With shows already on sale from Ben Hart, Nina Conti, The Showstoppers, NewsRevue and Cirque Berserk, the first official on-sale sees the Pleasance Theatre Trust presenting the comedy big guns.
With both Edinburgh Comedy Awards in their awards cabinet from the last full Fringe, Pleasance’s comedy programme is always unmissable alongside the amazing theatre, circus and family work that Pleasance are known and loved for.
Before launching his huge national tour in autumn 2022, multi-award-winning comedian Marcus Brigstocke brings his blisteringly funny hour of stand-up, Absolute Shower, to Pleasance. It celebrates the personal triumphs and small victories of the past couple of years while acknowledging it has also been an absolute shower of shit. After an enormous UK and Australia tour and an Amazon special, the Taskmaster runner-up and accidental YouTube cult leader Mark Watson brings his most popular show so far, This Can’t Be It, back to where it began in 2021’s magical mini-Fringe.
King Crud from Jamali Maddix (Taskmaster (Channel4), Frankie Boyle’s New World Order (BBC2), Never Mind The Buzzcocks (Sky)) is a brand new show tackling home truths and universal issues. Tarot, creators of 2019’s fifth-best reviewed show, Chortle’s No1 show of 2019, and stars of their own Radio 4 sketch show Soundbleed bring their new show Cautionary Tales. 2021 BBC New Comedy Award finalist and one of the stars of The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV2) Lily Phillips presents Smut, her long-awaited debut hour talking about feminism and her dog.
Bumbling wordsmith and tripe factory Ivo Graham is back with My Future My Clutter discussing three years of heavy-duty pranking, parenting and procrastinating since Dave’s 2019 nominations for Best Comedy Show and Joke of the Fringe. Discover the positive side of being disabled with Aaron Simmonds in Hot Wheels from having a blue badge to sex in disabled toilets, meeting ‘Jesus’ and everything in-between.
At long last, self-diagnosed important young mind Leo Reich (as seen on E4, Comedy Central, ITV1 and Dave) is ready to share some of his notoriously perfect opinions with the community at large in Literally Who Cares?! 32 athletes entered the 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis, Missouri but only 14 finished… In his Edinburgh debut, New Zealand comedian Nic Sampson (co-writer of Starstruck (BBC3)) brings to life the incredible true story of one of the dumbest sporting events of all time. Join Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer nominee 2019 Crybabies in Bagbeard, a sci-fi infected narrative sketch adventure about finding home, forbidden love, monsters, mystery and massive regret. The smash-hit, internationally acclaimed, multi sell-out fringe phenomenon Shit-faced Shakespeare is back with their hilarious combination of an entirely serious adaptation of Macbeth, with an entirely sh*t-faced cast member. What could possibly go wrong?
If you just can’t decide check out the Best of Edinburgh Showcase Show offering great value lunchtime comedy featuring the best and brightest of this year’s Fringe comics. Hand-picked and with changing line-ups daily – take a seat, you’re in for a treat! Mervyn Stutter is back for his 29th year with the amazing Pick of the Fringe where live extracts from seven top shows are packed into a 90 minute lunchtime extravaganza – new selection every day.
The best night of comedy on the Fringe returns! Join us for a raucous night of laughter at Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit, one of the best nights of comedy on the Fringe, raising much-needed funds for Waverley Care – Scotland’s HIV and Hepatitis C charity.
Don’t forget there are laughs for the little ones too. Soar into space with this exciting adaptation of the award-winning book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Tall Stories, the company that brought you The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom live on stage, present The Smeds and The Smoos, a joyful tale of star-crossed aliens for everyone aged 3 and up, with music, laughs and interplanetary adventures.
With more shows to be announced over the coming months there will be comedy, theatre, circus, magic, dance, kids’ shows and much more, alongside support for some of the most innovative newcomers through artist development strand Pleasance Futures. The Pleasance should certainly be the pick of your Fringe this August.
