Following Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018, where shows produced by the company won the Best Show prize and received two other Edinburgh Comedy Award nominations, Berk’s Nest return to Edinburgh with their biggest ever roster. 

2019’s line-up is once again a mix of returning Berk’s Nest performers, established acts new to working with the company, and six debut shows. On top of the sixteen shows running throughout the whole month, there are shorter runs from the likes of Kieran Hodgson (who performs his last four shows in rep), The Fast Show star Arabella Weir (pictured, premiering her first ever stand-up show), and Rose Matafeo, who returns for a final five performances of last year’s Best Show winner, Horndog.  

Returning Berk’s Nest acts include:

• Best Newcomer nominee Olga Koch (pictured with computer), with If/Then, a show about first loves and computer science (which she studied at university, and, like, barely ever brings up).
• After a sell out Fringe in 2018, Alice Snedden returns with her second hour Absolute Monster, directed by her Boners of the Heart podcast co-host Rose Matafeo.
• Acclaimed character comedian duo Lola & Jo are back with Escape. Is this a low-budget escape room run by a dysfunctional duo? Or is this just an excuse for Lola and Jo to lock you in a room for 60 minutes and freak out?
• Barry Award Nominee Tom Walker returns to Edinburgh, and this time he’s talking very little and moving very lot. Because we like you, we’ll come out and use the dirty word: this is a mime show. Directed by Zoe Coombs Marr.
• Tour support for Marc Maron, James Acaster, and Joe Lycett, Jack Barry (pictured) brings his new show Alien to the Fringe, a show about communication, immigration, and the inherent humour in trying to convince Her Majesty’s border control not to deport your girlfriend.
• Acclaimed stand-up Ben Pope explores the nature of work in Dancing Bear, and how it’s changed for a younger generation who were told they could be anything – only to find out that to pay their rent they would need to work four jobs at the same time.

Joining them are brand new shows from festival favourites:

• Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees (and Panel Prize winners) Max & Ivan return to the Fringe with their first new hour in three years. Commitment is their first fully autobiographical show, the true story of how Max (as Ivan’s Best Man) attempted to reunite Ivan’s teenage band for one final gig, and is directed by Kieran Hodgson. 
• You may know Jack Rooke from such tragedies as ‘dead dad’ (Radio 4’s Good Grief) and ‘dead friend’ (BBC Three's Happy Man) but this year he’s dead chuffed to perform comedy about shagging blokes! Love Letters is incredibly funny, no one dies & it’s set to a beautiful live harp. Straight people welcome so long as they don’t fidget.

• Musical comedy sensation Diane Chorley takes over Assembly’s immersive Underground space, in which will be built her iconic 80s nightclub The Flick. Modern Love, a brand new hour (with brand new songs!), will run across the month, along with Down The Flick -late night shows with very special guests each weekend. And after the shows finish, The Flick stays open late, with the disco ball spinning and cocktails shaken until the early hours.

And six thrilling debut hours:

• The twisted minds of Gein’s Family Giftshop and the sweaty bodies of Goose combine to bring you something new: Tarot. Featuring Kath Hughes, Ed Easton, and Adam Drake onstage, with the writing & directing talents of Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Ben Rowse offstage, Tarot is a fast-paced sketch show inspired by and based on a love of tarot reading.
• New York sensation Catherine Cohen arrives in Edinburgh for the first time with The Twist…? She’s Gorgeous, after selling out shows across America, in London’s MOTH Club, and at her weekly residency in Alan Cumming’s cabaret bar. 
• Saturday Night Live writer and former editor-in-chief of Reductress.com, Anna Drezen debuts her first ever hour, Okay Get Home Safe!, all about true crime, the dark side of reality TV, and very powerful ghosts. 
• Winner of Best Show at the 2018 New Zealand International Comedy Festival, Chris Parker brings Camp Binch to Edinburgh after a hugely successful run at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it played to sold-out crowds.
• Nominated for both Best Newcomer in Melbourne and Best Show in his native New Zealand, Guy Montgomery comes to Edinburgh with his debut show I Was Part Of The Problem Before We Were Talking About It.
• Hotly tipped newcomer Sophie Duker unveils her first hour Venus, after already appearing on 8 Out of Ten Cats (E4), Riot Girls (C4), and co-hosting BBC Radio 4’s GrownUpLand.

And in addition to all of the above:

• The first improv show from Berk’s Nest, SNORT is the hit New Zealand late-night improv group that boasts a cast including Rose Matafeo, Alice Snedden, Guy Montgomery, Chris Parker, Eli Matthewson, Laura Daniel, Joseph Moore and Eddy Dever. 
• Star of The Fast Show and Two Doors Down, Arabella Weir premieres her first ever stand-up show. Does My Mum Loom Big In This? is a show for everyone who’s had a mother or been a mother, a helter-skelter tour of appalling - and appallingly funny - maternal behaviour.
• Triple Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Kieran Hodsgon performs his last four shows (French Exchange, Lance, Maestro, and last year’s ’75) in rotation across the final two weeks of the festival.
• Alongside performing in SNORT, Rose Matafeo brings back Horndog for five nights only, the show which last year won her the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show.

Plus, Berk’s Nest will once again be putting on the Berk’s Nest Mid-Fest Comedy Special, returning on the middle Tuesday night of the festival. A spectacular night of festival favourites, the best new acts, and special guests, the last two year’s line-ups have included appearances from Mae Martin, Phil Wang, Richard Gadd, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Colin Hoult, Desiree Burch, Sam Campbell, Ivo Graham, and many, many more.

Berk’s Nest is run by Owen Donovan, with the company’s two founders Phoebe Bourke and Katie Churchill regularly directing shows for the company in Edinburgh and elsewhere. Owen is joined this year by returning producer Jenny Kassner (previously Soho Theatre), along with a larger team TBA. 

Tickets go on sale on April 18 here.

Click here for full Berk's Nest Listings