Anyone who thought the Edinburgh Fringe bubble would burst after Covid should think again. There are more than 1,000 comedy shows here this year. And it goes without saying that we need laughs right now. For the next three weeks I’ll be picking the best of the bunch. And don’t fear FOMO. If you can’t make it to the Scottish capital this cream of the comedy crop will be touring soon too.
You could stick a pin in the brochure and have an enjoyable time, but if I was to pick a potential winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show I’d probably put my shirt on Sarah Keyworth. The Nottingham-born comedian’s latest show My Eyes Are Up Here tackles the tricky territory of gender identity while also remembering to pack in a phenomenally high punchline rate.
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Keyworth, 30, recently had an elective double mastectomy, hence the title, and explains the reasons with warmth and wit, while also offering the best-ever definition of non-binary: “If I was on the Titanic I'd be allowed in the lifeboat but I’d be expected to row.” Riffs about everything from nipple placement to memorable haircuts make a must-see show that is both heartfelt and hilarious. (★★★★★)
Further down the same street, in a different outpost of the Monkey Barrel empire, Joe Kent-Walters is holding court in the guise of spoof Yorkshire compere Frankie Monroe. His face is smeared with white greasepaint, his suit is shabby and his club is threatened with closure.
It transpires that two decades earlier Monroe signed a satanic pact and Lucifer now wants his night spot back. Imagine a cross between Faust and Phoenix Nights and you are heading in the right direction. Kent-Walters shows total commitment to his magnificently monstrous MC, swooping over the crowd to deliver his creepy catchphrase “good boy”. Throw in a ventriloquism act with a scabby dog puppet, an ode to his trowel and a spot-the-scampi fries competition and you’ve got ghoulish absurdity at its classiest. (★★★★★)
Chloe Petts has been on the cusp of awards recognition for a while. Could 2024 be the year that Petts wins prizes? Her show, How You See Me, How You Don’t reveals how this Crystal Palace devotee dealt with trolls after landing a slot on Sky Sports. The vicious comments soon started coming in – usually of the “are you a man or a woman?” variety – and Petts had to get up to speed quickly on how to deal with it.
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This story is deftly juxtaposed with memories of her Kent all-girls school, “as if Enid Blyton wrote Skins”, and the psychological terror that teenage girls can inflict on each other. As a six foot one adolescent, however, Petts avoided conflict there, joking that she would be unlikely to be bullied even in a men’s prison. If you like wit with a playful, sardonic streak look no further. Don’t mess with Petts and don’t miss her either. (★★★★)
The Fringe reminds us that comedy can go into the most unlikely places. Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer started life in Edinburgh and Asian-American YouTuber Anna Akana’s It Gets Darker pushes things even further. It is about being stalked too, but also about her sister’s suicide, and her own suicidal ideation. Yet it is funny and cathartic. If Akana can emerge from this perhaps the human spirit can handle anything.
The detail is chilling. Akana recalls her stalker threatening to shoot her and appearing on her doorstep. He also bombarded her with letters. It was clearly premeditated, she adds: "he bought stamps." On the subject of her sister’s suicide, humour is her coping mechanism as she jokes about the funeral and the macabre souvenir she always carries. This is not dark, this is pitch black. But if Akana can laugh, that liberates the audience to laugh too. (★★★★)
When you’ve seen shows taking in PTSD, stalking and trolls, however, you need a palette cleanser. Mark Simmons is the lemon sorbet of stand-up, a master of the crisp, clean, one-line zinger. He has quickly built up a following on social media, meaning that he can fill out rooms in Edinburgh and tour without a major TV profile.
It helps that he is so skilful at wordplay, punning for gold where others would not even think of looking. Simmons does not recite gags like an AI chatbot, he structures his set and has some inspired callbacks. When it comes to judging the best jokes of the Fringe Simmons could fill all the top spots. Here’s just one of many gems: “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship, but I bottled it”. (★★★★)
