Thursday, August 21, 2025
Church Hill theatre, EdinburghA furious and unsettling Shakespeare reboot exposes colonial violence and demands accountability for crimes against Indigenous people
‘Aren’t you sorry you …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghA wickedly amusing fringe debut considers the relationship between comedy, feminism and sexiness
Can you be funny and good-looking? You’d think the question b…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54AMWednesday, August 20, 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghAt 34, the comedian has ditched the shy self-abasement for diss tracks and politics – even if his set is inspired by his fondness for orange
With Orange Crush…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24PMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghIn an uneven show, one of the most intriguing comic voices of his generation tackles sex, race and British identity
‘I used to be a cool young comic with cool young…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06PMSeven of the eight nominees for best show have not previously been nominated in the same category at the ‘Oscars of live comedy’
Standup about infertility, jokes about a Georgian gourman…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06PMOasis’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 06:18AM 
