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 unassuming performance styles, then there’s David Elms. At a festival…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe nonconformist TV writer, film-maker, children’s author and standup is hired to find a new colour in this charismatically surreal hourFans of the former Saturday Night Live writer Julio Torres know him to be the current torchbear…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Maintaining a remarkable mood of spontaneity and joy, Tothill sweeps his audience through unexpected history and cruise-ship hellBoth his previous shows having almost killed him, the bar for success is set low for John To…
Continue ReadingFrom a Polish prince of Denmark to pickled vegetables and tributes to Billy Connolly and Marilyn Monroe, our photographer explores the many worlds of the festival Continue reading…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith a mischievous smile, the comic who shot to fame for roasting Donald Trump mixes the personal and politicalIt’s seven years since Michelle Wolf addressed the White House correspondents’ dinner, but she still gets a rou…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe comedy newcomer delivers an expertly constructed set with chutzpah – but not all the jokes land with precisionThere’s a bait-and-switch to begin newcomer James Trickey’s show, which starts with our host in sunglasses r…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, EdinburghRuxandra Cantir’s cast of gherkins, onions and carrots is conceptually funny but lacks biteWe can agree that a cabaret involving pickled vegetables is conceptually funny. The stars of a variety night do not normally count gherkins,…
Continue ReadingEdinburgh memories | Starmer’s X-factor | Good Friday | Japanese walking | Corbyn’s new partyYour Edinburgh festival article (‘It’s a brigade of old gits!’ Miriam Margolyes, Andy Linden and the older performers storming Edinburgh, 12 August) mentions M…
Continue ReadingAs Jena Friedman, Michelle Wolf and Sam Jay perform at the fringe, they discuss the threats to freedom of speech in the era of Donald Trump In April, comedian Jena Friedman had a strange encounter in Vancouver airport. She had just performed a Ted talk…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIssy Knowles considers the phenomenon of sex as a competitive sport with a portrait of a fictional OnlyFans star and her balaclava-clad followers‘I would love you to rearrange my insides.” It’s a shocking line that would s…
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