the Fringe programme deadline I didn’t have a venue.

“I’d only been offered the top of a double-decker bus at 3am and was being encouraged to leave it a year. At the last moment I was invited to perform at the fabulous C Venues at the top of the Royal Mile and I jumped at the chance.”

The winner of the Best Show award will be announced at a ceremony in London’s Leicester Square theatre today.

The funny mummy will also be performing at the Bakehouse Café, Heritage Close in October.