The Ode Islands, Pleasance at EICC ★★★★ 

Cat Cohen, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★★

In Broad Strokes Cat Cohen paints a fascinating picture of events leading up to the stroke that could have killed her. Thankfully three years on she is now fully recovered – and from near tragedy comes this superb show.

Ordinary Decent Criminal, Summerhall ★★★★★ 

Emmanuel Sonubi, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★

This show – Life After Near Death – is not about dying, it is about living, Emmanuel Sonubi tells us. Well, actually it’s about both, as in his case he nearly died of heart failure but, thankfully here he is.

Kinder, Underbelly, Cowgate ★★★ 

Drag artist Goody Prostate (yes, I know) receives a call from a local library. Garbed in lederhosen and sporting a preposterous German accent, she was expecting a brutal, no-prisoners-taking drag roast battle. Instead, she finds that she’s actually been booked to read to a bunch of kids.

Eric Rushton, Monkey Barrel ★★★★ 

The Horse of Jenin, Pleasance Dome ★★★★★ 

The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here)), Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★

Lily Blumkin, Gilded Balloon @ Patter House ★★★ 

Lily Blumkin has always planned to be a big-time comic, she tells us. So when her parents downsized and asked her to clear out her childhood bedroom, she went through her stuff – photographs, toys and other oddities – to curate the future museum dedicated to her life and work.

Desiree Burch, Monkey Barrel ★★★★

Desiree Burch is a bundle of energy as she comes on stage and gives us a warning about the subterranean venue she’s in. It’ll get hot, the Taskmaster favourite tells us – but maybe that’s just her as she going through the perimenopause, and in The Golden Wrath she’s going to tell us all about it.