Comedians such as Omid Djalili and Rachel Parris are back after festival’s tough two years due to CovidWhen Omid Djalili first performed at the Edinburgh festival fringe in 1993, it was to an audience of three, and they all requested refunds after it w…
Continue ReadingNica Burns, driving force of the festival’s comedy prize, talks about the winners and losers in 40 years of the hugely influential eventComedians have a reputation for being tough: the street fighters of the entertainment world. But in just a few weeks…
Continue ReadingThree years ago, the caustic comic had a fatal aortic dissection mid-show. Now a new documentary about the self-proclaimed ‘most banned act in Britain’ reveals a saga of booze and outrageWhen Ian Cognito walked on stage in Bicester, Oxfordshire, on 11 …
Continue ReadingThe standup on changing her role models, her pre-performance rituals, and the frustration of being asked to audition for ‘mom’ rolesHow did you get into comedy?I saw the film A Chorus Line and decided I should be an actor. But when I finally tried it p…
Continue ReadingPoetry-loving, religious and with deep regrets about some of his comedy: either the standup comic has grown up, or he was never as laddish as his image suggestedIt was while he was writing his latest Edinburgh show that Frank Skinner noticed a problem …
Continue ReadingIn his Edinburgh fringe show Flying High the impressionist wants to convey the warmth and affection of the comic and Blankety Blank hostWho knew, growing up in the 70s and 80s, that we weren’t watching mere comedians, but the dramatis personae in plays…
Continue ReadingAlan Cumming did a gig for a cat, Tiff Stevenson was drowned out by samba and some performers even made a profit … fringe veterans discuss their first time and how the festival has changedIt was when I still had a fringe of my own: 1974 seems like yest…
Continue ReadingOscar Jenkyn-Jones was one of the wildest new talents in comedy. But he suddenly disappeared – and reinvented himself as a therapist instead. He explains the joys of swapping the fringe for Freud‘I thought you might have come to kill me,” says Oscar Je…
Continue ReadingThe standup’s new Edinburgh fringe show, Lost Boy, is about rediscovering silliness after difficult life events“When bad things happen, there is a lot of comedy if you look in the right places,” says standup Sarah Keyworth. We’re in a bar in central Lo…
Continue ReadingA Greek project is teaching participants the art of standup in order to shine a new light on stories about migrationIn Athens, a handful of novice standups are at the mic after taking part in a series of comedy workshops. One of the organisers, Vasilei…
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