Academy Award winner Julia Roberts returns to Broadway in Bess Wohl’s SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS alongside Tony and Emmy Award winner Sarah Paulson. SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS marks Roberts’ Broadway return since THREE DAYS OF RAIN in …
The ex-marketing manager’s win, for his spoof Sycamore Gap-inspired whodunnit Rewilding, arrives just as he’s gearing up for a new season of hit sketch show SNL UK – which he calls ‘…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghNorris swaps her larger-than-life Farm Fatale persona for something more autobiographical in this easygoing musical comedyKatie Norris is on a familiar trajecto…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe Chicken Shop Date co-writer gives a gossipy, erudite account of his relationship with how he looks in this assured debutAt a fringe noticeable for the polis…
Nominated in three previous years, the rambunctious standup – one half of The Delightful Sausage – wins the prize for his show Rewilding while Marty Gleeson is named best newcomerThe ann…
Monkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghCantrill shares his struggles descending into middle age and his awkward interactions with fellow villagers in a fun showNow a four-time nominee for the Edinbu…
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghBehind this grab-bag of papier-mache heads and walkies banter lies a celebration of simply talking to one anotherFirst came Ricky Gervais’s cynical cats; now here …
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Hopping from a PowerPoint on hairlines to songs about favourite motorways, Towelling’s set is fun but drops a stitch or twoThe route from the classroom to th…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIn his award-nominated show, the standup ruminates on myth and memory with some lovely observations‘There’s a moment when that ends,” muses Li Jin Hao, �…
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Even one of her own bugs takes the mic as the wild card comedian delivers these disconnected bitsThere’s an excellent joke about art school in Marty Gleeson�…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWatching a man labouring to strike up conversations in the smoking area of a nightclub proves not just funny but also touching and upliftingEver pretended to us…
A shortlist rich in kookiness sees Lara Ricote tipped for the main prize, alongside returning nominees and a new generation of eccentric fringe actsThe shortlist has been announced for the a…
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh The comedian delivers a tour of his peripatetic childhood, with stops for risque gags and to ponder his resemblance to a ‘porn Super Mario’Comedy fans have…
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghThis show about Olesker’s lengthy journey to becoming an Orthodox Jew in order to marry his partner is both elegant and nuanced‘I would do anything for love,” …
Summerhall, Edinburgh An endurance test for a standup already starring in a fringe hit, this show resurrects the man who drilled the first ever cross-Channel swimmer‘Who are these people t…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThis motormouth Australian comic fires off tart remarks and home truths then explains why she over-identifies with the Titanic‘No hugging, no learning” was …
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith icky and edgy jokes, the comedian offers an authentic inquiry into her childhood in her sophomore showA standup’s debut show usually tells us who they ar…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghFrom Jacob Rees-Mogg as a child to Frank Sinatra’s ego in space, this is a wild collage of clowning and performance artThere are plenty of works-in-progress o…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghAre they besties, housemates or more than that? Lara Ciulli and Riana White keep the audience guessing in a gripping hour of comedyFifteen years ago in this roo…
Monkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe frenetic Mancunian turns to quartz in search of inner peace – but his standup remains as crude and self-loathing as everI’ve seen two prominent comedia…
Underbelly, Cowgate, EdinburghAshley Blair and Drew Reilly send up gen Z anomie with hardcore ditties about awkward dinners, megachurches and centaur boyfriends‘How to feel whole in an emp…
From Taiwanese steampunk dance to Australian climate comedy, here are 13 quick-fire fringe reviewsAll our Edinburgh festival reviewsFor new perspective on the strange ways we behave, we all …
Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Heckling herself in character as the Greek goddess, the standup delivers an intelligent, in-your-face show about sex and expectationsYou can’t argue with the open…
Summerhall, EdinburghIntertwining his diaries with Anne Frank’s gives Brine a tough job, but his passionate performance and force of will combine in a heady brewIt’s a hell of a swing to…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThis fantastic comic play from the Radio 4 trio unleashes a torrent of great gags and illusionsHorror pastiche has a proud lineage at this festival – for exam…
Assembly George Square, EdinburghThe US comic’s troupe tell the tale of a special guest’s romantic encounter, in this case Travis’s frontman – but their incoherence makes for a scatt…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghEmotionally open and a little weirder than usual, the Glaswegian comic updates us on his recent marriageWhen SNL UK hit big earlier this year, it made stars of …
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 grow…
Whether Elf Lyons’ high-concept Hollywood throwback, Kate Dehnert’s disorientating rave or Ele McKenzie’s Bob Dylan fantasy, heartbreak fuels fine humour at the festivalBreakups. We’…
Summerhall, EdinburghConnor Dariol, AKA Australian clown Conk, does exactly what he claims – and with such skill and relentless pep we are helpless to resistWhen I saw the title to the Aus…
Monkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghA show about maturing and learning to listen to life’s signals doesn’t stint on tomfoolery and has some great gagsWhat a rich and enjoyable show this is fr…
Monkey Barrel, EdinburghThere are shades of Vic and Bob as well as Frank Sidebottom when this embittered git with bloodshot eyes holds courtEvery room in Edinburgh has its ghosts, and its pa…
Monkey Barrel, EdinburghThe Saturday Night Live UK writer, who is one-third of the sketch troupe Sheeps, balances sincerity and shtick in a show with big laughsThere are reasons to take up s…
CabVol @ Monkey Barrel, EdinburghA fringe fling is the backbone for a mischievous set with deft jokes and a fresh perspective but some of this material needs another draftAyo Adenekan’s as…
Two Edinburgh fringe shows feature savage send-ups of reviewers. Is this petty revenge or do they have a case? Our writer finds one ‘a hoot’ – and thinks the other let him off lightlyN…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghAs a half-horse half-woman who dreams of being a unicorn and performing Swan Lake, Schaal sheds little light but has plenty of sparkleFor a happy handful of yea…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThis one-man comic play, told at breakneck speed and featuring West Side Story-like dance-numbers, is highly entertainingIt’s as if Joseph Morpurgo had never …
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghThis is a spiky, interrogative and surprisingly conventional set from an act who usually pushes standup to its limitsYou can fall victim to your own high standards �…
Monkey Barrel, EdinburghA comic on the verge of the big time offers a ‘very silly hour’ around the highways and byways of her lifeA former winner of the Sean Lock award for comic origina…
Gilded Balloon Teviot, EdinburghWith charisma and craft, the Australian standup discusses childhood sexual abuse in a show with a healing qualityIf fringe audiences know Frankie McNair’s w…
Gilded Balloon TeviotPerformer cleared of death of her roommate in Italy uses new motherhood as framework for her defiant comedy show‘Welcome to the most controversial show on the fringe!�…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe fast-talking comic considers fraternity culture, gender discrimination and an unrequited crush in a cleverly engineered showFrom the outset, Olga Koch’s s…
Monkey Barrel, EdinburghThe SNL UK star’s romantic failures and house-share humiliations make for a fun hour of downbeat yet twinkling comedyA recent star of Saturday Night Live UK, Paddy …
Forget cheesy acts, these days cruise ships boast the cutting edge tech to stage hip West End productions and Olivier award-winning musicals – and young people are loving itThe phrase “c…
London ColiseumA quartet of conjurors, calling themselves the Horsemen, perform fine feats of escapology and mentalism that are undermined by smoke, lasers and pomposityIs there an opposite …
Underbelly Boulevard Soho, LondonA grab-bag of awkward ‘lessons learned’ by a middle-aged entertainer reflecting on her journey, the US comic’s song-filled show has savour and schmaltz…
Royal Albert Hall, LondonShiny-suited and slick, the US standup fired off peppy and sometimes taboo-teasing gags about his cultural identity, married life and visits to a fertility clinicYou…
From returning comedy award winner Sam Nicoresti to Flo & Joan’s cheeky One Man Musical, these are surefire standouts at the fringeEdinburgh festival 2026 reviewsIt may contain a brief…
Soho theatre, LondonThe co-host of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update delivers an expertly constructed set of jokes about her quest to live a more embodied lifeAfter serving an eye-catch…
Elf Lyons mixes humour and heartbreak, Frank Skinner works the crowd, Kristen Schaal returns with a secret – and one man sings the same song over and over againNo fringe festival has been …
Watford Palace theatreThere’s plenty of devilment as the Pennsylvanian flies the flag for the magnificence of women and riffs on pregnancyThe Best Job in the World, Michelle Wolf’s touri…
