For the past month, Chris Cantrill has been showcasing his fringe production, Rewilding, every day during the lunchtime hours. However, when we arrange to discuss his recent achievement at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, the interview is scheduled for a lunchtime slot on the festival’s second-to-last day. Could it be true that he has won the festival’s top honor and, rather dramatically, canceled his final two performances? “I couldn’t be happier not to be at the festival today,” he shares via video call from his home in Northumberland. It turns out that the cancellation had been planned for a while, as he is set to begin work on the new series of SNL UK immediately after the fringe festival wraps up, for which he is a writer.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to not be performing my show right now,” he admits. “I have a lot of adrenaline coursing through me, and I feel like I’ve been hit by a train.” The Edinburgh Comedy Award, which was previously known as the Perrier Prize and has recognized notable talents such as Steve Coogan, The League of Gentlemen, and Frank Skinner, has been a long-awaited accolade for Cantrill, who hails from Bradford. This year marks his fourth nomination, with two as a solo performer and two alongside his comedy partner Amy Gledhill in their duo, The Delightful Sausage, who won the award in 2024. When I jokingly mention that he is one of the older recipients of the award, he responds with laughter, “Finally, a victory for the middle-aged white man! Common sense at last!”
“But in my mind, I still see myself as a youthful upstart,” he adds, and it’s easy to understand why. Cantrill only ventured into comedy at the age of 28 after a stint as a marketing manager in an office, where he felt out of place. He started performing comedy on the side, but it wasn’t until the birth of his first child in 2016 that he decided to partner with Gledhill for something different, leading to the formation of The Delightful Sausage. This wild and absurd double act, reminiscent of a Northern version of The Mighty Boosh, became an unexpected success. “We used to come to Edinburgh and hang out with comics from Glasgow, Newcastle, and the surrounding areas. Then we started receiving nominations for the award and found ourselves among ambitious twenty-somethings. I remember thinking, ‘Oh gosh, that’s a bit intense, isn’t it?’”
Cantrill has often portrayed himself as an outsider, discussing his lingering feelings of impostor syndrome during a 2022 interview with The Guardian about The Delightful Sausage. One might assume that winning the award, especially alongside nominees like Lara Ricote and Harriet Dyer, would alleviate those feelings. However, Cantrill doesn’t view it that way. He acknowledges that the Edinburgh Comedy Awards have significantly impacted his career, transitioning him from part-time performing while working in an office to pursuing comedy full-time. Yet, he insists that winning the award will not drastically change his path. “This means that when I send an email, there’s a 30% greater chance someone will respond. If I’m working on other projects, it might give them a slight boost,” he explains.
The show that earned him the accolade, Rewilding, continues to explore his experiences moving to rural Northumberland, a theme first introduced in his 2024 production, Easily Swayed. This year’s performance features characters from the fictional “Gaskill village” as they navigate a local incident involving vandalism of a historic site. The narrative subtly addresses the public outcry over the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree, evolving into a comedic whodunit where Cantrill, a city dweller still adjusting to life in the countryside and grappling with his own maturity, plays a central role.
“Rewilding examines my observations of the Sycamore Gap incident at a grassroots level,” Cantrill states. “I found it fascinating.” He ponders how such events influence communities and our attachment to trees. “One of the two men convicted of the crime was obsessed with the tree. As a child, he had a string to measure its circumference. When he was arrested, he claimed, ‘it’s just a tree.’ But I thought, you wouldn’t have braved a stormy night to cut it down if you believed it had no significance to anyone.”
Cantrill premiered Rewilding to his neighbors, many of whom are represented in the show. “They enjoy laughing at themselves,” he notes. “I hope the comedy award doesn’t alter their view of the production, or I might be hearing from their lawyers soon.” The duo of city-boy-in-the-country shows has the potential for sitcom development, yet Cantrill remains cautious about that notion. Although a long-planned sitcom for The Delightful Sausage is still in the works, he reflects that one advantage of achieving success later in life is the ability to relish the moment instead of worrying about future endeavors. “I have this award. I’m collaborating with Amy on a show for BBC Radio 4 [Icklewick FM], and it brings me immense joy. So I’m trying to focus on enjoying this moment as it unfolds,” he remarks.
Additionally, he is involved with SNL UK, which has greatly benefited British comedy and has recently secured a long-term commitment from Sky TV. Cantrill recounts the initial process of joining the creative team: “I went in for a casting as a writer, submitted a tape, performed a showcase at the Soho Theatre, and underwent multiple screen tests. They kept asking me to return. Eventually, I told the producer, ‘It’s been delightful seeing you every three weeks for the last six months. But we need to wrap this up, regardless of the outcome.’” This culminated in a writing position that he now describes as both “wonderful” and “the hardest of my life.”
“They began by giving…”
