The Edinburgh 2014 Fringe brochure thudded on my doormat this morning, left a dent in my flooring and woke the cat two doors down. It’s that big. To mark the occasion Beyond The Joke is launching it’s annual Edinburgh Previews guide. Every day until the Fringe starts we will be printing a profile of an act doing a preview gig followed by a ticket link for their Edinburgh show. So if you like what you read or go to the preview and like what you see you can book with the minimum of fuss.

Kicking off the series is newcomer Laurence Owen at the Betsy Trotwood. I saw him a couple of months ago in the Musical Comedy Awards final and was pretty impressed by the contrast between his nerdy Elvis Costello looks and his sick and twisted lyrics, which pushed the good taste envelope to taboo-busting snapping point. When the judges met to discuss the acts we’d seen I mentioned that he clearly had a good ten minutes, but could he sustain that level of warped humour for a whole show? Well, now is the time to find out, as he warms up for his festival hour, Lullabies of Pervland. This double header also features spooky psychic Madame Magenta, alias Lindsay Sharman. More about her anon.

Laurence Owen is at Fingers Piano Bar from Aug 2 - 24. Details and tickets here.