Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Oasis’s tour gobbled up Edinburgh audiences while fringe comics put on shows about Britpop and Arctic Monkeys. The music industry and the funny business could be more entwined than ever
�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:12AMTuesday, August 19, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe slick standup’s fringe debut is full of searching questions about the right to keep and bear arms
‘I’ve got a gun.” Nice to be pitched, with that op…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:32PMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghThe standup’s tale of teenage travails, guilt and redemption borders on the sentimental but gets the balance right
There’s trauma comedy, finding laughter in the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03PMPleasance Dome, EdinburghPity poor Batilda Bigbum as she navigates a failed courtship and flight to a nunnery, before being burnt as a witch in this uproarious comedy
One of the great charac…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24AMMonday, August 18, 2025
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghIn an eyebrow-raising debut, Galvo shares not very fond memories of her education in Ireland
Rachel Galvo ditched a career in business a few years back, fleeing Dubl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:32PMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghZero per cent alcohol? Ghosting? ADHD? Our self-flagellating host has a skewed take on them all
You could write theses on comedy’s relationship with social maladju…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24AMSunday, August 17, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe New York foursome’s freewheeling logic will have you laughing without knowing why in a fringe debut that’s smart enough to revitalise sketch comedy
With…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghDrawing on her experiences moving from Nigeria to the UK, this livewire standup delivers a multifaceted first fringe show
The fringe is nothing if not a place w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AMMonkey Barrel at The Hive, EdinburghThe standup follows a first half of in-your-face jokes about American democracy with a palpably painful account of the loss of her mother
Standup shows ab…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AMSaturday, August 16, 2025
Summerhall, EdinburghFrom existential angst to dotty monk routines, US clown John Norris marches to the beat of his own drum
With his show and persona Mr Chonkers, American clown John Norris…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghDelivered with self-deprecating joyfulness, this is a big-hitting set exploring life as a trans woman
‘Sir, are you aware those are women’s clothes?” Even…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AMFriday, August 15, 2025
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghCandid family snapshots meet leftist politics and wondrous prehistoric megafauna in Long’s singular take on the state of the world
‘The old world is dying, and t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMThursday, August 14, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe sometime Mr Swallow sidekick’s hour of interiors improv is a skilful, unshowy treat
‘Shall we give ourselves a night off from being funny?” There are …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18AMWednesday, August 13, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Maintaining a remarkable mood of spontaneity and joy, Tothill sweeps his audience through unexpected history and cruise-ship hell
Both his previous shows havin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:03PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith a mischievous smile, the comic who shot to fame for roasting Donald Trump mixes the personal and political
It’s seven years since Michelle Wolf addressed…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe comedy newcomer delivers an expertly constructed set with chutzpah – but not all the jokes land with precision
There’s a bait-and-switch to begin newcom…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54AMTuesday, August 12, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghKey’s command of his style, seemingly up in arms about being called middle-aged, is an expert game of cat-and-mouse
It’s rich of Tim Key, his agent tells hi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AMSaturday, August 9, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe character comic returns with another daft set of surreal characters and sharp one-liners – this time stuck in an open-all-hours cafe
When Lorna Rose Treen…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghThe 2023 best newcomer winner rebuts her ‘mild’ reputation with choice quips and boyband erotica
On her first visit to the fringe, Urooj Ashfaq left as the surpri…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMFriday, August 8, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe south Londoner’s avian theme frames a fine debut about family, neurodivergence, pigeons, pigeons and more pigeons
Twenty years ago, Original Pirate Materi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AMThursday, August 7, 2025
CabVol1 at Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh After last year’s Live!!! Kent-Walters’s hilariously monstrous alter ego has returned from hell to reclaim his club from gentrifying usurper Vegas Dav…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AMWednesday, August 6, 2025
Monkey Barrel, EdinburghTV success hasn’t gone to Smith’s head as he still sweats the small stuff – as well as detailing his attempts to procreate
Reviewing Ian Smith’s breakout show…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AMPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Through song and standup, Cohen transforms her 2023 medical emergency into glorious oversharing with this comic triumph
Everything was going right for cabaret …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AMPleasance Dome, EdinburghStarting out with a deliciously bumptious persona, Doherty’s show trips itself up with a subplot about arts funding
Gay Witch Sex Cult was quite the solo debut las…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AMUnderbelly Cowgate, EdinburghJessica Barton sets about cleaning up the domestic acts of the men in her audience with comically strict discipline
We’ve all felt the urge to impose order on …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54AMTuesday, August 5, 2025
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghIn an impressive show, Sami Abu Wardeh delivers a collage of historical storytelling, jokes about colonialism and clowning
When Sami Abu Wardeh performed his hit sho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18AMMonday, August 4, 2025
Orchard at the Gilded Balloon, EdinburghThe US star’s engaging set is largely an earnest love letter to her non-binary child and newly adopted home of Ireland
A month ago, Donald Trump bra…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48PMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghThe charismatic standup rails against middle age with inventive and sometimes lurid material about the perimenopause
Desiree Burch is 46. For most comedians, this is …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:42AMSunday, August 3, 2025
Orchard at Gilded Balloon, EdinburghPerforming standup after a decade away, Davies rawly discusses his abuse by his father and delivers big laughs with other material
It’s been 10 years si…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48PMMonday, July 21, 2025
It started in a strip joint and ended up bringing alternative comedy to our TV screens. Ahead of a new Edinburgh show, Peter Richardson tells us why his riotous creation still makes audience…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AMWednesday, July 16, 2025
Artsdepot, LondonThe comedian staggers from the soft play area to deliver a sharp set about Sisyphus, capitalism and motherhood
Her last tour, Success Story, found Sara Pascoe in the loved-u…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12AM 
