‘I’m not Mr Saturday Night’: the highbrow brilliance of Ahir Shah, past winner of comedy’s top prize

Three years ago, he won the Edinburgh comedy award with a work in progress. Now he’s back with a show inspired by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Friedrich Nietzsche. Isn’t this all a bit grownup? Among past winners of the Edinburgh comedy award, few seemed less likely when the starter’s pistol fired than Ahir Shah in 2023. Not because Shah wasn’t a contender: he had been nominated twice before. But that year he arrived on the fringe with a mere work in progress, not even eligible for the award.…