Edinburgh University’s ImprovBot uses data from eight years of past productions to invent tantalising no-showsYou can see how it happens. The company has yet to start devising the show, but the deadline for the Edinburgh fringe programme is tomorrow. O…
Continue ReadingLily Savage, The League of Gentlemen, Fleabag and a host of telly sensations started out on tiny stages at the extravaganza. In its absence, who will be next?Paul O’Grady’s first night at the Edinburgh fringe did not go according to plan. He made his f…
Continue ReadingCovid-19 has cancelled the annual jamboree, leaving performers – and our comedy critic – bereft. What does the festival mean to them and how will it change?Meeting Flight of the Conchords and seeing the teenage Bo Burnham. Improvising a musical with Ti…
Continue ReadingWith this year’s Edinburgh festival cancelled, performers including Sara Pascoe, Deborah Frances-White and Gary McNair will be broadcasting live from the tiniest of venuesIt started as a throwaway pun. With the Edinburgh festival cancelled by Covid-19,…
Continue ReadingI’ve been doing standup at the fringe almost every year since 2006. And despite the stress, lousy lodging and worse food there’s nothing I’d rather do It’s the last week of July and, like most comedians in the country, in any other year I’d be about to…
Continue ReadingNadia Albina, Ivo Graham, Cherylee Houston and more share memories of the theatres that they call homeIvo Graham’s Game of Life UK tour has been rescheduled. Read more about Pleasance Courtyard.Nadia Albina stars in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Othe…
Continue ReadingOrganisers prepare for ‘weird’ visitor-free season including weekly variety performanceEdinburgh festival fringe is preparing for a “weird” visitor-free summer with a package of online initiatives including variety shows streamed every Friday.The world…
Continue ReadingBec Hill, Laura Davis and Eshaan Akbar can be watched on this online home for comedy’s rising stars and circuit regularsWith gig venues closed, where do you turn for your comedy fix? You can find the creme de la standup creme on Netflix – or so Netflix…
Continue ReadingThis shouldn’t shock anyone in 2020, but Just For Laughs pulled the plug on this fall’s JFL42 festival in Toronto. JFL announced the news Tuesday. Instead of taking place from Sept. 24 to Oct. 3, 2020, the ninth edition of Toronto’s J…
Continue ReadingThe late-night hub is replacing its cancelled fringe programme with new virtual offerings alongside archive footage The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh’s uproarious palace of late-night comedy, has announced a season of work to replace its cancelled fringe p…
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