The Edinburgh Fringe Show, with Ewan Spence: Recent Episodes
The Podcast Corner
Ewan Spence brings you an exciting guide to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with news, interviews, and reviews, from behind the scenes and on the stages around Scotland’s Capital City.
And with that, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 comes to an end. Trying to capture everything that happened is a task worthy of Hercules, so I hope that I’ve brought you a flavour of the Fringe during August.
The Fringe has always faced challenges from its first days to this year and beyond. Instead of an interview to close out August, I wanted to talk a little about our Fringe community and my hope that over the next year, we can all listen to everyone’s concerns and work on solutions that benefit everyone.
Let’s ensure that when we all return to Edinburgh in 2025, the Edinburgh Fringe is the best it can be.
- With music from Daniel Cainer (Jewish Chronicles).
- More from Daniel at danielcainer.com.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app never to miss an episode.
As we come to the end of week three, we sit down with Anthony Alderson, director of The Pleasance Theatre Trust.
We touch on several critical issues running one of the largest venues at the Edinburgh Fringe, including the continuing impact of COVID and the importance of government funding to the Fringe community and The Pleasance. Given the cost of the Fringe is on everyone’s minds, we talk about turnover, tickets, and artistic risk.
We also talk about the work of The Plesance to support and promote the arts at Edinburgh in August and throughout the rest of the year, including various Pleasance Futures projects and the ambition of creating sustainable touring for theatre in the UK.
- The Pleasance Theatre Trust.
- The Pleasance at the Edinburgh Fringe.
- The Scotsman Fringe First awards for Week Three.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app never to miss an episode.
Tim Benzie joins us on the show today to talk about his two Fringe shows, “It’s A Mystery” and “Solve Along A Murder She Wrote”. Yes, he loves his cosy crime shows, but doesn’t everyone secretly love a mystery?
We start with the rules of detective fiction before our talk turns to Agatha Christie and Dame Angela Lansbury, how you can do a solve-along-a with a murder, and the advantages of having two shows at the Fringe where one is guaranteed to get the ticket sales.
- Tim Benzie, Solve Along A Murder She Wrote.
- Tim Benzie, It’s A Mystery.
- Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist.
- Malcolm Hardee Awards shortlist.
- More murder at solvealongamurdershewrote.com.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Mark Dean Quinn joins me on the show today to do his best not to talk about his show ‘Oh No (That’s Not Your Cheese).’ He’s found the right level of fame, and doesn’t feel the need to go any further.
Nevertheless, we’ve lots to talk about, including the importance of the Free Fringe and how this can offer more artistic freedom, his work on the Edinburgh Fringe Performers’ Forum, and why he is ready to help people before they get to Edinburgh.
But does he eat cheese?
- Mark Dean Quinn, Oh No (That’s Not Your Cheese).
- The Edinburgh Fringe Performers’ Forum on Facebook.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Juliet Cowan has an impressive CV of character roles in TV and film following her stand-up appearances, yet 2024 is her first hour of comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe. The delightfully titled show has Cown looking at the impact of the menopause and its reflection on the rush of hormones in her teenage life.
We talk about how stand-up was a way into an acting career and how that had to fit around family life, being recognised by different generations for different roles, and the challenge of having your children come and watch such a confessional show.
- Juliet Cowan, F*ck Off and Leave Me Alone.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
To open up week three, I speak to Nina Gilligan on her show Goldfish. We start with the classic observation of a Goldfish’s memory before exploring what that means to Nina and how it ties in with the show.
We also go into the importance of “the hour” at the Fringe, why it is well suited to Nina’s show, and how she could never be as vulnerable on the regular circuit as she can be in Edinburgh.
Like every interview, I never want to give up spoilers on any show, and it’s something I check with artists before we start. So, while there are no spoilers to the show, the show itself does touch on topics that may be triggering, and this interview is going to hint at.
- Nina Gilligan, Goldfish.
- More from Nina at ninagilligan.com.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Rachel Kaly is over from the US to bring their debut hour to the Fringe. Hospital Hour looks at Kaly’s many appointments and visits to the American healthcare system for psychological treatments.
We also talk about what the fringe means in general and Edinburgh specifically. How do you know when an hour is ready for the Fringe, and how does the show change throughout the month?
- Rachel Kaly, Hospital Hour.
- More from Rachel at rachelkaly.com.
- The Scotsman’s Fringe First awards for week two.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
A fun conversation with Louise Atkinson today as we talk about her show She’s Got The Look. The press release provides my first question (to the light of morning DJs the world over), but we go into more topics on the business and art of being a comic.
How can you make comedy accessible to everyone? How does Edinburgh fit into the United Kingdom’s festival circuit, and why is the Fringe one of the biggest routes into comedy? And if it’s all about rhythm, what beat does Louise work to?
- Louise Atkinson, She’s Got The Look.
- More from Louise on her Instagram, @_latkinson_.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
John Meagher joins me on the podcast today to discuss his life and Edinburgh Fringe debut. 8 years after starting on his performing career, he has an hour for the Fringe. Big Year is that show, and it’s an opportunity for John to look back over his life, from an island off the coast of Ireland to his own home in England.
We talk about his approach to writing material and why it has to be personal, the various culture shocks throughout his life, finding love and looking back on his life to find the good times.
- John Meagher, Big Year.
- More from John Meagher on his Instagram, @Johnmcomedy.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Today, I speak to Natasha Pearl Hansen. Following her breakout hour and comedy special retelling the moment she cancelled the wedding and turned it into a recording session for a live show, Natasha returns to the Fringe with The Right Amount of Wrong.
It looks at life after that not-wedding day, finding the joy and the win in the day, and the journey that followed. We talk about that, but also the challenge of transferring US comedy to the UK, how to name a show so it can be easily pitched and flyered, and (of course) the weather.
- Natasha Pearl Hansen, The Right Amount of Wrong.
- Follow Natasha at her website, nphcomedy.com.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Vyte Garriga’s Paper Swans is a mesmerising and thought-provoking piece of absurdist theatre that is picking up critical acclaim in the media covering the Fringe, and offering an emotionally complex hour for the audience.
We talk about moving from Lithuania to the UK and London and why RADA felt like the only option for Vyte to further her career. From there, she talks about her academic studies and why she was hungry to be on stage, both individually and as part of a theatere company. Finally, we talk about the writing process and the challenges presented by the repeating motif in Paper Swans and the challenge if offers the audience.
- Vyte Garriga, Paper Swans.
- Follow Vyte on her website vytegarriga.com
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Archie Henderson joins me today. He’s the creative mind behind Jazz Emu, a flamboyant singer with illusions of grandeur, as Emu looks to climb the dizzying pole of stardom. The show at the Fringe is a brash mix of musical fun, intense moments, and the drive to succeed in front of royalty.
We talk about the influences of music and style behind Jazz Emu and how the audience interaction of a comic can apply to what is essentially a piece of musical theatre. How that changes depending on the venue Henderson and the full band are playing in, and why the Government’s lockdown campaign is a key part of Emu’s story.
- Jazz Emu, Knight Fever.
- Listen to more from Jazz Emu on Bandcamp.
- The Scotsman’s Fringe First Awards for the first week.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Joining me on the podcast today is Julie Flower, who has a story that looks at “love, memories and the stories our clothes have to tell.” Bringing the true-life story of her Grnadma’s counter-culture second-hand shop in Sheffield to the Fringe, we talk about the trailblazing nature of her relative, investigating your own family for personal and professional reasons, and subverting expectations.
There might be a few cats involved as well.
- Julie Flower, Grandma’s Shop.
- Find out more about Grandma’s Shop online at grandmas-shop.co.uk.
- The Edinburgh Fringe Guide to Street Performances.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Bebe Cave joins me today for the big interview. She’s been a regular at the Fringe since she debuted in 2012 in a two-hander show with her sister, but this year is her first solo show. ‘The Screen Test’ is a period piece set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, but it talks about the industry demands of today, as well as a near-century ago in Hollywood.
We also talk about the delights of the heroines of the screwball comedy, finding the confidence to go out on stage, and the importance of family support when you work in the Arts.
- Bebe Cave, The Screen Test.
- Bebe Cave on Instagram.
- Jessie Cave, An Ecstatic Display.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Today’s interview is with Finlay Christie, a comic who has found success on the stage and online, with sell-out shows at the fringe and a popular YouTube channel that can bring hundreds of thousands of viewers to his material. His show ‘I Deserve This’ sees the 19-year-old question his success and how he balances the different needs of comedy for the online and offline worlds.
- Finlay Christie, I Deserve This.
- Watch more of Finlay on YouTube.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Today’s interview is with Alison Larkin. She has brought “Grief… A Comedy” to the Fringe. It’s a solo piece about Alison finding love late in her life before her partner died. Alison’s grief took her on an unexpected journey full of hope, laughter, and a cameo from Archbishop Desmond Tutu… as all good stories must.
- Alison Larkin, Grief… A Comedy.
- Read more about Alison at her website, alisonlarkin.com.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
It’s time for our final preview of the Edinburgh Fringe as Ewan Spence talks to Darrell Martin, owner of Just The Tonic.
We talk about Just The Tonic starting at the Edinburgh Fringe with the Big Value Comedy Showcase before moving into venue management. JTT operate a number of different ticket options, from ‘Free Fringe’ to full-price ticketing. Which choices are best for which artists, and does Darrell have a preference?
The cost of the Fringe is also discussed with a particular focus on the cost of accommodation and the impact of local and national legislation on the delicate balance the Fringe needs to survive.
- Just The Tonic: Edinburgh Fringe programming, Big Value Comedy Show.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
For our second preview of the Edinburgh Fringe, Ewan Spence talks to Julie Lærkholm, the Community Engagement Officer at the Fringe Society.
We talk about two key ticketing projects, Fringe Days Out, which works with local groups and organisations; and the Community Ticketing Initiative, which sees tickets from artists, companies, and venues distributed to the local community.
We also talk about how the Fringe Society supports performers and venues to make their shows more accessible through captioning, audio description, and BSL interpreters.
The Fringe Society is just one part of the Fringe—venues and performers will all have their own approaches to making shows and venues as accessible as possible, but this is a great discussion about how the Society is promoting and encouraging accessibility across the Fringe.
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society resources: Artists’ guide to putting on an accessible show, Making a show accessible, Audience accessibility guide, the Community ticketing initiative, Community group guide, and Fringe resources for schools.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Over the next few weekends during July, we’re going to bring you some interviews that talk about the wider power of the Edinburgh Fringe and its importance to the creative economy.
In our first preview show, Ewan Spence meets Chris Grace to talk about his new solo show ‘Sardines (A Comedy About Death)’, how fringe theatre continues to be important to his career, and why the Edinburgh Fringe is such a magical time of year.
- Click here to buy tickets for ‘Sardines, A Comedy About Death‘, and here for ‘Chris Grace as Scarlett Johansson‘, Find out more from Chris via Instagram or visit him online here
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Welcome to the twentieth season of the Edinburgh Fringe Show and our coverage of the largest arts festival in the world.
Before everything starts moving too fast, welcome to our prologue podcast. It’s a chance for us to check everything is working on the tech side as the podcast feeds wake up from their slumber. If something’s not quite right, we’ve time to fix it. The podcast also helps set the scene for what’s to come in our weekly July preview shows before we get into the rush of August as the worlds of theatre, comedy, and music flood into Edinburgh.
Finally, it will come as no surprise that we have the music of Daniel Cainer as the troubadour reminds us what it’s like to be in Edinburgh (his show Jewish Chronicles runs throughout the Fringe).
All right, Edinburgh. Let’s start from the beginning one more time…
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your favourite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Reviews play a critical part in the Arts world, especially during the Edinburgh Festival. Who is reviewing you, did it read like a five-star, why is nobody turning up, and what can you do with them in September?
In this podcast, I’m joined by Scott Matthewman. He has been working as a theatre critic for nearly twenty years, sometimes as a part-time freelancer and at other times as a fully employed staff writer. We talk about the importance of reviews and reviewers in the Arts, how reviewing has changed over the years, and what can be done to improve the review landscape at Edinburgh and other Fringes around the world.
- Find out more about Scott Matthewman through his About Me page.
Listen to more from the world of the Edinburgh Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Ewan Spence is joined by theatre producer Fin Ross Russell (The Collie’s Shed) to look back at this year’s Fringe, the preparation required, what happens next, and plans for 2024.
- Find out more about Fin Ross Russell at Island Life Productions.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
What does it mean to bring a legend back into the light? That’s the challenge faced by Two Halves Productions in the delightful tongue-twisty Never Trouble Trouble, Until Trouble Troubles You.
Writer and performer Paul Beeson joins the podcast to talk about the life of Bobby Walker, and portraying the legend at the Edinburgh Fringe. Joining Heart of Midlothian Football Club in 1896, Walker became one of the first footballing superstars; before fading from the public eye. What responsibilities are there with an autobiography, how do you find the voice of someone born in the 19th century, and what is it like to perform in a museum full of the memories of the legend?
Cat Shit Crazy, with either an exclamation mark replacing the eye or a censored graphic over the title, caught a lot of attention as the Fringe started, in part due to the aforementioned ‘we can’t have that sort of thing on display at the Fringe’. Sometimes the best publicity comes as a surprise. But the show is about much more than that.
Hollywood-based Cindy D’Andrea’s autobiographical show is much more than that. At one of the darkest moments in her life, her best friend suggested she should get a cat. Moving from I hate cats, to countless feline friends over the last fourteen years, this is a story about a woman, a cat, and unconditional love.
What happens when you decide to make your own magic from whatever you can find around you? What happens when you add a dash of robotics to the magic? And then an old tomato soup can from the bin to be your next robot assistant.
That’s the world of Mario The Maker Magician. It’s a family show packed with slapstick humour, handmade robots, and a lot of skill. THere’s a mix of science, creativity, showmanship, and laughter that is incredibly hard to balance. Mario makes it look easy.
When you do comedy, there’s always a message - the old adage of only punching up is born from many a hard-earned lesson on the stage. You can do that powerfully with force and aggression, but if you prefer a milder comedian, then why not ask Tom Mayhew.
Tom’s show for 2023 is ‘This Time Next Year, We'll Be Millionaires!’ and beyond the well-timed nod to something the audience may be more familiar with to catch their attention, Mayhew has much to say on capitalism, on hopes, and dreams, in a whimsically sweet hour that delivers some sharp satire on the United Kingdom when you least expect it.
The Fringe is not static. Neither are board games, and the classic Monopoly is a perfect example. It’s not a great game, it’s poorly designed, and it ruins friendships and families. Benjamin Alborough not only has the arguments on the dangers of Monopoly, but is also going to reinvent the game with the help of the audience.
Absolute Monopoly is an interactive yet rather chaotic gameshow; from going through the rules through becoming the board to play the game, to deciding the winner. If there’s going to be one.
Rebecca McGlynn’s musical ‘Asexuality’ asks what it means to be a man in the 21st century and how toxic masculinity affects those of us assigned male at birth. It’s an autobiographical musical comedy about Rebecca’s life before transitioning. Sitting down with Rebecca in a brief moment of sun, we talk about the power of Sondheim...
One part of the Edinburgh Fringe for every performer is being judged; by the audiences, by the industry, by the reviewers, and pretty much every part of the business. Which makes it all the more interesting that Colleen Lavin has not only built a robot to judge her, but it’s doing it live, every day, in from of an audience.
In ‘’Do The Robots Think I’m Funny’, Colleen asks what it means to be insecure in the modern world, how comedy and improv mix, and the differences between a room in Chicago and a room in Edinburgh. Underneath it all is the nagging question of the moment… will we all be replaced by robots?
Featuring cameos from Columbo and The Eiffel Tower, here’s my chat with Sid Singh. His Fringe show for 2023 is “Table for One”, where Sing talks about his dual career as a stand-up comic and human rights advocate - careers that see him taking on the US Government over human rights before dealing with deportation from India while staying in Germany.
The show, which is supporting and raising money for the Centre for Gender and Refugee Studies, asks how you can fight the good fight while you are far away from home.
Emily Walsh brings her show ‘Dad Girl’ from the clubs of New York to the Grassmarket of Edinburgh. Emily does not know if she wants kids, but she would like to be a dad. It’s a show about making decisions in a world where others believe the decision has already been made for you by society.
The Fringe offers something that many comics, including Emily, rarely get. A chance to spend an hour with an audience. That allows more complex topics to be addressed, to go into much greater depth, but also a chance to look at a wider picture. It’s an offer that Emily luxuriates in.
Sikisa’s Hear Me Out is her second hour-long show at the Edinburgh Fringe. During last year’s debut, after reading a passage of text an audience member wondered if she might be dyslexic. To cut a long story short (and not give away any spoilers), Sikisa was diagnosed, and this year’s show is about that journey.
Sikisa and I talk about her performance and how it rarely reflects how she is away from the comedy stage, the importance of music, and how her 2023 show can be summed up in a single question… “why is it so hard to say the right things?”
‘Bed The Musical’ is centred around the titular piece of furniture. The show examines a twenty-year-long marriage through the presence of the bed that Alice and Ben bought instead of going on a honeymoon. If beds could tell their own stories, this bed has a tale to tell, and it’s all put to song.
Written by Tim Anfilogoff and Alan Whittaker Bed is a musical about a place we spend a third of our life in, and much more of our life around it, making it, and thinking up new things to do in it., Ahead of the show making its worldwide premiere at this year’s Fringe, I spoke to writer Tim Anfilogoff and director Matthew Gould about the devilish divan that can be found at the Gilded Balloon.
Patrick Susmilch has spent time looking back over all the messages, memes, and moments with his friends on social media. Many are still around, yet some have died. Through those older messages, he feels connected to those who have passed on.
Through the medium of PowerPoint presentations, Susmilch introduces us to his dead friends, their impact on his life, the bursts of joy and laughter as well as darker moments. Think Twilight Zone and Black Mirror mixed with Who’s Line Is It Anyway.
If the world is becoming more used to shades of grey, why is infidelity still a black-and-white conflict with a clear villain?
Chloe Radcliffe is one of many comics who has made the trip from the US to Edinburgh this year (something, something. exchange rate, half-price trip, something). Her show. ‘Cheat’ is in the classic fringe style of examining the human condition first through the eyes of the comic and their live experience, before moving that out to the wider world and finding something intriguing to explore over the hour.
Kuan-wen Huang’s Fringe show for 2023 is ‘Ilha Formosa’, (which means ‘beautiful island’ in Portuguese, a nod towards the sailors who landed on the islands in the 16th century). In it, he talks about how he traded his beloved Taiwan for the rainy British Isles, what it means to be Taiwanese and what it symbolises through generations of migration and shifting identities.
The show does have some autobiographical elements, how could it not given its subject, but it does offer that time-honoured use of comedy to take a sideways look at both politics and the human condition through a medium that makes it easy to talk about complicated issues.
The Edinburgh Fringe is a mix of every genre and emotion; from stand-up and dance, through music, to cabaret and theatre, and beyond, the Fringe swings from light and fluffy to hard-hitting and heavy themes and emotions. It’s the latter that we’re going to talk about in this episode.
Emily Carding is one of the performers in Let The Bodies Pile, the other performer, Henry Naylor, is also the writer. This is an intensely political piece that looks at the reaction to Covid here in the United Kingdom, primarily in nursing homes and how society comes to terms with the decisions made by politicians.
Bedlam Theatre is home to the Edinburgh University Theatre Company… and when August comes around Bedlam Fringe comes around with an eclectic and varied programme of shows. Except it’s not been at the Fringe since 2019.
That changes this year, as the gothic 90-seat theatre opens its doors once more. Ewan sat down with venue manager Marie Rimolsrønning to find out what it takes to return to the Fringe, what Bedlam represents, and some of the shows we can expect.
In today's Fringe 2023 preview, Ewan is joined by long-time friend of the parish Marc Burrows. He’s bringing three shows to Edinburgh this year… a classic stand-up, a second show that talks about what happened in his third show, and a third show that takes us through the life and work of Sir Terry Pratchett.
When did Marc decide to bring Sir Terry to the Fringe, why the footnotes that Pratchett loved are part of the experience, and what was he thinking when he added a third show to his already busy Fringe schedule?
The Edinburgh Fringe is drawing closer, so let's continue our previews, talking to some of the artists who will be arriving in August.
In our second preview ahead of Fringe 2023, Ewan chats with Anu Vaidyanathan about her show 'Blimp', and her busy creative life. She is a comedian, filmmaker, director, and triathlete; Anu brings her show to the Fringe, exploring her nomadic and creative life with the audience.
Our first full preview of the Edinburgh Fringe 2023, and Ewan meets jD Shapiro to talk about his second Edinburgh show “Stories From The Hood To Hollywood”. How does stand-up fit into his career as a writer and director, what did he learn at the Fringe last year, and why has he come back to Edinburgh?
As we prepare to explore another year of the Edinburgh Fringe, Ewan Spence opens up the season with our traditional musical prologue from Daniel Cainer.
‘Who, Me’ launched in Australia in 2011, and has been a popular hour on the touring circuit since then. It’s always nice to have a show that always sells at the Fringe. to go along with your regular set. This is the show that made bank for Rob… and still does.
He joins myself and co-host Jon Jacob in the Rose Street Theatre; we broadcast the podcast live in 2017, so everything was one take, get it right, fun and games.
Lloyd is an engaging, energetic performer with a brilliant comedic instinct. Yes, his honesty borders on the dangerous — really, should anyone admit in public to having seen The Phantom Menace quite so many times in the cinema? But this show’s great strength is that you don’t need to know what The Doomsday Weapon is, or who The Carole Ann Ford Clinic is named after. That said, if you do, it just adds to the pleasure.
Broadway Baby / * *
So now, ‘vworp vworp’ back in time to the Fringe, back to the time as a new companion was announced by the BBC, and a little bit of a doctor who trivia train with Rob Lloyd
Always remember: The show is finished, don’t try and get tickets- Actually, this time, the show is still out there, so maybe?
Getting his big break on Irish television in 2004, and then working up the rungs to his first Edinburgh show in 2010. The momentum kept building, including a stage of becoming fluent in Chinese to do a stand-up show in the country, multiple years selling out venues at the Fringe and bringing back something bigger each year.
It’s easy to be an observations comic. It’s hard to be a really good observational comic. Des makes it look easy.
The show flows from childhood to manhood, the challenges of sexual performance and the inevitable event when “Seamus” does not get up to perform. Des likes sex and as the show is drawing to a close he takes us on a sometimes cringe-worthy journey through his sexual encounters and a range of taboo subjects. By talking about it he urges us to talk about it. ‘Grey Matters’ is brilliant and very funny – and an hour in the company of Des Bishop passes all too quickly.
The Edinburgh Reporter.
In my mind’s eye, let’s head to our luxury studio beside a touring theatre company… in real life lets head to a shed next to a double-decker bus with a performing space on the top deck…. Back to 2016, back to the Grey Matters of Des Bishop.
- Find out more about Des at his website desbishop.net, follow him on Twitter, and find links to his podcast on Podnews.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Following on from the viral success of his retro throwback to the days of the ZX Spectrum and other 8-bit home computers, MJ Hibbett brought his musical mix of comedy and meme-ability to the Edinburgh Fringe… although the hit song was released in 2000, and he didn’t make the Fringe till 2015, this might feel tenuous but when you have a one-hit wonder online, you live the dream.
MJ, along with Steven Hewitt, expanded that little ditty into a time-travelling rock and roll opera, mixing in Back to the Future, Ukuleles, and obscure Doctor Who references. They join myself and Jen Blacker in the Leith Radio Studios to talk about the show, viral success, and of course, they brought a guitar for a bit of a turn.
Programming and poetry are slammed together in a thoughtful song (both convey complicated ideas with clarity). Don’t go thinking this is carefully considered stuff however. An audience member grumbled that he only counted 15 of the 20 things he expected in the aforementioned [20 Things To Do Before You’re 30] song. But that’s missing the point of this joyously simple, free pub party.
Broadway Baby / * * *
So not only are we back in time to 2015 but back in time to 1982 as well. It’s the Free Fringe at Sneaky Pete’s, it’s Hey Hey 16K.
- Find out more about MJ Hibbett at his website, follow him on Twitter, and find his music on Bandcamp.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Put on by Old Trunk in 2014 – Sadie Hasler (Playwright/Actor) and Sarah Mayhew (Director/Actor) brought The Bastard) Children of Remington Steele to The Fringe. The play is less about the television series and more about life and finding a place in it
Curiously, this show was a double-header at the Fringe – while this and ‘The Secret Wives Of Andy Williams’ were both standalone plays, they were also designed to be seen in partnership with each other and create a larger story.
Watership Breakdown has restored my faith in new writing, and given me back the hope that it is a certainty that there is luscious fresh new talent out there on the fringe. Sadie Hasler deserves to be reaching higher heights with this production and I absolutely wait with baited breath for the next show she produces. This is the sort of fringe that should be attracting all ages and consistently touring.
.FringeReview / * * *
The podcast brought them into the local radio station – the show that year pulled double duty with online downloads, streaming, and FM transmission – to talk about the shows, although our resident chaos bunny Dan rapidly derails the conversation towards the titular Remington Steele.
We’re heading back to 2014, back to the Underbelly on the Cowgate, and back to Remington Steele.
Jeremy Nicholas’ career includes working as a news and sports reporter from his early days at studio radio, an award-winning breakfast radio show on BBC Greater London, recognition for his live commentary at the horrific Hillsborough Disaster, the Professional Speaking Award of Excellence, and 11 years as the voice of the FIFA computer games.
2018 saw Jeremy bring a show packed full of anecdotes, hilarity, and humility to the Edinburgh Fringe with the keyword packed ‘After Dinner Stories From My Disastrous Broadcasting Career’. It’s a mix of a new discipline with a long and varied career.
Jeremy Nicholas is the 11th most successful Jeremy in BBC history; it’s a claim to fame that is neither verified nor doubted. Nonetheless, it sets the scene for this engaging hour long chat from the voice of the FIFA Football game about his various triumphs, failures and frustrations, especially as colleagues who have sat with him in various sound proof booths across England have gone on to fame and fortunes that might have been his. To be clear the name-dropping is done with good humour with a bell signing off each mention.
- / Kryztoff Raw
What brought Jeremey to the Fringe? How did he decide on this hour of material? And who will you find in his audience?
Let’s head back to the Gilded Balloon, back to a dining room converted into a stage for someone to talk about speaking in dining rooms. Let’s go back to 2018 and Jeremy Nicholas.
- Find out more about Jeremy Nicholas at his website, or find him on Twitter, @jeremy_nicholas.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Maths and stand-up is a strange formula – but one that clearly has an abundance of puns if you put your mind to it. One performer who has put their mind to it is Matt Parker. Like many performers at the Fringe, he’s Australian but lives in the United Kingdom. His early days at the Fringe saw him appear in ‘multi bill’ shows, with two other scientists, taking 20 minutes each… before he stepped up to a full solo show.
One of those hours was in 2019, with Humble Pi. Based on the book of the same name, it brought ‘mathematical mistakes and errors’ from history to the stage, with hilarious results… all backed up with proof.
Non-nerds will enjoy it either way, but there’s simply too much content to cover for our host to actually talk us through all of the maths; this is a shame, because it leaves swathes of an otherwise-amused audience feeling a little lost in the middle of a joke. The trade-off, though, is that we get to learn about more ridiculous mishaps, and that’s definitely a price worth paying.
The Wee Review / * *
And so let’s regress (ahem) back to 2019, back to the Pleasance Dome, and back to, roughly Humble 22 over 7.
- Find out more about Matt Parker at his website, follow him on YouTube, or find him on Twitter @StandUpMaths.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Dominic Holland made his name at the Fringe. His first time in Edinburgh, in 1993 he won the Perrier Best Newcomer award, and was later nominated for the full Perrier. He’s made TV appearances, is a regular on the circuit… and was anointed by Bob Monkhouse as “Britain’s funniest not yet famous comedian”.
He’s a stand-up with many highs (and lows). He’s also a father, and in 2017 he brought his show ‘Eclipsed’ to the Free Fringe.
The eclipse in question is by his son Tom Holland. How was Dominic’s journey to where he is today, how did the whole family deal with each other, and how much of a protective father he is to a really talented son.
Holland is aware that plenty of people have come because he’s Spidey’s father. A man in late middle-age in the front row says he’s seen the blockbuster 20 times. That’s worrying. So the comedian intersperses the tale of Tom’s unlikely rise from a normal middle-class family to a peak of Hollywood fame with more conventional stand-up routines about his ageing body and idiotic behaviour.
Chortle / * *
It’s a different viewpoint on the classic story of rising from humble roots to a hero – literally. With Jokes.
So let’s go back to the Fringe, back to the Voodoo Rooms, and the Free Fringe, to find out the delight of being Eclipsed.
And remember…. The show’s over, don’t try and get tickets! But the book is that’s the companion to the show is available in all good bookshops. And Amazon.
Find out more about Dominic Holland’s work at his website, and follow him on Twitter, @DomHolland.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Popping up for a single week at the Edinburgh Fringe – something that was becoming a more popular option in recent years due to the cost and complexity of the Fringe – Rich Batsford brought his piano to the Festival.
Was this a rock n roll hour of gags and wordplay? No. But it was a master at work. The Fringe is more than stand-up comedy, and our Fringe interviews always try to get the same balance. And this certainly was it – Batsford could capture the room in the same way as any Perrier nominee, could twist his tales with a look, and bring out emotions with a few flickers of fingers over the piano keys.
“Every once in a while, in the hurly-burly, helter-skelter that is the Fringe, you bump into an hour of entertainment that slows you down, relaxes, makes you reflect a bit on life and what’s important to you – chill out, in other words. This is it.
“Recommended / Fringe Review.
Myself and Nick Awde caught up with Batsford in the podcast studio to talk about Batsford’s show, his approach to music, and the power of a silent moment.
So let’s go back to the Fringe, back to the Space at Surgeons Hall, and the Classically Chilled Piano Show of Rich Batsford.
And remember…. The show’s over, don’t try and get tickets!
- Find out more about Rich Batsford’s work at his website, and follow him on Twitter, @richbatsford.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Lady Carol, a Fringe stalwart then and now, back on the touring circuit of cabaret and festivals and the like, returned to the Fringe in 2014 with a mandolin and ukulele in tow,
Billed as a show with songs of spirited spite and tales of melancholic mischief, Lost and Found, has 30 songs, and 30 stories, and of course, you can’t get all of that into a single hour. The random nature guaranteed something different for every audience, kept the show fresh for the whole month, but perhaps made it difficult to review as presented…
…but this is a show where the performer, rightly, comes first and comes highly recommended.
I am always amazed at the huge, pitch perfect voice that the elfin chanteuse possesses, yet it can be soft and delicate also and this together with the lilting anecdotes between the numbers round the whole package off beautifully.
One 4 Review * * *
In the days before he got a bus, Bob Slayer had a bookshop. That bookshop was a Fringe venue. And in that venue was Lady Carol, so let’s head back to 2014 to be lost and found.
And remember, the show is over, don’t try and get tickets.
- Find out more from Lady Carol on Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Performing regularly since 2004’s appearance on Dead Ringers, various roles in the audio adventures of Doctor Who from Big Finish, and one of the “we need a voice” actors called on by the Horrible Histories troupe, Jess Robinson has been in the business for well over a decade before making it to the Fringe.
2016 saw impressionist Jess Robinson’s third show at the Edinburgh Fringe. Impressive opens with a promise of 99 voices in the first 5 minutes before a gentler pace kicked in and a storytelling hour took over… with a bit of help from both a live band and many of those aforementioned 99 voices.
Since then there are more accomplishments, and Robinson has picked up a Gold Medal for ‘Best Entertainment Podcast’ in 2021 with Stars in Your Ears.
- Find out more from Jess Robinson’s website jessrobinson.co.uk , follow her on Twitter @JessieRobinson, and listen to ‘Stars In Your Ears‘ here.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Carey Marx’ Fringe in 2013 is the sort of one-line elevator pitch that Hollywood loves – ‘I had to cancel my show in 2012 because I had a heart attack… let’s talk about that in 2013’.
Marx was already an accomplished storyteller who had that delightful ability to keep the story on the straight and narrow but twist everything else just a little, under the surface, and capture the audience. Intensive Carey – which is still a fabulous pun nearly ten years later – did just that.
“There is no doubt that Carey is an superb writer and performer, he makes mileage out of the whole life altering experience tugging on the audiences emotions at times, also making you laugh at the indignities and fear he suffered during the ad days. As a master painter uses paint for his art, Marx uses his words and writing to paint a picture as vividly yet his impish sense of humour is never far from the surface.”
One 4 Review, * *
The Fringe is also family, and knowing that Carey was absent in 2012 meant that so many people – including myself – were delighted just to have him back. This show, just as many others, started in an incredibly relatable place. So let’s go back to 2013, go back to welcome Carey back to the Gilded Balloon, and experience some Intensive Carey.
- Find out more from Carey Marx on his website careymarx.com, or follow him on Twitter, @CareyMarx.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
It’s Mike Bubbins’ turn to escape the archive. He’s a Welsh comic who has carved out a great little space in the scene as “the comic who does the seventies”. His fringe show forom 2017 is quintessential Bubbins, as he looks back at the seventies, what made it great, and what we can learn from it intoday’s world.
He’s continued that mix of cultural time travel in his 2021 TV series Mamoth, where he plays “Tony Mammoth, a Welsh PE teacher, missing presumed dead in an avalanche in the Alps in 1979 whose body is found and miraculously bought back to life in the modern day.”
Bubbins, who is returning to the Fringe eight years after his debut, covers all these routines well. The circuit’s certainly given him the imperative to deliver gags at tight intervals and with a confident, bulletproof delivery that sells each line to maximum effect.
Chortle.
But now, we always say we return to the Fringe, and here it’s a return to the Fringe of 2017, to return to the 70s, via The Assembly Rooms, and Mike Bubbins’ Retrosexual Male.
- Find out more from Mike Bubbins on his website, mikebubbins.com, or follow him on Twitter, @MikeBubbins.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
This week I want to head back to 2015. That year the show was broadcast live on Leith FM community radio, as well as being a podcast, with a number of guest hosts joining me – so you’ll hear the voice of WUSB New York’s Emma Backfish – as well as our comedy just… Finland’s Ismo Leikola.
For countless decades, the ‘observational comedy’ routine has been a staple of stand-ups… yes we have all seen just how many Cafe Nero’s there are, and how many stamps you need to get a free coffee, but Ismo brought a new angle on this to the Fringe… doing it in his second language.
…he plays up the bewildered ‘foreigner abroad’ shtick beautifully, acting befuddled by our British peculiarities – not least with the language, full of such oddities and contradictions. But we are so familiar with them, it takes an outsider to point them out.
Chortle.
A laid-back Finnish style put me in mind of the razer sharp gentleness of Arnold Brown. Ismo’s skills weren’t in the choice of well-worn topics, they were in putting a twist on the resulting points that lifted this show up.
So we return to the Gilded Balloon, we return to the time-honoured comedian watching our everyday life, we return to a rather chaotic studio, to Observing the Obvious.
- Find out more from Ismo Leikola at his website, or follow him on Twitter, @ismocomedy.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
Everyone at the Fringe is inventive, but one group is very much associated with that in my mind, Les Enfant Terribles. Formed in 2002 by James Seager and Oliver Lansley, they have brought many shows to the Fringe over the years, from psychological World War One horror, through Piratosaurs, to 2016’s vaudevillans;a classic murder caper mixed with a variety show.
James Seager popped into our studio that year to explain it… although that year the studio was a shed next to a double decker bus that had been renovated to be a theatre on wheels. Oh and Lucy Evans joined me from Edinburgh Student Radio Fresh Air FM as well.
“The Vaudevillains is never in danger of outstaying its welcome, and offers plenty to raise a smile, particularly the stories of Gaston Gasteau, the silent but deadly mime artist, and Albert Frog, whose ventriloquism act with Mr Punchy might be a manifestation of something more sinister. The visual gags are sharp, there are a couple of excellent songs, and the charm is the fact that it is all a little frayed around the edges. Very light stuff, but murderously good fun.”
The Guardian.
So we return to the Palais du Variete., with Les Enfants, and find out which of our Vaudeville stars are the Vaudevillans.
- Find out more from Les Enfant Terribles here, or follow the team on Twitter, @lesenfantsterr.
Listen to more from the Fringe at edinburghfringe.thepodcastcorner.com. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or in your favourite podcast app, to never miss an episode.
An artist at heart with a long and varied list of interests, Jeff Innocent went on a stand-up comedy course in 1996 - led by alt-comedy legend Tony Allen - and he’s not stopped since then. Jeff has carved out a place in the UK stand-up scene like no other, as well as working as a writer and actor.
In 2006 he brought the show Eco-worrier to the Edinburgh Fringe - environmentalism remains a strong part of his ethos to this day - and it’s interesting to be reminded of how the path looked some 16 years ago.
So we return to the Stand, with Jeff Innocent, and listen to 2006's Eco-Worrier.
2014 saw Australian comic Celia Pacquola return to Edinburgh for her fourth Fringe Show. ‘Let Me Know How It All Worked Out’ looked at the world of psychics and their promise of foretelling the future; specifically one who said she would never have children.
(Spoiler… congratulations are in order, Celia and her partner had their first child earlier this year,).
Since the Fringe Pacquola moved frequently between the UK Australia, with various apeprances, scriptwriting, and starring appearances in a wide range of shows on the circuit, including radio work on Fox FM and Radio 4, TV work on Would I Lie To You, Live At The Apollo, and Have You Been Paying Attention, and staring in Rosehaven, and The Breaker Uppers.
All that was ahead of her in 2014 when she joined me in the podcast studio to talk about her show. It wasn’t the first time she’d been on the Fringe podcast, so the whole ‘tell us about your show’ quickly descended into discussions of synchronised diving, Tom Daley, Pro/Am contest, and a love of Converse trainers.
This week’s trip is back to the Gilded Ballon, back to a time when the future we live in now was quite definitely not going to happen, as Celia Pacquola asks the audience to Let Me Know How It All Works Out,
The world of H P Lovecraft is one that many people have explored, both the horror of the writing and the horror of the man. In 2015 Shedload Theatre looked at the former, in an inventive show called The Statement Of Randolph Carter.
The big moment in the show is the Foley work. The show is presented as a radio play, and that means lots of sound effects performed live. The story is very much classic horror, but the theatre experience is much more visual than you would expect… and thoroughly engaging. There’s also the importance of the entire body of work built on H P Lovecraft’s work - all which is out of copyright and free to perform.
As Shedload Theatre piled into the studio, we did something a little different. Yes there’s an interview in here to find out more about the show… but there’s also a performance from part of the show (a story called The Temple) which they perform live… along with all those foley effects!
And so we head, warily, to Surgeons Hall, to a desk of foley effects and horror, to the Statement Of Randolph Carter.
Sofie Hagen started her stand-up career in her home country of Denmark, before quickly moving to London to further her career. 2015 saw her bring her debut show to Edinburgh.
Bubblewrap examined issues of depression and mental health, her difficult teenage years, and attacking the beauty industry, all with just a dash of Westlie and a perfectly cringe reading of her Westlife Fan Fiction
It’s fair to say that Hagen nailed the Edinburgh experience, with the ‘Best Newcomer award from the (no longer the Perriers) Edinburgh Comedy Awards, joining previous newcomer awards from Laughing Horse and Chortle.
The Fringe podcast caught up with Sophie early in her run. The show was doing well, and audiences were coming in, but the plan for a small and intimate first time in Edinburgh was upstaged with the venue moved to the 500 seater Liquid Rooms rock band stage.
So, let’s take a trip to PBH’s Free Fringe, into the Liquid Rooms, and get ready to enjoy some Bubblewrap.
The Fringe is not just a recruiting vehicle for Live at the Apollo, there’s more to comedy, more to the fringe, than that. You can have theatrical performances that bring the art of clowning and farce to the stage alongside pathos and examination of the human condition.
In 2014, Little Soldier Productions brought its first production to the Fringe, the aforementioned Don Quixote show, which took massive liberties with the story, twisted reality and fantasy, and ignored any semblance of structure… in other words did a Don Quixote to the classic Don Quixote structure.
And it paid off. At the Fringe, it was awarded The Stage’s Award for Acting Excellence, and since then it has seen over 130 performances in 5 different countries. Little Soldier has gone on online talks, presentations, workshops, and five more shows, including “Nothing Happens (Twice)” which graced the stage at London’s Soho Theatre this summer.
Once the podcast team stumbled over the show, we couldn't wait to get everyone from the show into the studio and on to the podcast. In 2014 we were broadcasting live on community radio as well as publishing the podcast, which meant rather more energy in the room from myself and co-host Dan Lentell from the Edinburgh49 website.
So let’s go back to the Zoo Southside, to the cellar of the Zoo, in 2014, and find a tiny windmill from Little Soldier’s “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha”.
There are Fringe performers, there are Fringe stalwarts, and then there is Tim FitzHigham
This Gentleman Explorer has spent decades at the Fringe, bringing shows about his madcap activities that he has attempted in the previous twelve months…most notably he was the first person to row across the English Channel in a bathtub, held the British and European record for the longest Washing Line, and was part of an obscure show called “Alex Horne: The Taskmaster” in 2010. I wonder what happened to that?
Anyway, 2016 saw a much calmer FitzHigham in Edinburgh. Although not quite ready to present his latest daredevil moment, he once more joined with Duncan Walsh Atkins to bring their loving tribute to Flanders and Swann to the Fringe for its tenth show.
Part tribute, part let’s do some funny song, part ‘let’s not forget about these titanic comedians’, FitzHigham and Atkins continue to present their showcase of the comedic music from Michael Flanders and Donald Swann at the Fringe,
Tim joined myself, and co-host Paul Levy from FringeReview, in 2016’s Podcast Studio to talk about the show, his love of Flanders and Swann, and their importance to the cultural landscape.
So let’s go back to The Cabaret Bar, to 2016, and enjoy At The Drop Of A Hippopotamus.
I’ve talked before about the podcast archive giving us a window into the past when the recognisable names of today were still figuring their artistic life out. That’s very much the case with Adam Kay. With 'The London Underground' song becoming the breakout viral hit of 2005 (or at least as viral as you could manage in 2005) he started his appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe.
We join his story in 2012, where his mix of songs and storytelling settled into the 'Fringe Favourite' list, with multiple years of sell-out shows in Edinburgh and across the United Kingdom.
It was his first book, 'This Is Going To Hurt', that started this new period in his career. It was a Sunday times bestseller, sold over one million copies, and won numerous Book of the Year’ awards. Kay adapted the book for the recent seven-part BBC Series, with Ben Whishaw taking on the now fictional role of Dr Adam Kay. His third book, 'The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out Of Patients', was published this year, following on from 2019’s 'Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas'.
Back in 2012, much of this was ahead of Kay. It's August and his job is to get through the Fringe. In this interview we talk a bit about his life as a Doctor in the NHS and the move into performing, when going with a ‘big four’ venue was the right choice for him, and how the Fringe can benefit him for the whole year.
2014 is our destination this week, for that year’s ‘News At Kate’ from Kate Smurthwaite.
Smurthwaite’s TV writing credits include ‘Have I Got News For You’ and ‘The Revolution Will be Televised’ her words have appeared in The Guardian, New Statesman, Cosmopolitan, and more; and she has made countless appearances discussing politics over the years. 2022 saw the award-winning Smurthwaite bring “The News At Kate: Humanity’s Last Hope” to the Edinburgh Fringe.
“The News At Kate” is a lynchpin of the Fringe, and it’s been part of August for as long as I can remember. 2014 saw “The News” with the delightful tagline of “Lefty Cockwomble”.
The tag came about following her appearance on the BBC’s Question Time. With so many people asking her about her experience, this highly visible foray into political debate was the starting point for that year’s show that examined the definitions of freedom of speech.
There have been countless political whirlwinds since 2014. Yet some of the points raised remain just as pertinent, if not more, in 2022’s devastating landscape.
So let’s head back to 2014, to the Free Fringe stage in Viva Mexico, to the ‘News At Kate’.
This week we’re back to 2012 once more, as former Perrier nominee Sarah Kendall returned to the Fringe after a five year absence.
“Get Up, Stand Up” (or is it “Get Up, Stand-Up”, how delightfully interpretive) takes on a more storytelling approach than a bang-bang-jokes routine, and Kendall’s acting chops wer brought to the fore in an hour of pitch perfect raccentouring, reflecting on motherhood, the world that her daughter was growing up in, all wrapped up by the tale of the Ugly Duckling.
Her recent work includes the TV show Frayed, which has just finished its second season, and an appearance on the UK version of Taskmaster - so as you’d expect there’s countless clips of her discovering a bag of salt.
As for 2012, we’re off to The Pleasance and the ridiculously early time of 8.30pm, to talk to Sarah Kendall.
Tiff Stevenson has been a Fringe fixture since 2006, debuting as a solo act in 2009. Stevenson was already established on the circuit in 2012 when, following her appearance in ITV's 'Show Me The Funny', she brought 'Uncomfortably Numb' to Edinburgh,
She continues to bring new material to the Fringe, with this year’s 'Sexy Brain' picking up five star reviews; And year round she runs and MCs the monthly new material night 'Old Rope' each month at London’s Comedy Store.
So let’s go back in time, back to The Underbelly, and back to Tiff Stevenson’s ‘Uncomfortably Numb’
Into the archives once more with another Fringe legend. Over the years, Arthur Smith has performed countless stand-up sets at the Fringe, been arrested for some outdoor shows, wrote his own review and snuck it into The Scotsman, kidnapped a puppet, and many more adventures lost to time.
In 2013 he performed the second of three shows around his love of Leonard Cohen and how his music is wrapped around Arthur’s life. We invited him into our podcast studio to tell us more about “Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen, volume 2”, his memories of the Fringe, and which of the then up-and-coming comics he was watching out for.
In our first trip into the archive, we start with Fleabag. Directed by Vicky Wood, written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, this small show from 2013 took place in the depths of the Underbelly. It remains the gold standard of Fringe legends... from a theatrical dare, to a short stand-up like ten minutes, to a 'that's so Fringe' run in Edinburgh, and then onwards into the zeitgeist Phoebe and Vicky joined Ewan Spence in the podcast studio to talk about the origins of Fleabag, highlight the importance of the subject matter, and try to remember how much of the script was cut before it reached the stage.
As we prepare to explore nearly twenty years of Fringe coverage, Ewan Spence offers a quick audio glance into the archives to give you a taste of what’s to come with some Fringe moments from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Arthur Smith, and Tiff Stevenson.
As the sun sets on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for 2022, Fin Ross and Ewan look back on this year's Fringe. How has it felt welcoming the Festival back to the city. Can we offer four more recommended shows for the last night or two in August? And what dangers lie ahead for the Fringe in 2023? All that, and a sneak peek to some Fringe podcasts coming up in September.
The world is full of stories. Lynn Ferguson works with stories every day, and her show at this year's Fringe mixes a love of stories, how the tales we all tell reveal who we are, and the stories of invited guests, to create 'Lynn Ferguson's Storyland'. Ewan and Lynn sit down to talk about the power of stories as the Fringe begins its final weekend of 2022.
It might just be a ten-minute appearance at this year's Fringe thanks to an invite from John Cooper Clark, but Ronnie Golden is once more in Edinburgh during August. Ronnie is a Fringe legend, having taken part in the Festival since 1984, sometimes alone, sometimes with his band, and sometimes with the great Barry Cryer. Ewan sits down to talk about the history of the Fringe and what comes next both for the Fringe and for Ronnie.
Can you do an entire show using only drums? Fills Money has done just that, as they bring their delightful mix of percussion, props, and pantomime to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The show is full of moments of "ooh, it's that tune" and we're not going to spoil it for you, but we are going to talk to one of the drummers about the story of the band, how they met, and how they've travelled the world with this show just to end up in Edinburgh.
'Ruckus' deals with issues around coercive control in a relationship. Ewan listens to writer and performer Jenna Fincken explain the research that went into the play, the powerful message that it delivers, and guiding the audience through an emotional and powerful piece of theatre.
Max Percy joins Fin to discuss his brilliantly titled ‘This is Not a Show About Hong Kong’. We explore the legal necessity of such a long title, the importance of developing your own artistic language and the challenge in trying to artistically represent a situation as complicated as that of Hong Kong.
Will Pickvance joins Ewan Spence to talk about his mix of music and storytelling at this year's Fringe. From the first moments of being already on stage and playing as the audience arrive, through a gentle journey, to the final moments that wrap music and story together, his latest show continues to showcase a unique style.
Nell Bailey of November Theatre joins Fin Ross to talk about the theatre's Fringe offering for 2022, ‘How To Build a Wax Figure’. We talk about queer love in 2022, crowd-funding a Fringe experience and how on earth a play was devised in which an anatomical wax sculptor falls in love with a maker of prosthetic eyes.
Ewan talks to live captioner Claire Hill (Claire Hill Realtime) and Jonnny Patton (producer and programmer for The Pleasance) about the various accessible shows at The Pleasance; including audio described, captioned, signed, relaxed shows and touch tours, as part of the Fringe.
Fin Ross and Ewan sit down together after another week of The Fringe to talk about the shows they have seen, the marathon of performing in Edinburgh, and to discuss the big news stories from the biggest Arts Festival in the world. They also pick out four shows to recommend for this weekend in the Capital.
It’s time for an East Lothian story as Fin talks to writer/director Shelley Middler about her new play ‘The Collie’s Shed’. We learn about East Lothian’s mining heritage, the effects of the pit closures on local communities across the county and the eerie parallels between politics then and now.
Ewan sits down with Igancio Lopez to talk about the family name being passed down the years, performing indoors in the heat of an Edinburgh summer, and why he hasn’t brought his Lockdown Quiz Nights to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Fin Ross speaks to fellow Edinburgh native Lubna Kerr about her semi-autobiographical play ‘Tickbox’. Themes include what happens to Edinburgh when the Fringe comes to town, immigration in the 60s vs. today and why it’s important to never let yourself be forced into a tickbox.
Every stand-up has something special to bring to the microphone. For Alice Brine the starting point is her ADHD and how it allows her to look at life in a different way to her audience. Ewan sits down with Alice to talk about her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, living with ADHD, and bringing her life experiences and unique viewpoint to the stand-up stage.
Fin’s travelling back in time to talk to Chewboy Productions duo George Bailey and Hal Darling about their new show ‘Caligari’. How is a silent German film that’s over 100 years old still relevant to audiences today? How is music so important to protecting the story’s legacy? How does it feel when a company you started with your childhood friend ends up with a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?
Emo Majok joins Ewan Spence to talk about his Edinburgh Fringe debut show ‘African Aussie’. He talks about how comedy has become a part of him, an immensely layered journey through life, and the power of story-telling at home and on the stage.
Ewan and Fin Ross sit down after a week at The Fringe to talk about how this year is feeling, from the joy of returning performers, through the smaller Fringe of 2021, and on to our recommended shows from the last seven days in August at the largest Arts Festival in the world.
Fin welcomes Amie Enriquez to the podcast chair to discuss her solo show, ‘Lightweight’. How has the discourse around mental health changed over the last 20 years? What is a “debilitatingly positive attitude”? Why do we need to laugh about the scary stuff in order to normalise it?
Can you convince an audience that you can record not just an album, but the greatest album of all time? That's the challenge that Tom GK has set himself at the Fringe this year. Ewan sits down with Tom GK to talk about the power of song, his Wikipedia-fuelled years as a music critic, and coping with hearing loss.
Kick The Door’s Fraser Scott joins Fin Ross Russell to discuss the group’s first Fringe Festival excursion with their original musical ‘Land’. We discuss Scotland’s musical storytelling identity, how the group drew parallels between the 18th and 21st centuries and how the group developed such a unique brand of theatre.
Italian comic Luca Cupani has always been a popular face at the Free Fringe, but in 2022 he has a one-hour tickted show called Happy Orphan, and the adventure he took when the rent ran out for mother's grave He joins Ewan to talk about his show, his first experiences of open-mic comedy, why he looks younger now than he did ten years ago, and why Italian paperwork indirectly led to his Fringe 2022 show.
Fin Ross Russell begins his month as the podcast's theatre correspondent by speaking. to ‘Brown Boys Swim’ Director John Hoggarth. They cover everything there is to know about Oxford’s finest offering at this year’s Fringe including the awkwardness of adolescence, needing to see it to be it and the many faces of masculinity.
First up in our Edinburgh studio is Aliya Kanani. She's making her Fringe debut with "Where You From, From", a stand-up show that takes you on "a turbulent journey around the world with tales of fitting in, sticking out and standing up." As well as introducing the show, she chats with Ewan about how the Fringe feels to a Canadian, why she records every single performance, and what it means to finally bring this show to the Arts Capital of the world.
A year has passed since we were last here at the Edinburgh Fringe, but for many it feels like we left Edinburgh in 2019 and are only returning now. However long the wait, the wait is over as Fringe 2022 gets under way here in Edinburgh. Ewan and Fin Ross sit down to talk about their love of the Fringe, what to expect over the next three weeks, how the podcast is going to work, and our first batch of recommended shows.
Dave Johns started out in the comedy clubs of the UK almost thirty years ago, and his career includes appearances in award-winning films, TV panel shows, arthouse projects, and the occasional appearance on the West End stage. For his return to the Fringe, he's bringing it all back down to a man, a microphone, and "some funny stuff". Ewan sits down with Dave to find out more about his career, his approach to life, a mysterious bunny rabbit costume... and a chiming clock.
Our previews of the 2022 edition of the world’s biggest arts Festival continue as we turn to the theatre side of the Fringe. Fin Ross Russell talks to ‘Bogeyman’ director Emily Aboud about misconceptions around voodoo, the Caribbean definition of a play and why the Haitian revolution is the most important historical event that nobody knows about.
Beginning our previews ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe 2022, Ewan talks to Daniel Cainer about his show “More Jewish Chronicles”, the emotional power of music, and how he ended up writing our unofficial theme song.
Welcome back to The Podcast Corner’s Edinburgh Fringe Show. With the Edinburgh Fringe coming returning after a limited programme in 2021, the Edinburgh Fringe Show returns to the podcasting and radio world.
Following the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 the world… changed, especially for those in the live arts and those covering the arts. With no Edinburgh Fringe in 2020, the show moved into hiatus.
Ewan Spence chats with Brodi Snook, Magical Bones, Bethany Heath, and Matt Parker. Music comes from Momento, and Bow Jangles.
An in-depth look at 'Iraq Out Loud,' as the Chilcot Report into the Iraq War is read out loud in its entirety at the Edinburgh Fringe.
With the cast of Spontaneous Sherlock, David Gant (King Arthur), Patrick Monahan (Pub Quiz for Kids), John Robertson (The Dark Room), and the cast of Captain Flinn And The Magic Cutlass.