Ten years ago, a single-hander show turned up at the Fringe… Rebecca Perry with ‘Confessions Of A Redheaded Coffeshop Girl’, which starts as “what if a coffeeshop with David Attenborough?” A hook that brought you in, before the performance and the piece delightfully dragged you further… a further that included an interview on this podcast. Ten year…

One of the delights of the Fringe is learning something new. Theatre is the great educator, hiding it within music, within moments, and sometimes even with mime. For me, the life and work of Sutara Gayle is one of those moments. She was a pioneering female deejay on London’s infamous reggae scene in the 1980s, which earned her a first record contra…

One of the key returns for many acts and troupes from the Fringe is to come away with an award. There’s an insane amount of competition to win one, but they can set the tone of your career for the following years. But what does it take to manage and run one of the awards? The ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards started in the years after Covid-19, and brou…

There are so many puns available to me from today’s show. “The World’s Greatest Lover” is a new musical debuting at the Fringe, but with international ambitions beyond Pleasance One. Writers Julien Salvia and Ludovic-Alexandre Vidal bring the titular lovers from the annals of history. Romeo, Casanova, Cyrano de Bergerac, the Marquis de Sade and MC …

Kinder is an excellent example of a show taking risks at the Fringe, both for the production and the audience. There are hints on what to expect on paper – a story of a Drag Queen preparing a “comedy roast” but finding out with an hour to go, it’s actually a booking for a children’s story time show. In that short liminal space, there is some theatr…

Accomplished jazz trumpeter Jay Phelps debuts at the Fringe this year with Miles. It’s a look back on the life of Jazz virtuoso Miles Davis in general, and the creation of the album “Kind Of Blue” in particular. It mixes in many disciplines, including the acting talents of Benjamin Akintuyos as Davis, the music of the album, and Phelps’ music talen…

Jay Saunders and Nick Cheng are from Project Comedy; a part of Project Recce, which helps Military Veterans and Service Leavers to move from military service to civilian employment. As they describe it, “military humour is more than just entertainment—it’s a survival tool. It forges camaraderie, boosts morale, and keeps teams strong in the toughest…

As week 2 starts here in Edinburgh, let’s welcome Narin Oz to the pod. Returning to the Fringe with her fourth show, Inner Child(ish) sees Oz looking to reconnect with her titular inner child … through the medium of the Tom Hanks motion picture Castaway. Her inner child misbehaves, breaks rules, and flips reality around. Behind all this is Narin le…

Today, we listen to Annie Lareau talk about her life, which she is bringing to the Fringe in the show Fuselage. Annie was meant to be flying home from the UK with 35 university classmates for Christmas in 1988. They changed to an earlier flight, and Anie, who couldn’t afford the fee, stayed behind, as her friend boarded Pan Am 103. A flight where a…

1984 is a story that has been told countless times and becomes more relevant every time it is told. Box Tale Soup brings their version of the classic warning to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. I caught up with Noel Byrne to talk about the challenge involved in bringing a classic to the stage. Box Tale Soup has established itself as one of the leadi…

What if Cabaret, disaster movie, philosophy, and Geri Halliwell? You get Apocalypse Cabaret: Songs for the End of the World! To learn more about this one-woman cabaret show, I talk with Scout Durwood as she brings this dark delight to the Edinburgh Fringe. With a mix of original songs, standards and a dash of existentialism, we’ve got a lot of grou…

One of the delights of the Edinburgh Fringe is finding something that’s just a single step to the side of your average show. It’s in those little side streets where you can find something spectacular. Kit Loyd is on one of those side streets. He’s brought Frenzy to the Fringe, a delightful and engaging mix of comedy, physical theatre, and mime. It’…

Today’s guest is Saaniya Abbas. From the UAE comedy scene, she is the first local comic to officially debut a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. How do you go from a sheltered upbringing in New Delhi to a sometimes controversial comedy career? We talk about Sanniya’s background and her first steps in comedy, before finding wider acclaim…

Some will know him from the dim and distant past as Barry Ferns. Edinburgh Fringe historians will know him as Lionel Ritchie. Others in the comedy scene of 2025 will know him, once more, as Barry Ferns. And there you have the premise for his Fringe show, My Seven Years As Lionel Ritchie. This strong narrative hour charts the highs and lows of being…

This week’s Fringe preview takes in not only a Fringe show, but the evolution of social media storytelling itself. Grace Helbig and I start by talking about he early days of content creation on the internet… I started podcasting with the Fringe Show in 2005 while Grace started during the first flush of YouTube in 2006. That starts us down a path of…

As we head through July, we’ll be bringing you preview interviews that help set the scene for Fringe 2025. That could be the history of the Fringe, how traditional and online media impact the arts, the future of the Festival in Edinburgh, and the impact it can have. In our first preview, Ewan Spence meets Henry Naylor to talk about his new solo sho…

The Edinburgh Fringe Show started in 2005, and as Fringe 2025 appears on the horizon, we’re going to get started on our 21st season covering the largest arts festival in the world. We have a few traditions in these parts. One of those is our prologue podcast—a chance to ensure the website, podcast feed, and all the other digital components are read…

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 t…

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…

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-alon…

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 Edin…

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 a…

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 th…

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 sho…

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 f…

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 …

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 journ…

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. …

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 …

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 pro…

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.…

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 t…

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. R…

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. W…

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 distri…

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 …

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’v…

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…

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…

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 o…

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…

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 …

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 n…

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 …

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 and choosing to do …

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…

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.…

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 Em…

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 performan…

‘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 …