Comedy
Review
Edinburgh Fringe 2026: as it happened
The flyers are flying, reviews are rolling in and the Fringe is in full swing – join us as we dive headfirst into 2026’s madness
You wake to the sound of bagpipes. Scotland the Brave, naturally. It’s hot, uncharacteristically so even for an Edinburgh morning in August. Open the window and the city hits you all at once: sun-warmed stone, the smell of coffee, sausage and tattie scones, and the unmistakable fizz of an Irn-Bru passing for breakfast nearby. Flyers are changing hands in a dance of back-and-forth, voices are vying for attention above one another and somewhere down the street a show is already beginning. A fire breather crosses your path. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026 is officially underway.
Being the world’s biggest performing arts festival and all, the choice paralysis can be staggering. But we’re at the Fringe in search of Fresh Comedy, and we’re here to catch as many shows as possible. From the next big thing to the return of established favourites, follow our Edinburgh Fringe 2026 journey below as we report back on what’s worth seeing.
Rachel Fairburn
Rachel Fairburn debuted her first character comedy project, Side Eye, at the Fringe in 2024, which was loosely focused on the seven deadly sins. Her next foray, Vexy Beasts, instead uses a salon in the fictional Manchester suburb of Harpurvale and the juicy gossip of its owner Leanne as its connecting thread. As the show’s director and SNL UK writer Chris Cantrill puts it, the show represents “the absolutely standard of northern character comedy… except she says c*nt every other sentence.” He’s not wrong: Fairburn loves the clout behind the c-bomb, but the show is a lot more clever than that. All of the characters have their own funny angle and distinctive accent – not least the posh gentrifier whose every other word is “literally” – and there are some very recent references that suggest she’s tinkering with the show as it goes along. But Vexy Beasts also gently moves towards a narrative arc that is far more satisfying than just a collection of exaggerated but relatable social stereotypes.
Joe Lycett & Friends
It’s been a little while since Joe Lycett has hit the stand-up touring circuit, what with recently becoming a father and starring in the forthcoming season of The Celebrity Traitors. But with a new tour announced for next year, the presenter and general wind-up merchant has brought some friends to the fringe to help him get back into it. Not that he needs the help – he reels off stories of his new life with “the babeh” with immediate ease – but it’s a very good trio of guests today: Parisian-in-London Celya AB puts the Brits’ world-famous dry comedy to shame, and delivers groans and chuckles alike with a gag about Placebo; Dane Buckley’s best bits of his Indian-Irish heritage are full of sass and sentiment; while the Reuben Kaye
Olga Koch
There’s a broad age range in the audience tonight for Olga Koch’s Fat Tom Cruise, but it’s hard not to feel that those of us in our early 30s are the real target here. We find Koch, 32, in her time machine bedroom, taking us back to the awkward years of the 2000s (via the 1970s) when growing up meant a strange mix of schoolyard politics, questionable pop culture and an internet that was only just becoming part of everyday life. There’s plenty of nostalgia, but Koch isn’t just trying to remind us what it was like to be young; she’s more concerned with the things we were absorbing without really understanding them. Her Russian-British upbringing adds another layer to this, as does her time at NYU and the frat hazing culture that surrounded it, as she looks back on the expectations, embarrassments and cultural clashes that helped shape her. Her pace is rapid and the quick gags and callbacks are slick, but all of it leads to a nuanced conclusion that will catch you off guard.
Olga Koch plays The Wardrobe, Leeds on 10 November – find tickets here
Evaldas Karosas
For all the shows on offer that promise to push the boundaries of their art and broaden our expectations of it, there’s a palate cleaning freshness to Evaldas Karosas. A Capable Man indeed, his new show is banger after banger, sharply honing in on steadily degenerating topics covering his upbringing in Lithuania and more recent time living in London, delivered with a snappy pace that makes the hour sail by.
Christopher Hall
Woe betide anyone trying to leave Christopher Hall’s new show early – as one unfortunate audience member (who may or may not be me) finds out. This is, after all, a show all about the oomph, the je ne sais quoi, the pizazz (not to be confused with pizzas) that Hall brings to every function; so much so that he’s begun feeling like an employee when friends invite him to their weddings and baby showers. Pizazz works so well because it’s this exact sense of friend-like relatability – brutal but honest, and always a source of fun – that has been key to Hall’s rise since he began uploading sketches on social media during lockdown. Hearing stories of his own personal friends only strengthens this connection, giving Hall plenty of license for ad-libs and dancing outbreaks – not that he’d ask for permission, anyway.
Lou Wall
Where the tall grandmas at? It’s the question at the heart of the new show from Lou Wall, who is like one of those incorrigible friends who arguably takes their curiosity too far when they lock in to a new interest or obsession. At 6ft 5, Wall’s height has been commented on their whole life – not least from cute, tiny grandmas. The realisation steers Wall onto a journey not to stop until they find a 6ft grandma. Nominated for Most Outstanding Show at the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Where Are All The Tall Grandmas? is collated with Wall’s characteristic use of presentation style multi-media and song, and like their last smash show Behind The Fourth Wall, this seemingly single-minded search actually reveals far more about identity and family, balancing sweet sentimentality with straight up chaos.
Russell Howard
Though Russell Howard’s show is technically a Work in Progress, he doesn’t look at his notebook once during his hour with the 4pm Fringe crowd. It’s a tricky time to perform – “you’re starting to think about dinner, aren’t you?” – but Howard has been doing this since 1998, and has the experience and confidence to make even the awkward slot work in his favour. There are moments when his trademark optimism seems to be wearing thin, but ultimately that’s part of what makes the hour connect: Howard finds humour in the shared exhaustion of contemporary life since we last saw him. Fatherhood – or, more accurately, his admiration for motherhood – makes up much of the show’s current material, alongside hilarious stories from touring Scandinavia, including the time he let an 80-year-old woman carry his bags in Sweden. It may be unfinished, but there’s little about Howard’s command of the room that feels like a work in progress.
