Comedian to represent the nation at the world championships
Sam Nicoresti is to represent the UK at the World Air Guitar Championships.
The comedian will be flying to the final in Finland in August after winning the national title at the weekend, where she performed under the stage name Airlo Guv’na.
She saw off competition from the likes of Francis Lightningheart, the ‘unofficial official air Guitarist’ of The Darkness; Sven Smith, who got to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent with his air guitaring; Emma Newcombe, who holds a Guinness World Record for high-altitude obstacle racing; and former three-time UK Air Guitar Champion Guy ‘The Bandit’ Thompson.
Nicoresti – who performed Van Halen’s Eruption, considered one of the trickiest guitar solos of all time – said: ‘It will be the honour of my life to represent my people on the world stage. I have been practising for this day ever since I first heard the opening bars to Whole Lotta Love as a highly intelligent child.
‘To have taken home the trophy in my first year of competing feels surreal. I am floored. I rock for trans rights and a free Palestine.’
She reports sustaining a small neck injury during her performance but says she expects to make a full recovery in time for the final.
In taking the title, Nicoresti becomes the first – and quite possibly the last – person ever to win both the main Edinburgh Comedy Award and the UK Air Guitar title in the same year.
The eclectic judging panel at the UK championship – the first to be held in this country since 2019 – included former British Olympic gold medallist figure skater Robin Cousins, the inventor of the ‘Roborecorder’, the press counsellor for the Finnish Embassy, a professional aerial gymnast, and other air guitar champions.
The Air Guitar World Championships was established in 1996 in Oulu, a city in central Finland that has also been declared this year’s European Capital of Culture.
Nicoresti will head there for the finals on August 26 to 29, after a short visit to the Fringe revisiting her award-winning show Baby Doomer (at the Pleasance Courtyard on August 15-19), her previous show Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture at Shedinburgh on August 16, and a work-in progress at Monkey Barrel.
In Finland, she will be competing for a custom-made guitar called The Flying Finn on a stage being built over the Oulujoki River especially for the world finals.
The UK Championships were organised this year by Piers Burnell, who has previously competed under the name James Bond Double Air Seven. He said: ‘Air guitar is about confidence and jumping in at the deep end. The championships are like Eurovision on steroids.’
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Published: 30 Jun 2026
