comedy

The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2024 – Anthony Alderson, The Pleasance Theatre Trust

As we come to the end of week three, we sit down with Anthony Alderson, director of The Pleaseance 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.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2024 – Tim Benzie, Solve Along A Murder She Wrote

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.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2024 – Mark Dean Quinn, Oh No (That’s Not Your Cheese)

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?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2024 – Louise Atkinson, She’s Got The Look

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?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2024 – John Meagher, Big Year

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.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2024 – Natasha Pearl Hansen, The Right Amount of Wrong

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.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Benjamin Alborough (Absolute Monopoly!)

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.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Emily Walsh (Dad Girl)

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.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Sikisa (Hear Me Out)

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?”

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Patrick Susmilch (Texts from My Dead Friends)

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.

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