Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith the air of a hungover postmortem, Richardson gives a head-spinning account of an encounter with an older comedianIf you’re partial to a bit of gossip and scandal, Harriet Richardson is your girl. In this gloriously ju…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, EdinburghJessica Aszkenasy rages and wrestles with daddy issues in a show that combines feminist analysis with outrageous humour and tendernessAfter the 2025 debut of her breast-forward stage persona Titclown, Jessica Aszkenasy’s second gru…
Continue ReadingA growing wave of Palestinian performers are using comedy to tell their stories of occupation, exile and warThe war in Gaza is a topic many avoid discussing, let alone joke about. But for Palestinian comedians, humour has become an essential tool for k…
Continue ReadingShe started standup at 17 playing ‘unsafe basements’ and braving revolting hecklers – and even worse headline acts. Now she writes for SNL and is giving Edinburgh a blast of her surreal comedyComedy isn’t just a career for Bella Hull. It’s a compulsion…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup is on sparkling form as she mines a lifetime of baffling and alarming experiences for a smart, purposeful and very funny hourSophie Duker is done with men. She swears it. And, in her fourth hour, Hot Beef Injec…
Continue ReadingChurch Hill theatre, EdinburghAt the Edinburgh international festival, Olivier Rannou’s lone cowboy encounters desert dangers in a mix of clowning, mime and visual trickeryThe lone ranger at the centre of Olivier Rannou’s family-friendly western initia…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, EdinburghSohrab Haghverdi takes pleasure at winding up the audience in a subversively funny ‘anti-comedy’ of autobiographical insight and political provocationSohrab Haghverdi says he wants to be liked. I’m not so sure. Would a needy actor …
Continue ReadingFrom big-name standups to dance performances and experimental plays, here are our picks for an excellent festival‘If you’d done that in the 90s, you’d be torn to shreds!’: comedy icons share their survival tips with Edinburgh first-timersExplore the re…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith characteristic wit, Dan Bishop’s comedy develops from a jolly send-up of the vacuous TV industry into a politically astute play about power‘I’ve never read anything Greek, but I bet if feels exactly like this,” says I…
Continue ReadingHaving cut his teeth in the holiday camps of the north, the comic bestrode 80s TV with his unthreatening brand of fun, being knighted by the pope in 2015• Jimmy Cricket, comedian known for his ‘And there’s more!’ catchphrase, dies aged 80After the come…
Continue Reading