The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a truly unique experience which takes place every August for three weeks in Scotland’s capital city.
BABY WANTS CANDY (9:30pm, Assembly George Square – Studio 1)
It’s now two decades that this world-renowned musical improv troupe Baby Wants Candy have been performing the opening and closing night of a completely improvised, never-seen-before or to-be-seen-again musical. That’s a whole score of spontaneous scores. See what we did there?
With a cast and band unrivalled in talent and so seamlessly in tune (literally) with each other, it’s almost impossible to tell that they’re making it up as they go along – but trust us, they are. An unmissable Fringe institution in their own right.
VENUE: Studio One – Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, EH8 9LH
TIME: 9.30pm
DATES: Weds 5th-Sun 30th August
PRICES: Previews £13/ Midweek £17 (£16) / Weekends £18.50 (£17.50)
TICKETS: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/baby-wants-candy / 0131 623 3030
AGE GUIDELINE: 14+
Hilarious and unpredictable, with the audience in complete control of the action in every performance, this is an absolute festival must-see. Remember the side-splitting show Jesus Christ Uber Car? Or the highly amusing musical Muppet Love Island? Well, it’s a shame you missed them. What will you miss out on this run??
CHRIS GRACE: 88% (1:40pm, Assembly George Square – Studio 5)
Having become an all-time fringe favourite as long-time member of improv ensemble Baby Wants Candy / Shamilton! and writer/director of smash-hits 50 Shades! The Musical, Thrones! The Musical and Voldemort & The Teenage Hogwarts Musical Parody, Chris turned his ridiculously talented hand to stand-up several years back and we just can’t get enough.
88% is an attempt to tell the raw, honest truth about how he lives his life as opposed to how the public thinks he behaves. From vulnerable to sublime, this brand-new hour expresses how Chris sees the world in only the way that Chris can express it.
VENUE: Studio Five – Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, EH8 9LH
TIME: 1:40pm
DATES: Weds 5th-Mon 31st August (not Weds 19th)
PRICES: Previews £9.50 / Off-peak £13.50 (£12.50) / Peak £15 (£14)
TICKETS: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/chris-grace-88 / 0131 623 3030
AGE GUIDELINE 14+
COUPLET: Honey Honey Moon Moon (4:45pm, Assembly George Square – Studio 5)
Last year, married comedy duo Couplet stole the hearts of audiences all over the globe, from New York to London – and of course Edinburgh – in their
critically acclaimed show Honey Honey Moon Moon. This year they return with a folktale about sex and death in a hot new hour of musical comedy.
In FOLK MARRY KILL, Marnina & Micah are asking the hard questions: “how often should a married couple, you know… folk?”, “how long can forever actually last?” and “if you had to, who would you kill: Kermit the Frog, Paddington Bear, or Tony Hawk?” With their guitar and fiddle, Couplet tells so-weird-they-must-be-true stories from a decade of being monogamous… a British sleep hypnotist, a therapy workbook that doesn’t hold back, and an Uber driver who loved his zip ties. They’ll keep folking till death do them part.
VENUE: Assembly George Square Studios – Studio 5, George Square, EH8 9LH
TIME: 4:35pm
DATES: Weds 5th-Sun 30th August (Not Tues 18th)
PRICES: Previews £8/ Midweek £13 (£12)/ Weekends £15 (£14)
TICKETS: https://assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/couplet-folk-marry-kill /
AGE GUIDELINE: 14+
FELICITY WARD: I Wish I Could Come Out Of My Shell (3:50pm, Cab Vol 1 : Monkey Barrell – from 17 th Aug)
For the first time since her Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination in 2018, one of the Fringe’s most loved and critically acclaimed comics is finally back for the last two weeks of the festival, talking sexual liberation and life after 40 post-divorce.
In demand with Australian TV of late, Felicity recently starred as boss Hannah Howard in The Office Australia before going on to be part of last year’s Dancing with the Stars. An advocate of mental health awareness (she’s spoken at length both personally and in her stand up about her own struggles, including presenting a documentary Felicity’s Mental Mission and her Netflix special for Live from the BBC series: What If There Is No Toilet? ), she reflects upon how doing this show had a positive effect on her mental health.
VENUE: Cab Vol 1 @ Monkey Barrel, 36-38 Blair Street, EH1 1QR
TIME: 3:50pm
DATES: Mon 17th – Sun 30th August
PRICES: Midweek £13/ Weekends £15
TICKETS: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/felicity-ward-i-wish-i-could-come-out-of-my-shell
AGE RESTRICTION: 16+
HEATED RIVALRY THE MUSICAL PARODY! (7:45pm, Gilded Balloon Patter House – Other Yin)
Sexy sports stars burn up the ice in this funny, filthy spoof of hockey’s hottest romance. A full-scale production musical packed with songs, sex jokes, scandal and more pucking innuendos than should legally fit into one show.
Lovingly parodying the show that had audiences swooning, blushing and caring about hockey for the first time. From Quick and Funny Musicals, the cult Upright Citizens Brigade LA creators known for turning pop culture obsessions into chaotic comedy musicals, this is an affectionate, outrageous musical send-up of passion, repression and the perfect foreplay to the rest of your night.
Quick & Funny Musicals, a longtime Upright Citizens Brigade mainstay, has been writing and performing original and parody comedy musicals in Los Angeles for more than 15 years. The company is built around making ambitious, ridiculous shows quickly and putting them in front of an audience before anyone can talk them out of it.
VENUE: Other Yin – Gilded Balloon Patter House, Adam House, 3 Chambers St, EH1 1HT
TIME: 7:45pm
DATES: Weds 5th-Sun 30th August (not 17th or 24th)
PRICES: Previews £11/ Midweek £13 (£12) / Weekends £14 (£13)
TICKETS: https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:7086/ / 0131 622 6552
AGE GUIDELINE: 16+
MARK THOMAS: 40 In Stand Up Years (6:05pm, The Stand 1 – then touring)
What?! Mark Thomas has been ‘standing up’ for 40 years? Impossible!! But how old does that make you…? Alas it is true; one of our oldest surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic.
So, here’s what he has done so far in numbers; performed comedy for 40 years, won 8 awards for performing, 4 for human rights work and 1 he invented for himself, made 6 series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product (Channel 4), written 6 books and 5 play scripts, made 5 series of the Manifesto for Radio 4, made 3 Dispatches for Channel 4, sued the police (and won) 3 times, curated and authored 2 art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and had 1 Guinness World Record for holding 20 protests in 24 hours.
If that’s not enough, he’s also walked 724km around the length of the Israel Wall in the West Bank, been credited with changing the law on tax avoidance, started a comedy club in Palestine with Dr Sam Beale and campaigned successfully for things like trade union recognition for cinema workers and getting multinationals to change their practices. You’re right, there’s more, but your attention is running out and we’re running out of space. So let’s just say he’s generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset the right people…which he is really, really good at.
VENUE: Stand 1 at The Stand Comedy Club, 5 York Place, EH1 3EB
TIME: 6:05pm
DATES: Weds 5th-Sunday 30th August (Not Thurs 20th)
PRICES: Previews £10/ Full price £15 (£13)
TICKETS: 0131 558 9005 / https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/mark-thomas-40-in-stand-up-years
AGE RESTRICTION: 14+
SAMMY J: Hero Complex (7:40pm, Underbelly Cowbarn – until 16 th Aug)
It’s been twelve, yes, twelve whole years since this slightly geeky but very funny skinny man graced Scotland’s capital with his “whiplash smart humour” and “endlessly creative talent”. But fear not as for the first twelve, yes, twelve days of this very festival, Edinburgh’s true protagonist is back to save it once and for all. This is Sammy J: Hero Complex.
Thirty years ago, Sammy J swapped some comics from his school gardener. He wasn’t to know it at the time, but that moment set off a chain of events that led to the birth of his daughter, saw him committing a crime in Canberra and ended with a federal policeman searching his attic.
VENUE: Underbelly Bristo Square – Cowbarn, Teviot Place, EH8 9AG
TIME: 7:40pm
DATES: Weds 5th – Sun 16th August
PRICES: Previews £10/ Midweek £16 / Weekends £17
TICKETS: / 0131 510 0395
AGE GUIDELINE: 13+
SAPPHIRE McINTOSH: Squeaky Bum Time (5:45pm, Underbelly Bristo Quare – Daisy Room)
Soon to be seen as a core footballer in the next season of Apple TV’s (long overdue!) excellent award-winning comedy-drama Ted Lasso, Sapphire McIntosh’s eagerly awaited debut hour is a hilarious and sharply observational insight about chasing big dreams from unlikely places.
The professional footballer-turned-actress-and-comedian shares her most personal experiences of homelessness, estrangement, ambition, identity and the strange overlap between football, failure and finding your way. As she explores the truth about growing up with a narcissist and the power of chosen family, Sapphire turns pain into play and survival into punchlines in a show that tackles resilience head on.
VENUE: Underbelly Bristo Square – Daisy Room, Teviot Place, EH8 9AG
TIME: 5:45pm
DATES: Weds 5th – Sun 30th August (not Tues 18th)
PRICES: Previews £9.50/ Midweek £13 / Weekends £14
TICKETS: https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/events/event/sapphire-mcintosh–squeaky-bum-time / 0131 510 0395
AGE GUIDELINE: 12+
SHAMILTON THE IMPROVISED HIP HOP MUSICAL (7:50pm, Assembly George Square – Studio 1)
Born from the brilliant minds of world-renowned comedy ensemble Baby Wants Candy, Shamilton! has sold out every Fringe run since its debut in 2022.
Based on a little-heard-of off-Broadway musical called Hamilton, the show quickly gained cult status at the festival. Often cited for their fast-paced and razor-sharp improv, the genuinely gifted cast and mind-blowing quartet The Shamiltones perform an hour of infectiously catchy hip-hop tunes, choreography and dialogue – with a brand-new narrative every evening and all entirely improvised and on the spot.
VENUE: Studio One – Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, EH8 9LH
TIME: 7:50pm
DATES: Weds 5th-Sun 30th August
PRICES: Previews £13 / Midweek £17 (£16) / Weekends £18.50 (£17.50)
TICKETS: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/shamilton-the-improvised-hip-hop-musical / 0131 623 3030
AGE GUIDELINE: 14+
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