I have just returned from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where I spent a few days seeing as much comedy as possible (as well as writing a response to a CFP and proofing a chapter of my thesis – its a 6hr round train trip from MCR, reclaim that time!)

Here’s a list of what I managed to catch:

Sindhu Vee – Sandhog

Lauren Pattison – Peachy

Luisa Omielan – Politics for Bitches

Eleanor Teirnan – Success Without a Sex Tape

Sofie Hagen and Jodie Mitchell – Sofie Hagen Tries Something (podcast recording)

Athena Kugblenu – Follow the Leader

Jen Brister – Meaningless

Lou Conran – At Least I’m Not Dog Poo Darren

Evelyn Mok – Bubble Butt

Andrew Lawrence – Clean (Lawrence gets a shout out in the ‘backlash’ part of my thesis)

Eleanor Morton – Great title, Glamorous Photo

Tamar Broadbent – Best Life

4 shows a day is my absolute limit. I can’t concentrate for any longer than that. The shows I saw were pretty varied, musical comedy, confessional calls to political action, traditional club-style stand-up and character comedy. For me it was a really good way to see a lot of comedy in a short space of time but there were many subtle reminders of just how middle class the festival continues to be. The trip was a living breathing reminder of  the importance of the Panic! report by Brook, O’Brien and Taylor (2018).

I stayed in the Edinburgh University halls of residence (which were fine, but a bit further out than where I’d stayed previously – in total I walked 25miles in 3 days and Edinburgh is a good 80% hill). How anyone manages to afford to stay up for the whole month when the cost of accommodation is so high is totally beyond me.