You want Edinburgh previews? What's that? You don't want to pay for them? Then can I humbly suggest that you a) stop being such a tightarse and b) head to Balham's Bedford pub this weekend for the... more
Previews
Everyone must surely know Mitch Benn by now. It feels as if he has doing topical songs on The Now Show since we last had a genuinely left wing government. The Liverpool-born Beatles obsessive, sorry... more
Winners of awards always have a little more more pressure on them when they do their first full shows, but I don't think pressure will be a problem for Steve Bugeja, who won the 2013 BBC New Comedy... more
Balls of steel. Testicles of Titanium. Nutsacks of pure granite. I can’t really come up with a better explanation of how Simon Brodkin has managed to pull off his recent stunts, joining Kanye West... more
Satirist Matt Forde has a problem. Just as he mastered his Ed Miliband impression Ed went and got wiped out at the election. Forde now has to master either Andy Burnham, Jeremy Corbyn or put on a... more
There seems to be no stopping the inexorable rise of clowning on the Fringe. Ever since Dr Brown won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2012 I feel as as I have been inundated by press releases mentioning... more
In my head Mike Wozniak has a little place in Edinburgh Fringe history. Long before free shows were sweeping the awards board his gratis gig in the basement of a restaurant near the Pleasance was the... more
I've got a confesion to make. When I saw Ivor Dembina in Edinburgh a couple of years ago I nominated him for A Dave Award. Not for the Best Joke of the Fringe but for the Worst Joke of the Fringe.... more
Maybe satire does work a bit after all. Perhaps Jonny & The Baptists’ persistent UKIP-bashing played its part in the fact that Nigel Farage didn’t sweep to victory in the General Election. Or... more
Every few years on slow news days journalists dust off the old “magic is the new rock and roll” story. This year, though, it might almost be true. As well as Derren Brown touring, there are two major... more
