6. I’ve seen you on TV. These days it helps if you’ve been on TV. I first saw Nick Helm screaming his head off on Russell Howard’s Good News and thought to myself that I’d like to hear more of this. Though preferably not from the front row.

7. You’ve won an award elsewhere. If you come to Edinburgh with a Barry Award from the Melbourne Comedy Festival critics will probably get their notepads out. Dr Brown had been overlooked by critics in Edinburgh but then won the Barry Award in 2012. It was no surprise to me that suddenly the broadsheets took an interest in him at that point.

8. You’ve gone viral. The crossover between YouTube success and Edinburgh success is a sticky one. But it’s certainly not going to do you any harm if it gets your name out there. After two years of being overlooked by Award judges Luisa Omielan’s Thigh Gap routine has just gone viral. Off course, it’s sod’s law that she has decided not to do a new show in Edinburgh this year. Omielan is a one-woman case study. She seems to have done pretty well without press coverage. She is also a reminder that a great title helps – What Would Beyonce Do? initially filled venues on the basis of the title, then the word-of-mouth started….

9. Good photo. It certainly won’t get you a good review and it may not get you a review at all, but an original well-taken photo can be worth its weight in gold. Whether you are a website or a national newspaper you want your pages to look good. title 

10. Interesting venue. My eye is always caught by a new location for an Edinburgh run. I’ve reviewed gigs in taxis and gigs in toilets. Last year I wanted to review Richard Herring who did a gig on a flight up to Edinburgh but could not quite make it. 

11, Luck. In 2013 I was staying in a hotel off the Royal Mile and found I had exactly an hour free on a Saturday afternoon so I decided to wander into the nearest show to my hotel room. It happened to be Ivor Dembina hosting a free showcase of acts doing excerpts from their Fringe shows. While I was there I jotted down a joke told by Rob Auton: "I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa." I nominated it for Dave’s Joke of the Fringe. It won. Although actually having said that I still didn’t review Auton. So there really are no guarantees.