15 of the best Edinburgh festival shows now touring

The festival is over for another year but plenty of its theatre, comedy and dance hits have announced dates around the UKCollapsibleBreffni Holahan gives a searing performance as Essie in Margaret Perry’s corrosive play about a woman’s disintegration. …

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Sexy lamps, time travel and punchy comedy: Edinburgh festival 2019 – in pictures

Our photographer Murdo MacLeod captures more of this year’s eclectic Edinburgh festival shows, featuring everything from black holes to Basil Brush Continue reading…

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Nick Helm: Phoenix from the Flames review – bracingly vulnerable comedy

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghHelm’s first new show since 2013 combines humour and emotional intimacy, directly addressing his depressionNick Helm was doing mental health comedy before it got trendy, he claims – only slightly joking – in his first new show …

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Max and Ivan: Commitment review – a doozy of a comedy show

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghThe comedy duo – who don’t do things by half – send themselves up as they attempt to reassemble their teenage band for one longed-for final gig‘I don’t do things by half,” says Max Olesker. Anyone who’s seen Max and Ivan’s lege…

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From Titania McGrath to a Brexit party standup: is rightwing comedy on the rise?

This year’s Edinburgh fringe was full of wokeness jokes from liberal standups as well as a host of conservative comedians who punch downHas there been a rise in rightwing comedy? Or just more acts pinning their colours to that mast? A common claim – fl…

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Rob Auton: The Time Show review – twinkling hour of clock-watching

Assembly George Square Studios, EdinburghIn a wistful show with playful paradoxes, the comic ruminates on the little round face on our wrists and what it means‘Did the people who set time going really think time would stand the test of time?” Rob Auton…

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Ex-call centre worker wins top Edinburgh comedy award

Jordan Brookes wins prize for best show while Catherine Cohen crowned best newcomerA former NHS call centre worker has won the “best show” prize at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards.Jordan Brookes’ experimental, convention-busting show I’ve Got N…

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Jordan Brookes is disturbingly funny – and a worthy Edinburgh Comedy awards champ

Brookes has won the biggest prize in live comedy, with Catherine Cohen named best newcomer and Jessica Brough recognised for her Fringe of Colour projectThe Edinburgh Comedy award has found itself another deserving winner in Jordan Brookes, who has bag…

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Demi Lardner review – an explosion of animated oddities

Gilded Balloon Teviot, EdinburghThe Australian standup’s show is stuffed with arbitrary observations – and some of the funniest moments on the fringeAbsurdism-gone-haywire won the 2015 Edinburgh comedy award for her fellow Australian Sam Simmons, and n…

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Ivo Graham review – old Etonian’s awfully droll domestic jokes

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe comic lets rip – if only a bit – for a fine hour of standup about new parenthood and his fogeyish tendenciesThe only thing holding Ivo Graham back in previous shows was his own, well, restraint. The old Etonian (he nev…

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