Summer Laugh review - five comics gear up for the Fringe

SUMMER LAUGH Five comics gear up for the Fringe

Terrific initiative by Scottish stand-ups

Appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe has long been an expensive gig for comics. But while stand-ups may need only a microphone to ply their wares at the world’s biggest arts festival, the costs they have to bear – among them venue charges, accommodation and marketing – don’t come cheap, and are growing year on year. Many people attending the Fringe are unaware of its financial eco-system – but the majority of performers there are self-funding.

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 review: Joe Kent-Walters

Spoof of old-school entertainment

Joe Kent-Walters has been given the DLT Entertainment Best Newcomer Award in the 2024 Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and deservedly so, for Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: LIVE!!!! The show is a blast.

It's set in a working men's club in Rotherham which has seen better days, as has its MC, Frankie Monroe. (This device is much helped by the show being performed late at night in an overheated, low-ceilinged basement room at Monkey Barrel.)

Edinburgh Fringe 2024: Edinburgh Comedy Awards winners

EDINBURGH COMEDY AWARDS Amy Gledhill won the Best Comedy Show

Amy Gledhill wins main award

Amy Gledhill won the Don and Eleanor Taffner Best Comedy Show, the main award at the 2024 Edinburgh Comedy Awards for Make Me Look Fit on the Poster. The show has variously been described as “bawdy comedy delivered with a blush”, “a funny woman rightly confident of her comedy talents” and “a brilliant physical comedian”.

Accepting her award, Gledhill said: “This is insane. I saw the other people on this list and I thought, 'I don't have to write a script!'”

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: Bellringers / Suitcase Show

EDIINBURGH FRINGE 2024 ★★★★ Bellringers / ★★★ Suitcase Show

A troubling take on the climate emergency and a pile of suitcases containing tall tales in two intimate shows at Summerhall

Bellringers, Roundabout @ Summerhall  

Edinburgh Fringe 2024 reviews: Grace Mulvey / John Tothill

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2024 ★★★ Grace Mulvey / ★★★ John Tothill 

Candid stories, and teasing the comedy gods

Grace Mulvey, Assembly Roxy 

Grace Mulvey has been single for five years, she tells us at the top of the show, a matter of some disappointment to her mother back in Dublin. Even moving to London two years ago didn't change her dating status, despite the best efforts of her flatmates. But then, they're lesbians and she's straight, so maybe their advice isn't quite hitting the spot.