‘It’s where I learned how to be a comedian’: Nish Kumar on why the Edinburgh fringe still matters

‘It can feel as though defending the fringe is morally indefensible, like eating meat or supporting Manchester United’ … Nish Kumar in Edinburgh this month. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

At the last Edinburgh fringe BC (before Covid), more than 3m tickets were sold for 3,841 shows at 323 venues, reported the New York Times. Those numbers, according to one comedian who attended (me), are “loads”. For what started as a side event to the international festival, it is staggering. To performers, the fringe has become a combination of arts festival, summer camp, trade show, shop window and breeding ground for alcoholism.

But with reports that artists are turning their backs on it in the face of escalating costs, does it have a future? If it does, will there be performers, or will it all be holograms, like Abba and Tupac? (The first of those questions is worth considering; the second was a waste of my time and yours. The answer is obviously yes.)