I had an incredible and exhausting week at the Fringe this year, powering through 6-7 shows a day, fighting through crowds to flit from venue to venue, and trying to keep both my schedule and my head straight!
We lucked out with a little Greek café just up the road from our accommodation that served the most delicious food, so every morning we’d go up, have our Turkish coffee and our Scottish breakfast (including potato pancakes, haggis, black pudding – the works), and then run off that energy until late evening where we’d scramble to grab a quick snack between shows from the nearest food stall. It was probably the most unhealthy week I’ve had in a while!
If you’re in the area, I highly recommend popping into The Richmond Café on Richmond Street. The Thessalonikan Cream Pie is to die for.
Another gem is Kawaneko Katsu & Coffee – I’ve not had better Tonkatsu outside of Japan.
Edinburgh Fringe – Best Acts To See
I saw some really amazing acts, and I picked out a few of the best ones to reviews. I really can’t recommend the following comedians enough if you get the chance to see them in person.
Lauren Pattison: It is what it is
Monkey Barrel 1, 12:30, until 28 August
‘It is what it is’ has been nominated for Best Show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2022, and rightly so!
Lauren is down-to-earth, great fun, and an excellent story teller. A proud Geordie, she shares how she coped with the lockdown after a big breakup, and working in Morrisons after having to move back home in a way that’s both hysterical and heartwarming at the same time.
The Delightful Sausage: Nowt but Sea
Monkey Barrel 4, 12:45 & 21:15, until 28 August
Another show nominated in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2022, Nowt but Sea is probably the best thing I saw throughout the whole week.
Silly, naughty, and side-splittingly hilarious, Chris and Amy don’t take themselves at all seriously, and we love them for it. The Yorkshire duo find themselves stranded on a mysterious island, and the events that unfold are as bizarre as they are ridiculous. Cue jelly fetishes, golden hotpants, and enough lube to make you queasy.
The Delightful Sausage are also on tour in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and London in 2022, you can buy tickets here.
George Egg: Set Menu
Assembly George Square Gardens, 16:25, until 28 August
Once again proving that you can cook using just about any tool, George’s enthusiasm about cooking eggs and kippers with a wallpaper steamer is the best part about the show.
He takes a cheeky pride in managing to create a delicious aubergine salad in a grill cleverly disguised as a laptop on the morning train commute to work, and although I’ll probably never try it myself, it’s great fun to watch his manic glee in cooking delicious food with items straight from the storage shed. Best part – you can try his creations straight after the show!
Stewart Lee: Snowflake
The Stand’s New Town Theatre, 13:50, until 28 August
Stewart Lee is, in my opinion, one of the greatest comedians of all time.
His stage presence is undeniable, able to reduce the audience to tears of sobbing laughter with just a sneering look, or well-timed pause. Concerned with the Right’s culture war against ‘Snowflakes’, his show is just as prevalent as it was back in 2019 when it was originally written. Personally, I find his despair with the audience’s reactions, or lack thereof, the best part of his act – it’s cleverly done to make you feel as if you’re in on the joke.
Stewart’s work in progress show can also be seen at The Stand Comedy Club at 10am until 28 August. Tickets are here.
From September 22, you can catch Stewart in London with his new stand-up tour ‘Basic Lee’. View the dates here.
Lou Conran: A Show
Gilded Balloon Teviot, 15:40, until 29 August
I first saw Lou perform as the MC of Sarah Millican’s playground show, a work-in-progress thing in a tiny room in our local town where 5-6 comedians would come out for 10 minutes to try out new material. We’d go every month, and without fail, Lou was one of the best performers.
I went to see her show at the Fringe in 2017, which brought me to tears not just with laughter but at her incredibly deep and personal story about losing her baby. How someone can twist such a tragic tale into something both beautiful and hilarious is just part of the magic of Lou Conran.
In ‘A Show’ Lou talks about the neverending lockdown, meeting a new partner, weight issues, moving house, and all sorts of everyday struggles we can all relate to. She swears like a sailor, revels in rudeness, and her physical comedy left me dying of laughter.
Alasdair Beckett-King: Nevermore
Pleasance Courtyard, 22:40, or Pleasance Dome, 19:00, until 29 August
There’s something otherwordly about Alasdair, something that makes you think perhaps he was meant to be born in another place and time – but luckily for us, he happens to be with us right now, and so we get to enjoy his odd brand of humour and beautiful mane of hair.
He awkwardly waits for us to file in for his show while sitting in a deckchair on stage, alternately waving at us and absentmindedly tapping on the briefcase he holds on his lap (that turns out to contain a single jar of water that he sips from for the rest of the show). Once we’re settled, he greets us properly, and proceeds to provide wonderful imagery of stories such as about his time managing a death-trap ride as a teenager, and interweaves video clips to enhance the show.
The whole thing is wonderfully strange, funny, and absolutely a must-see show.
You can see Alasdair on tour in April and May 2023. View the dates here.
Tiff Stevenson: Sexy Brain
Pleasance Courtyard, 20:00, until 29 August
Diagnosed with ADHD over lockdown, Tiff has relabeled it, and takes us on a one hour tour of how her ‘Sexy Brain’ works, delving into topics such as the misuse of the title ‘Karen’ and changing perceptions of women as they get older.
Highly relatable, with brilliantly structured material that brings about a lot of laughs and nods of agreement from the audience, Tiff puts on an excellent show and is well worth going and seeing.
Jess Robinson: Legacy
Pleasance Courtyard, 21:20, until 28 August
‘Legacy’ is a high-energy whirlwind of a show, with Jess Robinson putting her phenomanal voice to best use by trying to re-record key moments of history after accidentally deleting all of mankind’s culture from the archives, all while under the withering attention of a very convincing deep-fake Olivia Colman.
Her Disney medley and her recreation of the greatest female voice artists of all time were particularly outstanding, but the whole show is a joy to watch.
Bilal Zafar: Care
Underbelly, Bristo Square, 17:30, until 29 August
The ‘Gentle’ comedian, as he’s been called (much to his irritation), talks to us about his time working in a care home. Underpaid, overworked, roped into hostage negotiations, forced to chase down runaways, and incentivised into collecting people for the home for the reward of a go on the go-karts, Bilal tells us his story with hilarious insights into the world of care.
It’s a very good show, heartwarming in places where he talks about his relationships with the people in his care, and with lots of parts that you feel you probably shouldn’t laugh at, but do anyway (escaped dementia patient anyone?).
Rhys Nicholson: Rhys! Rhys! Rhys!
Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20:25 & 23:10, until 28 August
Australian comedian Rhys talks about his 11-year relationship, new identity, and the problem of never having to come out gay to his supportive and loving parents in his one-hour show.
I love Rhys mainly for his acidic wit and biting sarcasm, but also for his ability to engage with the crowd. He welcomed back anyone who’d left with a quick update (“Still gay!”) and in the act I watched, handled an annoying drunk Irish couple beautifully.
Rhys is performing in the Leicester Square Theatre in London on the 9th and 10th of September if you missed him at the Fringe. You can purchase tickets here.
Edinburgh Fringe – Best Jokes 2022
The best jokes of the Fringe have already been chosen for 2022 – which is your favourite?
- Masai Graham: “I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta.”
- Mark Simmons: “Did you know, if you get pregnant in the Amazon, it’s next-day delivery.”
- Olaf Falafel: “My attempts to combine nitrous oxide and Oxo cubes made me a laughing stock.”
- Hannah Fairweather: “By my age, my parents had a house and a family, and to be fair to me, so do I – but it is the same house and it is the same family.”
- Will Mars: “I hate funerals – I’m not a mourning person.”
- Olaf Falafel: “I spent the whole morning building a time machine, so that’s four hours of my life that I’m definitely getting back.”
- Richard Pulsford: “I sent a food parcel to my first wife. FedEx.”
- Tim Vine: “I used to live hand to mouth. Do you know what changed my life? Cutlery.”
- Sophie Duker: “Don’t knock threesomes. Having a threesome is like hiring an intern to do all the jobs you hate.”
- Will Duggan: “I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days.”
Missed out on EdFringe 2022? Check out the best shows to catch in 2023 here!