Every year, hundreds of standups from across the world descend on the venerable festival. Here are some of their finest one-liners10 of the funniest jokes from the 2025 fringeOlaf Falafel: I remember thinking, as I taped a piranha to my boomerang, this…
Continue ReadingClary’s back with Fully Dilated, a burlesque star called Entendre Entendre is doing lewd singalongs and there’s an A-Z of very dirty words. Our writer investigates Edinburgh’s smut outbreak – and ends up getting his own fantasies turned into eroticaOn …
Continue ReadingThree 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 grown-up?Among past winners of the Edinburgh comedy award, few seemed …
Continue ReadingPleasance 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 several comics just starting their careers. That was not the c…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, EdinburghWith physical and vocal agility, the tricksy clown duo trigger an avalanche of misinformation in this feverish treatHere is a show every bit as breathless as its title, stoked by bursts of high-energy 90s chart hits and delivered j…
Continue ReadingWhether 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’ve all been through them. Sometimes they’re mutual, sometimes not. Som…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghBoth outrageous and tender, this stellar follow-up to Main Character Energy gives new meaning to body languageTemi Wilkey serenades us, asks if we fancy her and wonders if the love of her life could be here right now. The …
Continue ReadingFrom wacky versions of The ABC Song to Quentin Blake’s eccentric Mrs Armitage, these five shows offer fun for young audiencesUnderbelly until 31 August Continue reading…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, 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 Australian clown Conk’s show Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over …
Continue ReadingMonkey 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 from Lara Ricote, a leap forwards from her already-excellent first t…
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