The Pleasance has added another 134 shows to their Edinburgh festival Fringer roster this summer. This will be their 40th festival and shows range from comedy, theatre, cabaret, magic, family shows to talks. Here is just a flavour from theri latest announcement.
Comedy
Pleasance’s comedy programme is always top notch and some amazing names are headlining this year. 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner and creator of Starstruck, Rose Matafeo (pictured) returns to the Fringe with On and On and On. The bad girl of comedy, Sophie Duker, brings her delusional new show BUT DADDY I LOVE HER to Edinburgh. Internationally-acclaimed virtuoso ventriloquist, BAFTA nominee and British Comedy Award winner Nina Conti presents Whose Face Is It Anyway?, exploring and celebrating families and how f*cked they all are. Sheeps are back with hysterical new show Sheeps: The Giggle Bunch (That’s Our Name For You). One of the best stand-ups of his generation, Ivo Graham proves he’s not just Taskmaster’s yardstick for failure in Grand Designs. Jordan Brookes (pictured) recently had a near death experience – Fontanelle is loosely inspired by that.
Fresh from their residency at London’s iconic Comedy Store, Fringe favourites Paul Merton and Suki Webster, two of the UK’s leading improvisers, present their new show Paul Merton & Suki Webster's Improv Show to the fringe. Ahir Shah brings his 2023 Sky Edinburgh Comedy Award- winning show ENDS back for 12 shows only, all about family, immigration, marriage, history, politics and beans. One of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch 2019, Patti Harrison returns to Edinburgh following sell-out runs in 2022-23 with My Huge Tits Huge Because They Are Infected NOT FAKE. After two critically-acclaimed, sell-out runs, Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show 2023 nominee Ania Magliano returns with Forgive Me, Father. Following multiple sell-out tours and barnstorming appearances at JFL Montreal and Melbourne ICF, the Live At The Apollo star Celya AB is back with Of All People to tackle the big three: beauty, money and the void.
Joining the Pleasance family from overseas are an incredible array of Edinburgh newcomers. Melanie Bracewell (Taskmaster NZ) debuts at the Fringe with her signature style of goofy, punchline-heavy comedy that has earned her sell-out shows all around the world. Indian stand-up sensation Kanan Gill makes his Fringe debut with WHAT IS THIS?. After a stalking incident forced Anna Akana into retirement for six years, she's back - and armed with a restraining order and a plethora of new stories to tell in It Gets Darker. Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going To Do One (1) Backflip is a very special comedy show featuring original comedic songs, presentations, bits, and one (1) single backflip. After selling out shows across America, Rachel Kaly brings Hospital Hour to the Fringe to perfectly explain why she is so mentally ill. Pussy-poppin' Mel & Sam are yanking you by ya ponytails through a chaotic hour of musical sketch and all-original songs in Pony.
Already well-known on the comedy circuit, some amazing comedians are now coming to the Pleasance this summer for the first time. Meet Charlie George: an ex-Jehovah’s Witness escape artist and walking survival guide whose debut hour is a laugh-till-you-snort journey in Burning Down the House. The hotly anticipated show Farm Fatale is from agricultural icon Katie Norris - likely to cause delight or distress to anyone who becomes involved with her or her livestock. Sold out, cult shows in the North East, acclaimed short films, their own web series, now Metroland debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, bringing an all new sketch show that promises laughter, profanity and a generous use of the term ‘entertainment’.
Amy Annette, host of hit podcast What Women* Want, has *a lot* to say about growing up in the noughties and being a woman and now she shares it with us in Thick Skin. Zoe Brownstone has been performing stand up since before dating apps existed but still doesn’t know how love works yet she’s certain she's unlocked several mysteries of the heart in A Bit of Yours. Don’t miss a dry debut stand-up hour Free Mason from Amy Mason about coming out, parenting, and starting all over again. Award-winning comedian Rich Spalding brings his hotly anticipated show, about working for a living and dying sometime after. Fresh from therapy, Isobel Rogers and her guitar are here to pose modern life's less frequently asked questions in HOW TO BE CONTENT. Join viral sensation Lou Taylor in her unmissable stand-up hour taking us back to the nostalgic ‘90s in Jeans and a Nice Top. Expect visual aids, balloons and a heartwarming insight into the relationship between mother and her autistic son with Josephine Lacey in Autism Mama.
Debut hour of stand-up and characters from Derek Mitchell (Ted Lasso), Double Dutch is about the journey from being an outsider to a sort-of insider and making sense of all the cultural nonsense and confusion in between. Dan Wye Am I Sam Smith? explores the absurd reality of being publicly doppelgäng-banged until you no longer exist - from Dan Wye one of the country’s most prominent comedy/cabaret performers. Eddy Hare (BBC New Comedy Awards Nominee) serves up his debut hour with This One's On Me. BANGTAIL is an epic journey of a man in search of his manhood; saddle up for unbridled cowboy clown chaos. A sticky, spooky horror comedy about gender reveal parties, demons from hell, and a Gay Witch Sex Cult comes from Andrew Doherty.
You’ll know them from social media and now they’re on our stages. Online comedy sensation Henry Rowley makes his highly anticipated Edinburgh debut with fast paced stand up and character comedy in Just Literally. A baby and a Fringe debut - that’s one mother of a year but Freya Mallard’s having it all and she’s determined to debut with The Bounce Back! Carpet-fitter turned comedian Jack Skipper delivers Skint, a show about how he went from a tradesman with no qualifications, to a full-time comedian (with no qualifications).
The Pleasance Comedy Reserve is the place to see exciting new talent: this year we’re celebrating 20 years of the Reserve and are welcoming eight previous recipients of the Fund to present their debut shows. As seen on BBC, ITV2, Comedy Central and Channel 4, Abi Clarke has taken the internet by storm; now it's time to see what she does best in (Role) Model. In Quinceañera, Katie Green (Pleasance Comedy Reserve 2022) tells the story of her coming of age celebration being later than expected. Fresh, exciting, and overall just happy to be here, Dee Allum is the greatest transgender comedian her small village has ever produced. Pleasance Comedy Reserve Alumni and heart-throb of low-energy comedy, Danny Clives makes his debut with Danny Explains It All. In Swimming In A Submarine, Jin Hao walks you through the seascape of his mind, filled with nightmares of being a spider, dreams of joining the yakuza, and breezy memories of serving in the military, with the boys. The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows is a silly, goofy, heartfelt show from co-host of Help Hole podcast Abby Wambaugh. In Vladislav, Baby Don’t Hurt Me, the multi award-winning stand up Vlad Ilich explores his obsessions with chess and how it led him to leave North Macedonia for the bright lights of the UK comedy scene. With the Best Will in the World is the exciting debut from rising star Will Robbins exploring masculinity, disability and cretins.
We all love to see our Fringe favourites returning with new material and old classics! After years away from stand-up (due to the global pandemic and a lack of interest in being out late), Alice Snedden the co-writer and co-director of BBC and HBO’s Starstruck returns with Highly Credible! Character comedian Emma Sidi is back at the Edinburgh Fringe as Sue Gray. Fuelled entirely by delusion, tequila and the girls group chat, The Bisexual's Lament is Lou Wall’s musical journey from the pits of personal hell to comic stardom. Take a swan-dive into a physical comedy fantasia of kings and clowns and one absolutely hideous duck in Luke Rollason, Luke Rollason Let Down Your Hair. Friendly Stranger is a solo sketch show packed with lovable characters, charisma and inspired spontaneity, from the internationally award-nominated star Steen Raskopoulos. After running out of life-story, the four-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee is after a new comedic muse; Kieran Hodgson returns to the Fringe with a work in progress.
As seen on BBC’s Live at the Apollo, American transplant Spring Day explores the nature of cults and the role that they play in our everyday lives in Exvangelical. Fresh from a world tour, South Africa’s hottest stand-up Schalk Bezuidenhout returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with new show, Crowd Pleaser, guaranteed to have you laugh and laugh and laugh. Last year, John Tothill (Chortle Awards' Best Newcomer nominee 2024) was visited by a series of terrible plagues and he’s desperate to tell you all about it in Thank God This Lasts Forever. Horses is the first-ever comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival performed entirely by a horse - made by award-winning Elf Lyons, performed by Treacle. A year after inexplicably winning Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe, Lorna Rose Treen brings Skin Pigeon back to the Fringe. Following his sell-out international tour, Neil Delamere presents his hilarious tall tales, razor sharp observations and quick-witted improvisation in Neil by Mouth. F*ck Off and Leave Me Alone is the debut stand-up hour from writer, actor and comic Juliet Cowan.
BAFTA and Olivier-award expectee Graham Dickson (Austentatious, All My Friends Hate Me) presents his eagerly anticipated, deeply personal and revelatory one-man show, No One Deserves This More Than You. Following a sold-out Off-Broadway debut, Caitlin Cook's hit bathroom graffiti musical transforms stall scribbles into the lyrics of her original songs in The Writing on the Stall. Having already saved pretty much everything else, Garry Starr is now taking it upon himself to save our flightless, feathered friends from extinction by performing every Penguin Classic novel ever written in Classic Penguins. For years Horatio Gould has made fun of modern self-help gurus but he's starting to realise he's not as different from them as he might think. The Greatest Performance of My Life is a heartfelt journey through the joys, sorrows, and hilarity of life from Justin Moorhouse. Join magician, comedian and charlatan Pete Heat on a surreal journey into your own brain in Bogus.
Some shows present us with fast paced line-ups, some are late at night and some are only with us for short runs so watch out! Star of Taskmaster, Ghosts, and Stath Lets Flats, Kiell Smith-Bynoe brings his unmissable improvised comedy show, Kool Story Bro, back to the Fringe for one week only! Join comedians, basic huns and horror stans Hannah Byczkowski (Winner of The Traitors) and Suzie Preece (Finalist, Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year), as they bring you the world's creepiest stories in Ghost Huns Live.
Brooklyn's finest improv supergroup Ladies Who Ranch (Kelly Cooper, Caitlin Dullea, Maya Sharma, Caroline Yost, and Sophie Zucker) present an hour of comedy that will blow your mind and open your heart. In this unmissable Fringe institution, 12 top comedy and variety acts perform ridiculously short sets in Chortle Fast Fringe, one furiously fast-paced showcase with a different line- up every day. And don’t miss the Chortle Student Comedy Award Final to see one rising stand-up star crowned Britain's funniest student.
Tickets for all shows are available at www.pleasance.co.uk and 0131 556 6550.
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