From Liz Kingsman’s ‘messy woman’ send-up to Seann Walsh’s memories of his off-screen Strictly kiss, the nine-strong shortlist is a triumph for diversity though not without glaring omissionsThe nominations have been announced for the first Edinburgh Co…
Continue ReadingThey are the shock troops of comedy, pranksters who risk arrest and worse to ridicule the powerful. As two acclaimed practitioners – including the man who threw Nazi golfballs at Trump – hit Edinburgh, they relive their greatest scrapesIt was the polit…
Continue ReadingThe king of one-liners on his unlikely comedy hero, preshow prayers and the best heckle he’s ever gotHow did you get into comedy? I spotted an advert in the Stage newspaper advertising a new act competition at the Comedy Cafe in London. Twelve acts did…
Continue ReadingWest Midlands comedian Masai Graham, who works as a part-time care worker, wins title for second time A standup comedian who works part-time as a care worker on minimum wage has topped a poll of the funniest jokes at the Edinburgh festival fringe for t…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghHoult hangs up the dress and luvvie cadences of his fringe-staple alter ego Anna Mann in a camp, silly yet surprisingly emotional showWhen a character comic bids farewell to their character, is it a death – or a rebirth? F…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly, EdinburghOutlandish physical antics and a spontaneous stage presence keep Wardeh’s audience laughing as he clowns through a cast of oddball charactersClown is in vogue again, coming at us wide-eyed wherever you look on the fringe – at Frank…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWilson relives her tumultuous turn as a teenage talent show contestant armed with laughter and song, topped with a touching tribute to her plucky younger self‘Why did I? Oh God, why did I?” We can all get embarrassed recal…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghOkatsuka’s slightly incapable, slightly on-edge persona is a fun time, whose yarn about an intruder frames material on marriage, mental illness and migrationIt’s about this stage of the fringe – past halfway, not yet on th…
Continue ReadingHowls of rage from Hong Kong to Malta vie with King Lear in the metaverse and Sophie Duker on the labour-saving benefits of threesomes Art in the time of political contests, climate crisis, rising inequality, a global rightward backsliding – what shoul…
Continue ReadingMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe answer may seem obvious but the commanding comic’s fringe debut eschews any clear structure with mixed resultsBack in 2020, Thanyia Moore was planning her fringe debut with a show about her bullying past. By the time …
Continue Reading