This year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe opens this week and runs throughout August. We’ve already done some show previews and highlighted 80 theatre picks (part 1 | part 2), and now it is the turn of comedy.
Check out the shows below and anything else that catches your fancy to set your funny bone tingling and your giggle box wobbling!
22 by Brooke/36 Expressions
New Year, new you! Come laugh with Brooke, as she trips and falls trying to make our world a better place.
Laughing Horse @ City Cafe on various dates from 3 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/22
1 Ball Show: 1 Lung Less by 1BallCo
NYC comedian Terence Hartnett (Caroline’s on Broadway) found out that his testicular cancer had spread to his lung. Chemo sucks and so does losing a lung, but if you can’t laugh, you might as well be dead already.
Just The Tonic at The Mash House on various dates from 3 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/1-ball-show-1-lung-less
Vix Leyton: Antihero
Welsh stand-up host of podcast smash The Comedy Arcade Vix delves into the human psyche, exploring the notion of people pleasing, a theme for her life she didn’t even realise she had until she started stand-up comedy. Can you be the main character in your own life without being the hero?
The Stand Comedy Club 3 & 4 on various dates from 4 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/vix-leyton-antihero
Big Zeus Energy
Inspired by men’s movements of the 90s, this physical comedy and clown show will have you questioning everything you know about what it means to be a man.
Just The Tonic at The Mash House on 3-14 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/big-zeus-energy
Aalex Mandel-Dallal: Break It Down (With Friends)
Aalex believes her basic bitch mentality gets her far in life when used to hone in on big grown-up things, like human psychology. She’s now gone next level as she plays out, overshares and guides you through her lockdown breakdown, shedding light on the shit she’s learnt so we can assess the “situation” together.
Just The Tonic at The Caves on 15-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/aalex-mandel-dallal-break-it-down-with-friends
Comedy for Corporates: Work-Life Balance is for Losers by James Clark
The brave corporate professionals of the world just have to accept it. We can bear any meeting, email, call or presentation, as long as it gets us closer to priority boarding on flights that aren’t to some Spanish motel. So stop fighting it, realise you chose “busy” as your whole personality and do cool stuff in the minimal time you have off.
Just The Tonic at Grassmarket Centre on 15-20 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy-for-corporates-work-life-balance-is-for-losers
Don’t You Dare! (Put Me In A Care Home) by Pam Ford
Middle-aged and wanna feel young, just get a job working with our “oldies”. Heartwarming and hilarious true life stories first hand.
Laughing Horse @ City Cafe on 21-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/pam-ford-don-t-you-dare-put-me-in-a-care-home
Emotionally Unreasonable by Maria DeCotis
This show is an hour of stand-up and musical comedy about my experience as a professional wedding officiant who is conflicted about marriage.
Laughing Horse @ Home Bar on 3-13 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/emotionally-unreasonable
Les Enfants Terribles: A Gameshow for Awful Children by Marcel Lucont
The wild interactive game show returns, where kids get to be pests, politicians and petomanes to be crowned the most awful child. See what happens when international insouciance meets infantile exuberance.
Assembly George Square Gardens on 2-21 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/marcel-lucont-les-enfants-terribles-a-gameshow-for-awful-child
Niamh Denyer: Get Blessed
Put the fun back into funeral! Refusing to conform to one philosophy or traditional religion, funeral celebrant Áine balances the modern and the spiritual to create the perfect last ritual. Just an hour in her presence and you’ll be ready to turn death into a living.
Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose on various dates from 2 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ge
A Multitude of Sins: A Dog-Gone Mystery by Jen Hyatt
The dog’s gone! Jen plays six sinful characters who seek him. Can you guess why? Can you save the dog? Will you progress to the final and win the prize?
Leith Depot on 4-19 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/multitude-of-sins-a-dog-gone-mystery
One Man – 12 Angry Men by Alexander Richmond
Utilising your new-fangled smart devices, you choose from a roster of unique characters ranging from a sour-faced musical parodist to the current record-holder of the longest continuous Macarena. By being in control of who features, you dictate the overall narrative of the show!
Laughing Horse @ City Cafe on 3-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/one-man-12-angry-men
The Opera Comedy Show by Sreoh DePrez
Wagner turned up to 11! A hilarious dive into the ridiculous world of opera and life as a Valkyrie and Rheinmaiden, peppered with hits from Puccini and Verdi from Berlin’s thrilling opera-singing comedian. How do you tell your parents you’re moving to Vienna to be a Valkyrie? What’s it like to audition for the biggest opera houses in Europe?
Laughing Horse @ Home Bar on 3-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/opera-comedy-show
The Reluctant Teacher by Kevin Precious and Barnstormers Comedy
Kevin Precious used to be a teacher. He enjoyed the teaching part. He just didn’t enjoy all of the other stuff that went with it. So he decided to leave and get his life back. Join him as he explores the foibles of his former profession including the odd pedagogical swipe (phew!) in the process.
Laughing Horse @ The Counting House on 3-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/kevin-precious-the-reluctant-teacher
Yuriko Kotani: This Is My Work
BBC New Comedy Award winner, UK-based Japanese comedian. As seen on Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central, Pls Like (BBC Three),
Monkey Barrell Comedy (The Hive) on 14-23 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/yuriko-kotani-this-is-my-work
A Tinderella Story: Swipe, Wince, Repeat by J Murphy
A true, tongue-in-cheek TED talk on surviving (and even thriving in) the chaotic modern dating world. With a unique blend of wit and vulnerability, this is a comedic exploration of navigating the dating scene as a pansexual.
Just The Tonic at the Grassmarket on 3-10 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/tinderella-story-swipe-wince-repeat
Top Fun: 80s Hypnosis Spectacular by Matt Hale
Joyful. Crazy. Fun! The unmissable international smash-hit comedy hypnosis show with 80s party vibes. Laugh along, sing along, even star in the show. You choose!
Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose on various dates from 2 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/hypnotist-matt-hale-top-fun-80s-spectacular
Trash Test Dummies by Underbelly and Dummies Corp
This award-winning, side-splitting, slapstick comedy circus routine takes the household wheelie bin to new heights, and delivers a dump truck full of hilarity!
Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows on various dates from 5 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/trash-test-dummies
The TUNEabomber by Michael Wysong and John Lampe
Set at a parole board hearing, Ted Kaczynski (aka The Unabomber) recounts his life through song in the hope of proving that he never wanted to be a monster, he only wanted to be a star. While he may have spent years sending explosives, this is one performance Ted can’t bomb.
C Arts | C Venues | C Aquila on 21-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/tuneabomber
Very British Problems: Live by Fingers & Fringe
Do you ever feel like you’re the only one struggling with the complexities of British social etiquette? Then join us for a hilarious show that celebrates all things awkwardly British.
The Stand’s New Town Theatre on 16-27 Aug. Ticket link – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/very-british-problems-live
