Edinburgh Fringe Comedy
Reviews
We only publish reviews of our favourite shows. Below is the good stuff.
Susie McCabe: Best Behaviour ★★★★★
Gordon Aikman Theatre at Assembly George Square Tuesday, August 19th, 2025The 2024 Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow award winner Susie McCabe is back at the Edinburgh Fringe following a sell-out run at this year’s Glasgow International Comedy Festival. The past year has been a life-changing one for the comedian. We hear what lead up to a heart attack last Summer, about the lesbian ambulance drivers […]
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Gianmarco Soresi: The Drama King Tour ★★★
Monkey Barrel 3 Tuesday, August 19th, 2025US comedian Gianmarco Soresi has over one million subscribers on YouTube, nearly one million followers on TikTok and over half a million on Instagram. He’s huge in America, but can he cut it live in front of an international audience? Mostly, yes. Gianmarco talks at length about his Jewish girlfriend, dating disasters, the usual fare. […]
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2025 Last Chance Saloon with Vladimir McTavish ★★★★
Stand 4 Sunday, August 17th, 2025Popular Scottish comedian, Vladimir McTavish is an Edinburgh Fringe veteran. He’s been performing as himself and as Scotland’s favourite legendary ex-footballer cum pundit cum non-recovering alcoholic, Bob Doolally for decades. In 1994, the comedian won the Strathmore Water Comedy Award on his first appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe. The longevity comes of talent and hard […]
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Thor Stenhaug: One Night Stand Baby ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Sunday, August 17th, 2025Thor Stenhaug was conceived on a one-night stand, thus the title of the show, One Night Stand Baby. The comedian recounts his experiences as a Swedish comedian living in the UK. Cultural differences, British vagueness and Norwegian directness. There’s a very funny bit about moving into a cramped London flat share, shopping for bedding and […]
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Sharon Wanjohi: In the House ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Sunday, August 17th, 2025Sharon Wanjohi opens her show, In the House, by hawking her self-help book. Apparently, there’s not fixed cost to buying the tome, “It’s dynamic pricing. For you Gareth, £5.99. For your lovely wife, a lap dance.” The charismatic comedian reflects on personal growth, loss, and the impact of grief, drawing inspiration from her late friend […]
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Robin Grainger: People Pleaser ★★★
Stand 4 Sunday, August 17th, 2025Robin Grainger explores his chronic people-pleasing tendencies. He recounts a recent breakup, homelessness, and legal battles over his dog. There’s some life affirming stuff about going to the gym. Robin Grainger has a very bright future as a stand up. He’s doing almost everything right. It’s a baking hot evening and we’re in a small, […]
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Miss Brexit ★★★
Ermintrude at Underbelly, Bristo Square Sunday, August 17th, 2025Miss Brexit is a musical, genderqueer, satirical take on the Brexit referendum and the integration of immigrants into British society. It features a mock reality show where European contestants compete to stay in the UK. Immigrants from Switzerland (Maxence Marmy), Portugal (Ricardo Ferreira), Catalonia (Alba Villaitodo), and Spain (Shivone Dominguez Blascikova) each present their reasons […]
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Josie Long: Now Is the Time of Monsters ★★★★
Pleasance Dome Sunday, August 17th, 2025Josie Long: Now Is the Time of Monsters is a stand-up comedy show that explores matters of extinction, evolution, and politics. She discusses getting a concussion, parenting challenges, and, not to put too fine a point of it, giving a fuck about what’s happening to the planet. She’s on the left and is trying, really […]
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Jamie MacDonald: Toxic Bastard ★★★
Dram at Gilded Balloon Patter House Sunday, August 17th, 2025Jamie MacDonald discusses societal perceptions of men and disability. Men, he claims, were once perceived as powerful figures. Now they are “toxic bastards.” He reflects on his own experience of going blind, noting that he is now called, probably erroneously, a role model. MacDonald critiques the progress in accessibility, citing examples from air travel to […]
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Ivo Graham: Orange Crush ★★★★
Pleasance Grand Sunday, August 17th, 2025Ten years ago, almost to the day, I shared a drunken night with Ivo Graham and Mae Martin in a Free Fringe venue. They were both great company, two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Moreover, they were hardworking and talented beyond their years. Fringe audiences had already discovered their abilities. It was only […]
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Cerys Bradley’s Queer Tales for Autistic Folk ★★★★★
Underbelly Bristo Square Saturday, August 16th, 2025Right off the bat I’ll just say it, I really loved this show. Cerys Bradley’s Queer Tales for Autistic Folk is a chose your own story improvised comedy show. I’ve been to see it twice now, the first was a relaxed performance, fidget spinners a plenty with a few folks choosing to sit on the […]
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Jay Lafferty: Ooft! ★★★★★
The Stand 1 Saturday, August 16th, 2025In Jay Lafferty: Ooft! the comedian recounts her many experiences on the last train home. She suggests that these late-night trips are a uniquely British phenomenon. Drunk passengers, locked toilets and the ubiquitous smell of chips. A chaotic and unpredictable experience, perhaps lacking the ardour of European train journeys. Jay’s sharp observations deliver near constant […]
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Simon Munnery ★★★
The Stand Comedy Club Wednesday, August 13th, 2025Simon Munnery looks unwell. “Two weeks ago, I was in an A&E in Bedford on a drip. They let me out, so I came here.” He’s wearing a long unkempt beard and appears tired. “So, yeah, I did myself in really, never mind your weight loss drugs. Try ten cans of cider a day. I […]
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Ria Lina: Riabellion ★★★★
Cabaret Voltaire Wednesday, August 13th, 2025I recall seeing Ria Lina perform on the Free Fringe at least fifteen years ago. Nowadays, she has achieved mainstream success, appearing on just about every major British TV and radio comedy panel show. Riabellion is an intelligent, funny set. She has some great original topical material, discussing ideas that are refreshingly more free thinking […]
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Parker Callahan: Soda Pop ★★★
Assembly George Square Studios Wednesday, August 13th, 2025Comedian and musician, Parker Callahan, makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut with the show Soda Pop at the Assembly George Square Studios. Parker is a trained musician with a background in music theory and composition, but is best known as online digital creator @parkthelark Soda Pop is a multimedia, stream of consciousness journey into the mind […]
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Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits ★★★★★
Edinburgh International Conference Centre Wednesday, August 13th, 2025Born in Oxford, educated at Cambridge and now a dual UK and Australian citizen, Miriam Margolyes is a veteran of stage and screen. She describes herself as a lesbian, a non-believing Jew and an Arsenal fan. She loathes Trump, Boris Johnson and Modi. She loves India, food, politics and Italy. She has some choice words […]
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Max Fulham: Full of Ham ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Wednesday, August 13th, 2025In a Festival Fringe full of alternative acts and boundary pushing comedy, it’s nice, occasionally, to enjoy a little piece of mainstream entertainment. Full of Ham is an original, one-person, stand-up, sketch, character comedy, ventriloquist, variety show. An hour that is fast paced, slick and TV ready. Max Fulham’s approach to ventriloquism is distinctive. On […]
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Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s Improv Show ★★★★
Pleasance Grand Tuesday, August 12th, 2025Paul Merton is one of the most famous faces in Edinburgh this year. Alongside Alan Davies, Paul Sinha and Miriam Margolyes, Paul enjoys a celebrity status, rare at the Fringe. With the talented actor and comedian (and wife) Suki Webster, American improv actor, Mike McShane and pianist and long-time collaborator Kirsty Newton, they perform an […]
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Rosco McClelland: How Could Hell Be Any Worse? ★★★★
Cabaret Voltaire Tuesday, August 12th, 2025Glaswegian comedian, Rosco McClelland, won the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award this year. Rosco proudly told me in a recent interview that he had made the Big Yin laugh. And if Billy thinks your funny, then you’re funny. What happens when you’ve almost reached the top of a mountain? You’ve been climbing it […]
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Jon Gracey: Big Willy Energy ★★★★
Assembly George Square Tuesday, August 12th, 2025I first saw Jon Gracey around fifteen years ago, here at the Fringe as part of sketch group, the Beta Males. Since then, he has become a successful comedian, writer, director, YouTuber and gamemaster, you’ll see him elsewhere on the Fringe hosting the hugely popular, Blood on the Clocktower Live. Big Willy Energy is an […]
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Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon ★★★
Assembly Rooms Tuesday, August 12th, 2025Classically trained musicians, Marnina Schon and Micah O’Konis are just married, as we join them on their honeymoon, here in the Assembly Rooms, the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town. Guitar and fiddle in hand and through song, we learn that the couple are not as conventional as one might first assume. The folk-pop anthem and […]
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Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Howling at the Moon ★★★★
Monkey Barrel 1 at Monkey Barrel Comedy Tuesday, August 12th, 2025The podcast, Here Comes the Guillotine (which Christopher Macarthur-Boyd presents with Frankie Boyle and Susie McCabe) is a favourite in our household. It was fascinating to me that many of the audience queuing at Cabaret Voltaire had come to see Howling at the Moon on the back of that. A quietly confident stand-up set, the softly […]
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Andy Parsons: Please #@!$ Off to Mars ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Tuesday, August 12th, 2025Fans of the former Mock the Week star will thoroughly enjoy this new hour from Andy Parsons. His TV persona is his stage persona. This capacity crowd at the Plesance Cabaret Bar lapped this show up. The comedian is likeable and warm. While he does engage with the audience, picking on one individual in particular […]
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How to Kill a Mouse ★★★
Just the Tonic at the Mash House Tuesday, August 12th, 2025Comedian and scientist, Alex Berr, spent her adolescence studying a rare form of brain cancer. Cancer research, even in this enlightened age, seems to involve torturing and killing mice. We learn that medical breakthroughs happen with animals all the time. Alex herself actually cured a form of cancer in mice, a massive achievement, but as […]
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Tamar Broadbent: Plus One ★★★
Laughing Horse @ The Counting House Monday, August 11th, 2025Tamar Broadbent: Plus One, is a musical comedy show about fertility tests, failed birth plans and giving up alcohol for nine months. This is a show that any parent, especially mothers, will relate to. The jokes are so grounded in reality, that as an audience, we found ourselves nodding along rather than laughing. The song […]
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Stuart Laws Is Stuck ★★★★
The Tron at Monkey Barrel Comedy Monday, August 11th, 2025Stuart Laws is Stuck, is a theatrical hour of stand up comedy, and really rather good. Everyone’s dealt with it: first, a bad breakup; then, become a puffin island caretaker; suddenly, you’re implicated in a puffin murder. The comedian is attempting to retell the story of when he was the caretaker of an island of […]
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Sikisa: Serving Justice ★★★★
The Tron at Monkey Barrel Comedy Monday, August 11th, 2025Sikisa is a stand-up comedian and immigration lawyer, with a passion for watching professional wrestling. As she hits her mid-30s and realises she’s got no kids and no relationship, the comedian attempts to come up with some sort of life plan. Sikisa: Serving Justice is a show that is joke heavy and plotted loosely. The […]
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Seaton Smith: Trauma Bonding ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Monday, August 11th, 2025Acclaimed US comedian Seaton Smith’s debut Edinburgh show, Trauma Bonding is a fearless, entertaining dive into the pursuit of dreams, the absurdity of life, and the ridiculous ways we all cope with chaos. This is a traditional stand-up set from an experienced professional comedian who knows his craft. The award-winning New Yorker is a big […]
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Olaf Falafel Asks: Orange You Glad? ★★★★★
Laughing Horse @ The Pear Tree Monday, August 11th, 2025Olaf Falafel is an author, illustrator and a stand-up comedian. His stupidly named comedy shows are always packed with sublime gags, including the ones that won him Dave’s Joke of the Fringe. In Olaf Falafel Asks: Orange You Glad? is an hour of laughter. Everything he says, every movement he makes, has the sole purpose […]
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Ian Smith: Foot Spa Half Empty ★★★★
Monkey Barrel 1 Monday, August 11th, 2025Ian Smith returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Foot Spa Half Empty, another hour of shouting into the wind about everything he’s stressed about – big or small. Only this time the wind answers back. Ian’s lived in London now, for as long as he has in the North of England, but he is trying […]
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Paul Sinha: 2 Sinha Lifetime ★★★★★
The Stand 3 Monday, August 11th, 2025In Paul Sinha: 2 Sinha Lifetime, the stand-up comedian, broadcaster, quizzer and author, celebrates thirty years in comedy. His journey has certainly been dramatic. Paul began performing stand-up while working as a junior doctor. Since his 2004 Edinburgh debut, Aspects of Love, Actually, he quit medicine, fell in and out of love with a borderline […]
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Alan Davies: Think Ahead ★★★★★
Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower Friday, August 8th, 2025You already know Alan Davies. He has one of the most recognisable faces on British television. Known for his performance as the hero of David Renwick’s popular, long-running TV series Jonathan Creek (BBC), and as a permanent panellist on QI (BBC). His talk show for comedy nerds like me, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (DAVE), […]
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Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself ★★★★
Assembly Roxy Friday, August 8th, 2025Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself is a one-person theatre show, starring Manchester based comedian Edy Hurst. It blends storytelling, absurdist humour, and playful takes on topics like neurodivergence, injustice, superstition, and personal identity. There is a recurring call back to, checks notes, The Vengaboys. There is too much Vengaboys. […]
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Joz Norris: You Wait. Time Passes. ★★★★★
Pleasance Dome Friday, August 8th, 2025You Wait. Time Passes. is a new absurdist comedy show about ambition, obsession and closure. In the three years since his last Edinburgh Fringe hour, Joz discovered his true purpose and he returns now to share his completed work, his raison d’être, the thing that will define not just his work, but his very existence. […]
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Jacob Nussey: Primed ★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Friday, August 8th, 2025In Jacob Nussey: Primed, Mansfield’s own spills the secrets of working in an Amazon warehouse. The deadpan comedian unpacks the absurdities and chaos of warehouse life, exploring preconceptions, job interviews, stealing, and why things could always be worse. The show explores the realities of minimum wage work while tackling issues around working class aspiration, workplace […]
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Lachlan Werner: WonderTwunk ★★★★★
Pleasance Dome Friday, August 8th, 2025Following his sell-out cult-hit horror-comedy debut, Voices Of Evil, Lachlan Werner returns to the Edinburgh Fringe. This time he’s armed with super-human strength, a sea-lion, a macabre ringmaster and enough voices to fill a big top. So step right up, if you dare to witness a solo sideshow SO strong, it’s dangerous in the dark […]
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Lil Wenker: Bangtail ★★★★
Upstairs at Pleasance Courtyard Friday, August 8th, 2025Following performances in Adelaide and Melbourne, Lil Wenker’s 2024 Edinburgh Fringe show BANGTAIL returns to the Pleasance. The story features a cowboy, the baddest in the town, whose title is taken by another, badder gunslinger, who happens to be an audience member in the front row. Somehow, a mysterious influence guides Alan toward a career […]
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Lily Blumkin: Nice Try ★★★
Gilded Balloon Patter House Friday, August 8th, 2025What really happens when you try your best and you don’t succeed? Lily Blumkin is an award-winning writer and performer on the staff of The Daily Show – one would argue that sounds like a successful person. But Lily wants to be greatest comedian in the world. As soon as she blows up on TikTok, […]
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The Mayor and His Daughter: A Genuine Appreciation of Comedy ★★★
Assembly Roxy Friday, August 8th, 2025The Mayor and his Daughter confront a crisis in their village. Their discovery of a Russell Howard’s Good News box set inspires them to restore their community through comedy. The show is a meta blend of sketches, songs, and rituals that reimagine classic comedic tropes. It’s experimental and extremely rewarding when it pays off. Not […]
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Eric Rushton: Innkeeper ★★★★
Hive 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy Wednesday, August 6th, 2025Eric Rushton is an award winning comedian, writer and actor. He was the first recipient the Channel Four Sean Lock award in 2023. As a kid, Eric was cast in his primary school nativity play, despite, he says, absolutely smashing it, he immediately retired from being a child actor. But now as a young adult, […]
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Luke Wright: Pub Grub ★★★★
Pleasance Dome Wednesday, August 6th, 2025Pub Grub is written and performed by poet Luke Wright. It’s a poetry recital presented as a music gig that thinks it’s a stand up show. Luke Wright is the people’s laureate, the Brit Pop poet the bastard child of John Cooper Clark and Stuart Lee. Luke explains that it’s called Pub Grub because he […]
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Stamptown ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard Wednesday, August 6th, 2025Stamptown is a full blown comedic riot where the audience becomes part of the madness. The line between performer and spectator vanishes in a whirlwind of unpredictability, absurdity and cathartic chaos. Led by the unhinged Jack Tucker, the sweat soaked alter ego of comedian Zack Zucker Stamptown’s cast is a handpicked crew of professional chaos […]
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Sectioned – Schrödinger’s Mental Health ★★★★★
Laughing Horse @ West Nic Records Tuesday, August 5th, 2025From the press release to Poppy Radcliffe’s show, Sectioned – Schrödinger’s Mental Health “A mental health service that works should be measured in its ability to make itself redundant, yet year on year waiting lists increase, the number of admissions to mental wards increase, the number of suicides in hospitals increase and the victims are […]
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The Comic Strip Presents… ★★★
Jus the Tonic Nucleus Monday, August 4th, 2025Remember those early days of Channel 4 when it was really good? Those of a certain vintage will also recall the 80s explosion of alternative comedy, the likes of Adrian Edmondson, Peter Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Channel 4 put those folks on screen on its opening night, presenting the Famous Five […]
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Rosa Garland: Primal Bog ★★★
Assembly Roxy Monday, August 4th, 2025Most of the audience really enjoyed this performance of Rosa Garland: Primal Bog. I was in the minority. The clown appears naked on stage and covers themselves in paint. That’s more or less it. What on earth is going on? According to the press release, which I read post show, Rosa Garland says: “Finding your […]
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Hal Cruttenden: Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It ★★★★
Cabaret Bar at Pleasance Courtyard Monday, August 4th, 2025Hal Cruttenden reflects on his life, post-divorce. Though single, the middle-aged comedian isn’t lonely. To his and his ex’s surprise, women still find him attractive. Back on the dating scene after 25 years, it turns out that he’s just as neurotic, immature, and naïve as he was in his youth. But what’s next? A new […]
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Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer ★★★★
Bunker Two at the Pleasance Courtyard Sunday, August 3rd, 2025Sam Nicoresti is a multi award winning comedian from Birmingham, England. I’ve heard great things about Sam’s previous shows, and Baby Doomer was a nominee for best show at the Leicester Comedy Festival this year. So I had very high expectations, and I was not disappointed. Baby Doomer, explains the comedian, is a show about […]
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Tiff Stevenson: Post-Coital ★★★★
Hive 1 at Monkey Barrel Comedy Sunday, August 3rd, 2025Comedian, writer and actor, Tiff Stevenson is a recognisable face to UK audiences, a regular on pretty much every TV panel show on British radio and television. They’re also a serious actor across dramas on BBC, ITV and Netflix. In Tiff Stevenson: Post-Coital, the comedian returns to what most comedians love doing best, alone in […]
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Tape Face: 20 ★★★★
Pleasance Grand Sunday, August 3rd, 2025Twenty years ago, comedian, actor, street performer and circus star Sam Wills created The Boy with Tape on His Face, a traditional silent comedy clown act updated for contemporary appeal. Five years later, The Boy made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in a small room in the Gilded Balloon. These days, the New […]
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Narin Oz: Inner Child(ish) ★★★★
The Mash House Saturday, August 2nd, 2025I am an unashamed Narin Oz fan. I have been for years. The star of Channel Four’s Girls Go Trolling has the funny bones of some of the best to have ever done it. Inner Child(ish) is apparently very loosely based on the Tom Hanks film Castaway, a movie I haven’t seen. Honestly, I don’t […]
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Bella Hull: Doctors Hate Her ★★★★
Hive 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy Saturday, August 2nd, 2025Bella Hull takes on the occult, or possibly Bella takes to the occult. It’s hard to tell. It’s a well researched funny hour about all the things that sceptics disavow. What if witches are real? Does Bella believe in magic? Not sure. This is a comedy show, and the subject, of course, is played for […]
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Lou Wall: Breaking the Fifth Wall ★★★★
Monkey Barrel 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy Friday, August 1st, 2025Stand up comedians are all liars. In a break with comedy tradition, Australian comedian Lou Wall admits it, then proves it. Lou’s televised appearance at the Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala went globally viral, their set: a story about trying to flog a bed frame on Facebook Marketplace, was, apparently, viewed over 50 million times in […]
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Marc Jennings: Bread and Circuses ★★★★
Monkey Barrel 4 Friday, August 1st, 2025Marc Jennings was proclaimed Scottish Comedian of the Year in 2019. Back then reviewers, industry types and comedy nerds already knew the Glaswegian had the comedy chops, the ‘it’ factor. What is it? everybody recognises it. That intangible, ‘it’ that makes a great singer, painter, actor – whatever – any artist – a star. An […]
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Milo Standards: Penis de Milo ★★★★★
The Banshee Labyrinth (Cinema Room) Saturday, August 31st, 2024Traditionally, Drag Kings are women performers who adopt masculine attire and embody male gender stereotypes. Drag has been part of the British entertainment scene since the days of the nineteenth century music hall. Interestingly, in China, women took to the stage to perform as men as early as 700 CE. The great drag stars of […]
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Sam See: And I Can’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore ★★★
The Counting House (The Lounge) Saturday, August 31st, 2024And I Can’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, details the true story of a comedian moving from his birth country of Singapore to his adopted home of London, England. This is a show about fitting in. How can an openly gay comedian survive in a country where he is not permitted to exist? […]
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Kyle Ayers presents: Hard to Say ★★★
Just The Tonic at the Caves (Just up the Road) Saturday, August 31st, 2024Hard to Say chronicles Kyle Ayers’ ongoing battle with Trigeminal Neuralgia, a crippling pain disorder often referred to as “Suicide Disease”. With daily flare-ups causing excruciating pain in his head and face, Kyle aims to find the humour in his situation, no matter how painful it is. The comedian describes his journey from initial symptoms, […]
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Becky Fury: Great British C*nts ★★★★
City Café (Las Vegas) Saturday, August 31st, 2024Becky Fury discusses her discomfort with fashionable identities. And she chooses to explore an unfashionable one – being British. She critiques the left-wing middle class’s distain of patriotism and the insularity of British politics. Describing her relationship with Britain as a “pansexual, non-monogamous situationship,” Becky emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural origins and suggests a […]
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Stuart Laws Has to Be Joking? ★★★★
Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive) Saturday, August 31st, 2024Some folks have that extra ‘it’ – the intangible that separates the greats from the rest of us. They see the world a little differently, but can successfully communicate offbeat ideas through their chosen art. In Stuart Laws Has to Be Joking? the comedian reveals that he has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). […]
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Chelsea Birkby: This is Life, Cheeky Cheeky ★★★
Just The Tonic at the Caves (Just Out of the Box) Saturday, August 31st, 2024Right at the top of the show, the comedian introduces herself as a worldwide top 0.1% fan of The Cheeky Girls. Best known (only known?) for their catchy 2002 debut single, Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum), the Romanian identical twin sisters Gabriela and Monica Irimia are apparently still going as a duo. Anyway, Chelsea Birkby […]
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Raul Kohli: Raul Britannia ★★★★
Just the Tonic at Cabaret Voltaire - Just the Liberty Room Saturday, August 31st, 2024Raul Kohli was born to a Hindu Indian father and a Sikh Singaporean mother. Raised in a Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, in the northeast of England, his best mate was Pakistani Muslim. Raul has since lived all over the UK and has developed a deep appreciation for our nation’s cultural diversity. While his show was being performed in […]
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6 Steps To Success From The “Award Winning” Dave Chawner ★★★★
Laughing Horse at the Counting House - The Loft Thursday, August 15th, 2024In the age of AI, is it possible to review a show without actually seeing it? Dave Chawner agreed to send me a recording of his show, 6 Steps To Success From The “Award Winning” Dave Chawner along with the Press Release. I then fed both to ChatGPT, with instructions to create a three hundred […]
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Stephanie Laing: Rudder ★★★
Udderbelly, George Square - The Wee Coo Thursday, August 15th, 2024Stephanie tells us that she can be a tad clumsy. Apparently, on occasion, she’s been known to fall over her own feet. Perhaps she’s an unlikely recipient of arts funding for dance classes. Yet, here we are, in a show that seeks to blend stand up, dance, and er, emotional cartoon bears. We delve into […]
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Sid Singh: American Coloniser ★★★★★
Cabaret Voltaire Wednesday, August 14th, 2024Sid is half British, half Indian, half American “…and I really like saying it that way.” Or as my pedantry English brain insists on putting it, a person from the USA, of Indian descent, living here in the UK. In American Coloniser the comedian presents a fascinating and very funny show about our collective past […]
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Will Owen: Like, Nobody’s Watching ★★★★
Assembly George Square - The Crate Wednesday, August 14th, 2024Will Owen is obsessed with pop culture on television. Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Perhaps this fandom reached its peak as he attended a taping of Loose Women. It’s an ITV show (which I’ve never seen) which apparently features celebrity women on a panel debating […]
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Vlad Ilich: Vladislav, Baby Don’t Hurt Me ★★★
Pleasance Courtyard - Attic Tuesday, August 13th, 2024“Hello. My name is immigrant” UK based, North Macedonian comedian Vlad Ilich makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut. He has a lifelong obsession with chess, and the boardgame serves as the shows anchor. Introduced to chess by his family, Vlad quickly climbs the ranks, defeating his relatives one by one, from his grandma to his dad. […]
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Spring Day: Exvangelical ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard - Beside Tuesday, August 13th, 2024Spring Day, an American comedian now based in the UK, brings her eighth solo show, Exvangelical, to the Edinburgh Fringe stage. Spring has an upbeat, smart and very funny comedic style, and she shares a deeply personal story. Growing up in a rural suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, USA, the comedian dreamed of being on […]
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John Meagher: Big Year ★★★★
Gilded Balloon Patter House - Blether Tuesday, August 13th, 2024John Meager was born on a small island off the West Coast of Ireland but grew up on a working class Northern Irish housing estate. Being raised a Catholic in a 1980s warzone, the comedian recounts the survival lessons his dad taught him – how to handle people pointing guns at you, how to cope […]
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Njambi McGrath ★★★★
Gilded Balloon Patter House - Blether Tuesday, August 13th, 2024Njambi McGrath examines the notion of giving – and the Western world’s obsession with charity for Africa. People give, says the comedian, for various reasons – sympathy, guilt and the avoidance of tax. There are around four thousand international charities in Africa raising money for the provision of water, food, healthcare, and so on. Africa […]
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Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows ★★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard - Attic Sunday, August 11th, 2024In The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, Abby Wambaugh presents a one-person variety performance. This is a grand tour of comedy. Playfully navigating the sub genres of comedic live performance, Abby weaves together storytelling, classic stand up, absurdism, impressions, prop comedy, friendly audience participation and more. We hear the phrase ‘something for everybody’ banded […]
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Seymour F*cking Mace You C*nts! ★★★★
Stand Comedy Club - Stand 2 Sunday, August 11th, 2024The Stand 2 is a tiny space that looks like someone’s front room. I think it probably is someone’s front room from September to July, but I digress. Some comedians fit a specific space, and after seeing Seymour Mace several times at the Fringe over the years, this space is his. The curtains are open, […]
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Susie McCabe: Merchant of Menace ★★★★
Assembly George Square Studios Sunday, August 11th, 2024I’ve been a fan of Susie McCabe’s since I saw her perform at Edinburgh’s New Town Bar over ten years ago – and she was very funny then. It says something rather wonderful about our society that everyday stories of lesbian relationships, once considered niche, are now heard out with the comedy clubs and gay […]
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Barbaren Barbies: A Wild Women Circus ★★★★
Udderbelly, George Square Sunday, August 11th, 2024The Wild Women Circus are Vanessa Lee Baisch, Sarah Bleasdale, Sarah Lindermayer, Sari Mäkelä and Nicole Ratjen. This Berlin based all-women international circus troop present a comedic hour that sums up the Edinburgh Fringe itself – a modern variety show. The vibe is fast and fun and, dare I say, sexy. The women are all […]
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Dr Jo Prendergast: The Cool Mum ★★★
Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose - Coorie Sunday, August 11th, 2024Dr. Jo Prendergast is a stand up comedian, child psychiatrist, and author from New Zealand, making her Edinburgh Fringe debut. She presents a show, she says, for anyone who has ever been a parent or a child. Offering a parody of a conventional personal development seminar, The Cool Mum draws from the comedian’s experience parenting […]
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Showstopper! The Improvised Musical ★★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard - Grand Sunday, August 11th, 2024Each night marks the opening of the town’s hottest new musical, but there’s a catch… the writer hasn’t composed a single note and needs your assistance. A musical is created on the spot, using suggestions from the audience. It’s a wee bit tricky to write a meaningful review of a fully improvised musical show. This […]
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Tom Stade: Risky Business ★★★★
Stand Comedy Club - Stand 1 Saturday, August 10th, 2024The Canadian comedian and long time Edinburgh resident presents as a traditional shouty North American comic. Big, powerful, alpha male, mic at the chest. If you didn’t already know Tom Stade’s schtick, you’d be forgiven for anticipating an hour of my wife is so fat… material. In fact, this is a joke heavy hour of […]
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