EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE LINE UP 2022 and COMEDY NEWCOMERS:
Max Fosh: Zocial Butterfly PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: BUTTERCUP, UNDERBELLY
TIME: 14:15
DATES: 3rd-29th AUGUST (not 15th)
Armed with the rosiest of cheeks & the floppiest of hair, Max Fosh brings you his hilarious & unpredictable debut live show: Zocial Butterfly.
With his ingenious, fast-paced, multimedia hour of comedy that details the weird and wonderful world of a YouTuber, Max will provide a unique insight into the world of online content from the perspective of one of its biggest UK stars.
They said he couldn’t make it as a global fashion icon; they were wrong. They said he couldn’t legally become the world’s richest man; they were wrong. They said he couldn’t beat all the odds to become London’s first ever YouTuber mayor… to be fair, they got that one bang on.
Amy Gledhill: The Girl Before The Girl You Marry PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel Comedy, (Carnivore 2)
TIME: 15.30
DATES: Aug 4-28 August (not 17)
Amy Gledhill, one half of “cult hit” (The Guardian) favourites and Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Show nominated duo The Delightful Sausage, will be making her solo Edinburgh Fringe debut with Amy Gledhill: The Girl Before The Girl You Marry
The Girl Before The Girl You Marry is a good-time stand-up show about resilience and dancing – two of the best things. Expect tales of ballroom triumphs, New Year’s Eve mishaps and (accidentally) flashing royalty. You’ll soon see why Amy is every man’s best (ex) girlfriend.
Rosie Holt: The Woman’s Hour PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard, The Attic
TIME: 18:00
DATES: 3rd to 29th August 2022 (not 16th)
Swallow your post/mid-work curries and slide your briefcase of booze past security, as social media sensation and Chortle Award winner Rosie Holt is launching her debut solo hour of cutting political satire at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022. Rosie Holt: The Woman’s Hour is a character comedy show bringing Holt’s viral satirical videos to delighted live audiences.
There’s a right-wing ‘opinionist’ distorting the news, an MP desperately defending a failing government, a left-winger wanting to say the right thing but scared of getting it wrong. These characters and more come together when their creator accidentally becomes the news, as they try to speak their truth whatever the facts. ‘If she can stay in character long enough, she’ll have a Telegraph column and a seat on Question Time by teatime’ (James O’Brien).
Lew Fitz: Soft Lad PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Turret
TIME: 19:00
DATES: 3rd to 29th August 2022 (not 15th)
Winner of prestigious Amused Moose National New Comic Award and BBC New Comedy Award-nominee Lew Fitz is launching his much anticipated debut solo hour: Soft Lad, at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Soft Lad is a bold and disarmingly honest show about running away from family, swapping Manchester for Miami, and what happens when you have to come back.
Lew is not only an award-winning stand up, but has also scored in the Top 5 Jokes of the Fringe across The Guardian, Dave TV and The Telegraph. Expect explosive comedic energy and a rare vulnerability, as this Northern cherub attempts to reconcile his past and face his present.
RETURNING COMEDY ACTS:
Patrick McPherson: Colossal PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Belly Button, Underbelly
TIME: 12:45pm
DATES: 3rd-29th August (not 15th)
Patrick McPherson is returning to the festival a highly anticipated theatrical treat. Colossal is an hour of dynamic theatre, comedy and music that embraces the spectrum of modern romance, from the first date to the last text, from falling headfirst to falling apart. In his one-man comedy play that dives into love stories, morality, and the dance between the two, Patrick weaves sketch comedy, gig theatre and spoken word to tell the comedic and candid story of a man called Dan, his affinity for owls, and his messy recent past.
Patrick McPherson is an upcoming writer-performer and Edinburgh Fringe success story, who has seen a swift rise through the British comedy and fringe theatre ranks, following his back-to-back sold-out shows. As a queer writer, Patrick looks to explore and champion LGBT voices and narratives through his writing.
The Delightful Sausage: Nowt But Sea PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel Comedy (MB4), 9-11 Blair St, Edinburgh
TIME: 12:45pm
DATES: 5th to 28th August 2022 (not 17th)
Vegetarian? Lincolnshire? Caramelised Onion? Whatever the flavour, all are welcome to join comedy duo The Delightful Sausage in their brand-new show Nowt But Sea.Shortlisted for the biggest prize in live comedy, these Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees return with their darkest ever adventure…
When The Delightful Sausage are invited to the luxury private island retreat of elite celebrity agent Cedric L’Shay (played by viral sketch sensation Paul Dunphy), Amy and Christopher-Louise can’t believe their luck. But with the island seemingly deserted and madness on the horizon, the situation looks increasingly dire for Yorkshire’s finest meat-themed comedy duo.
Jacob Hawley: Bump PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel, Hive 1
TIME: 13:25
DATES: 3 -28 August (not 9th)
Jacob Hawley will be bringing his highly anticipated brand-new show Bump, a deeply personal and hilarious account about miscarriage, mental health and social class, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.
Men will literally do a 55-minute show about identity, social class and drinking olive oil instead of going to therapy. Award-winning wide boy Jacob Hawley considers whether ample mental health is an exclusively middle-class pursuit, if he’s finally graduated from drugs to antipasti, and, all considered, if he’s ready to be a father.
Sunil Patel: Faster Horses PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel 1
TIME: 13:55pm
DATES: 3rd-28th August
Award-winning comedian and comedy entrepreneur/raconteur, Sunil Patel will be returning to the Fringe with his highly anticipated show Faster Horses.
Giving the people what they (really) want, Sunil is galloping into the fringe this year on the fastest of horses, crafting smart gags and exuding a powerful, unspoken presence akin to a benevolent billionaire. He’ll be ruminating on crypto bros, his own past failed enterprises and pitching some of the 100s of business ideas he came up with during lockdown. Join him for what will certainly be his most critically acclaimed hour yet. Your statutory rights may or may not be affected by watching this show.
Circus Abyssinia: Tulu PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Underbelly’s Meadows Circus Hub
TIME: 14:15
DATES: 6th-27th August (not 15th or 22nd)
A dazzling display of speed, skill and flight lands at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Following their acclaimed production of Ethiopian Dreams, the incredible 15-strong Circus Abyssinia returns with their exhilarating second production Tulu.
Celebrating the true tale of an Ethiopian Olympic icon, Derartu Tulu, this is an unmissable showcase of superhuman strength. A blend of breath taking contortion, awe-inspiring acrobatics, and mesmerising fire-juggling with a rocking, exuberant soundtrack.
Catherine Bohart: This Isn’t For You PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel 1
TIME: 15:20
DATES: 4th – 28th August (Not 16th)
Catherine Bohart is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe 2022 with her third solo hour, following her hugely successful UK and Ireland tour, with her critically acclaimed show This Isn’t For You.
Catherine Bohart loves control, hates change and is a serial planner. So imagine, if you will, how the past two years have been. This Isn’t For You contains all this and more, in a blisteringly funny show that regales audiences with Catherine’s mental health rollercoaster ride through lockdown, glimmers with her gutsy resilience and is speckled with horrendous and completely hilarious life advice. Delivered with unbridled honesty, this oversharer marries cheery nihilism and reluctant self-discovery, into “a show that’s worth holding on to” – The Guardian.
Michael Spicer: The Room Next Door PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Assembly George Square – Studio One
TIME: 15:40
DATES: 19th – 28th August
Michael Spicer, online satirist extraordinaire, is bringing his acclaimed video creations from screen to stage for the Edinburgh Fringe 2022 with a limited run of Michael Spicer: The Room Next Door.
Following a successful nationwide and sell-out tour and the publication of his first book, The Secret Political Adviser: The Unredacted Files of the Man in the Room Next Door, Michael Spicer’s The Room Next Door provides an entertaining insight into the global internet sensation. During the one-hour show, Michael will talk about his life making comedy under the radar, his viral hits of the past and of course, brand new, exclusive Room Next Door sketches for Edinburgh Fringe audiences. This is a unique opportunity to see Michael on stage for the final series of live performances as the celebrated online phenomenon.
Jessica Fostekew: Wench PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel
TIME: 16.45pm
DATES: 3rd to 28th August 2022 (not 15th)
Following her Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominated Show Hench, Jessica Fostekew is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe with a brand new, and conveniently rhyming stand-up show – Wench.
A new show about sex, luck and time. Our fear of all the messy, grey areas; whether that’s identity politics and society’s obsession with neatly categorizing everybody, or taking ‘messy, grey areas’ in another direction… Jessica’s refreshingly honest takes on sexuality, identity politics and aging are relayed with complete transparency. Unafraid to share her own experiences, sit back and enjoy an hour of utter relatability and complete hilarity in Jessica Fostekew: Wench.
Vir Das: Wanted PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard – Beneath
TIME: 17:25
DATES: 3rd to 28th August 2022 (not 15th)
Fresh off an Emmy-nomination, India’s top comic Vir Das brings his brand new Wanted world tour to Edinburgh – a show about freedom, a journey into foolishness, and a perspective that takes you across the world. The New York Times declares ‘no artist embodies the globalization of stand-up like Vir Das’ while the Boston Globe hails the ‘mixture of audacity and humility in Das’ comedy.’
As India’s biggest stand-up comedian and a Bollywood star, Vir Das enjoys household status throughout the subcontinent. Increasingly, thanks to Vir’s boundless comedic talent, wildly successful world tours and incredible five Netflix specials, Vir Das has hit the global comedy mega-leagues. Hailed by Variety magazine as a “Top 10 Comic To Watch”, Vir Das is sure to be the name on everyone’s’ lips at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and beyond this year!
Lou Sanders: One Word: Wow PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel 3
TIME: 17:40
DATES: 4th to 28th August 2022 (not 17th)
Critically acclaimed stand-up Lou Sanders is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022 after completing her biggest live tour to date with brand-new show One Word: Wow.
If it isn’t your old internet friend, Dr Giggles, tour fresh and still yakking away. Get ready and Lou will tell you about the time she gave a horse a boner. She’ll bring her skates; you bring your wallet and you’ll all take some piccies. Perhaps this show is the real vaccine?
Britney: Friends And Nothing More PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard, Below
TIME: 5:45
DATES: Aug 3-28 (not 15th)
Award-winning duo and Edinburgh favourites Britney are returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022 for the first time in five years with their brand-new hour Friends And Nothing More.
Fresh from their universally adored BBC Three pilot, BRITNEY, which was a huge success when it debuted at the Fringe festival in 2016, Charly Clive and Ellen Robertson are getting ready to make their long-awaited return to the Fringe this year with a sketch show about love. But which of these two girls will you fancy more?
Heidi Regan Gives Birth Live on Stage Every Night or Your Money Back PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: The Voodoo Rooms
TIME: 17:55pm
DATES: 6th-28th August (not 20th or 21st)
Heidi Regan will be bringing her highly anticipated show Heidi Regan Gives Birth Live On Stage Every Night Or Your Money Back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022.
This brand-new hour is Heidi’s most personal yet. Having had very limited experience in committed relationships, Heidi moved in with her girlfriend and began looking into parenthood minutes before a global pandemic kicked off. As things get serious, an increasingly hopeless Heidi tries to support her NHS girlfriend via her usual tactics of telling very bad jokes and making niche pop culture references that never land. It has mixed results. Oozing personality and a unique perspective on life, all while maintaining her extremely silly tone, this hour is one not to be missed!
Nina Conti: The Dating Show PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Grand
TIME: 6pm
DATESs: 3rd–28th August (not 16th)
Following a critically acclaimed tour and West End run, Nina Conti returns to the Edinburgh Fringe 2022 with The Dating Show.
British Comedy Award winner Nina is finishing her highly critically acclaimed UK tour of her new hour The Dating Show this June, and is preparing to transfer to London’s West End this March. The quick-thinking queen of ventriloquism brings you her pioneering, dating-infused live show. There’s no promise that true love will be found, but a firm guarantee that big laughs will be had in the reign of this ‘voice-throwing queen’ (London Evening Standard).
Nina started doing stand-up ventriloquism in 2002 and shot to fame by winning the BBC New Comedy Award that same year. Famed for her foul-mouthed ‘sidekick’ Monkey (Monk), Nina has won numerous comedy awards for her writing, acting and ventriloquism.
Tessa Coates: Get Your Tessa Coates You’ve Pulled PRESS RELEASE HERE
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, Beside
Time: 18.05
Dates: Aug 3-28 August
After two sell-out Fringes, her own BBC Radio 4 special, and opening for Nish Kumar on his latest tour, Tessa Coates is almost unconscious with excitement to be back at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a brand-new stand-up hour. Get Your Tessa Coates You’ve Pulled is a joyful celebration of life being back with a vengeance.
A smorgasbord of the weird and wonderful, Tessa will take you on a journey across Faberge eggs, the Lascaux cave paintings, being offered ketamine out of a woman’s scrunchie in the toilets at a party, a recent diagnosis for ADD (not the H for Hyperactive, turns out, she’s very lazy), lying about liking opera at a wedding, and how all her 30-something friends have started having babies and don’t want to hang out any more.
Sindhu Vee: Alphabet PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance Beyond
TIME: 18:30
DATES: 18th – 28th August
Fresh from a wildly successful UK live tour and a string of high-profile telly appearances, Sindhu Vee is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her critically acclaimed show Alphabet.
Alphabet is about the hair we want, the friends we have, and living the vast difference between virus and viral. In her most honest and revealing show to date, Sindhu presents a warm and intimate hour where you can expect razor sharp, unapologetic stand-up from one of comedy’s most engaging talents.
Sara Barron: Hard Feelings PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard, Upstairs
TIME: 19:15
DATES: Aug 3-28 (Not 17th)
Award-winning comedian and Edinburgh Best Newcomer nominee Sara Barron is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022 with her brand-new show Hard Feelings.
Star of Live at the Apollo, Would I Lie to You, and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, Sara Barron returns with a blistering hour of stand-up on smart sex, dumb kids, conception, rejection and wine-in-a-can. These are the targets in a show that asks: where is the space for self-preservation in the sentence “family is everything”?
There’s comedy in tragedy – and tragedy in midlife – and in Hard Feelings, Sara tackles infertility, miscarriage, identity and self-image.
Esther Manito: #NotAllMen PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Gilded Balloon Teviot (Wee Room)
TIME: 19:20
DATES: Aug 3-29 (not 16 & 17)
Esther Manito brings the Best Show at the 2021 Leicester Comedy Festival, #NotAllMen, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.
A man masturbating on the London Underground is an unlikely source of inspiration for an award-winning stand-up show, but after seeing the hashtag ‘#NotAllMen’ circulating on Twitter, Esther Manito (Live at the Apollo, Stand Up Sketch Show) was galvanised into examining how things really are for women in the UK today.
#NotAllMen takes audiences back to the 1990s and Esther’s teen years; the glory days of lad mags, landlines and cock-n-ball graffiti. A time where the media said her Middle Eastern heritage was filled with misogynistic men, whereas the West absolutely had sexism sorted.
La Clique PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Underbelly Meadows Circus Hub
TIME: 19.35
DATES: 5th – 27th August (not 15th or 22nd)
Born at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004 and subsequently gaining international acclaim touring the globe, this original and trailblazing Spiegeltent-based cabaret show brings you a magnificent collection of extraordinary new artists and unmissable favourites.
A decade on from winning the Best Entertainment Olivier Award and fresh from performances in London and Singapore, La Clique promises to be a night of laughs, gasps, naughtiness and the best in international cabaret.
Schalk Bezuidenhout: I’ll Make Laugh To You (Like You Want Me To) PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Balcony
TIME: 19.40
DATES: 3rd – 29th August
‘Positively a name to watch’ (Evening Standard), this South African comedy stunner returns to Edinburgh following an incredible debut in simpler pre-pandemic times. Fresh from a 2022 Netflix special, Schalk Bezuidenhout is back with love in his heart and jokes in his pocket.
Many say that I’ll Make Laugh To You (Like You Want Me To) is like Romeo and Juliet, except it’s not at all and from South Africa. I mean what else can we say? It’s a comedy show. You will laugh. It’s as easy as that.
Pete Firman: Bag of Tricks PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Debating Hall, Gilded Balloon Teviot
TIME: 20:00
DATES: 3rd-28th August (not 25th)
Off the back of a phenomenally successful nationwide tour in 2021, Bag of Tricks audiences can expect Pete’s trademark blend of laugh-out-loud comedy and jaw-dropping magic. This hour is Pete’s most unique yet and proves why he is one of the Festival’s most popular performers.
The ‘gob-smackingly talented magician’ (Metro) has numerous television appearances under his belt, including ITV’s Tonight at the London Palladium, The Next Great Magician, Tommy Cooper Forever, BBC One’s Let’s Sing & Dance for Comic Relief, The John Bishop Show, The Magicians and The Sarah Millican Television Programme. He presents the hugely successful gameshow Don’t Unleash The Beast for CITV and has just completed filming on the second season of Good Omens, which is due to air early 2023 on Amazon Prime.
Siblings: Siblage PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: The Attic, Pleasance Courtyard
TIME: 20:30
DATES: 3rd to 29th August (not 15th)
Character comedians and IRL sisters Maddy and Marina Bye are back and physically bigger than ever. Watch clown, physical comedy and relatively high-level acting unfold before your tear-filled eyes. Tears of sadness or laughter? You decide!
Prepare for a raucous hour of absurdist sketch comedy from two hot twins (not twins but can be for casting purposes). Siblings is a comedy double act and cacophony of character and sketch featuring sisters Maddy and Marina Bye. In the last four years, they have performed internationally and across the UK in festivals and on the live circuit. They have sold out three consecutive Edinburgh Fringe runs as well as a sold out extended run at Soho Theatre in 2019. In 2020, The Guardian included them as one of ‘The Sisters who became ferociously funny comedy duos’.
Kai Samra: Native PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Dome
TIME: 20:30
DATES: 3rd to 28th August 2022 (not 15th)
Following Kai’s powerful, ★★★★★ breakthrough hour Underclass, Kai Samra, the West Midlands wonder storms back to the Edinburgh Fringe with his all-new show Native. Talking race, class, immigration, his personal reflections on youth homelessness, India and, more importantly, 2010 indie-rock bands with a “lightness of touch that gets the audience onside and keeps them there” – Evening Standard.
The son of Indian immigrants growing up in a low-income, single-parent household, Kai also spent his teen years at youth homeless shelter Centrepoint in Birmingham. Kai offers festival audiences a Brummie British Asian perspective and is one of the most unique and distinctive voices within the comedy landscape. A must-see comedian of his generation, “a charismatic man with a great story and the chops to tell it’ – Chortle.
Reginald D. Hunter: Bombe Shuffleur PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Assembly Rooms, Ballroom
TIME: 9:10pm
DATES: 3rd to 28th August 2022 (not Mondays)
Climate change. Mass unemployment. Economic pandemics. The rise of global fascism. So, what the f*** could this man POSSIBLY say to upset you? Welcome to the world of the Bombe Shuffleur.
Reginald D. Hunter is a man who shuffles conceptual bombs, juggling ‘volatile and dangerous situations without them exploding’. Armed with his ‘supreme skills as a storyteller’ (The Times), Reginald tackles head on the subjects the rest of us skirt around. The voice of his generation – searingly honest, brutally funny and uniquely placed to commentate on the unfolding meltdown of life as we know it. Buckle up for this unmissable hour of stand up from one of comedy’s true greats!
Jess Robinson: Legacy PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Above, Pleasance Courtyard
TIME: 21:20
DATES: 3rd-28th August (not 16th or 23rd)
Watch the UK’s leading musical impressionist and star of Spitting Image Jess Robinson save the world in under an hour! Join the Edinburgh favourite as you’ve never seen her before – starring in a brand-new musical multimedia one-woman show. Audiences can expect to be blown away by stunning original music and Jess’ jaw-dropping speaking and singing impressions including the likes of Olivia Colman, Zoella, Lady Gaga, Gal Gadot, Kim Kardashian and Adele to name a few.
A multiple award-winning comedy impressionist and classically-trained singer, Jess Robinson has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe with a new show every year since 2014; including the wildly successful No Filter, which rounded off a critically-acclaimed, nationwide tour with a five-night run at the Soho Theatre in 2019. Her podcast Stars in your Ears with Jess Robinson won best entertainment podcast at the British Podcast awards in 2021.
Tom Lucy: Melt PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard, Upstairs
TIME: 21.45
DATES: 3rd – 28th August (not 15th)
After complete sell-out runs in 2017 and 2018, Tom Lucy is back at the Edinburgh Fringe with his brand new show Melt. This fresh hour of razor sharp comedy asks the question ‘do all 25 year olds ‘get into stuff’? And is that stuff always furniture, Spotify and circumcisions?’
Starting at just 16, Tom quickly rose through the comedy club circuit to become one of the youngest professional stand-up comedians in the world, now regularly performing at the UK’s top clubs. As seen on Stand Up For Live Comedy, Roast Battle, Stand Up Central, Dating No Filter, Live At The Comedy Store, Stand Up Sketch Show and many more.
Liz Kingsman: One Woman Show PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Traverse Theatre, 1
TIME: 10pm
DATES: 16th- 28th August (not 22nd August)
Following sensational critical acclaim, a plethora of 5-star reviews and sold-out Soho Theatre runs in 2021 and 2022, Liz Kingsman is bringing her outstanding One-Woman Show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.
One Woman Show follows writer-performer Liz Kingsman during a particularly high-pressure performance of her debut one-woman show Wildfowl, a show she claims is “so unflinching you’ll be begging for a flinch.” Liz Kingsman’s comedic show within a show is astoundingly funny with an exceptional gag rate. Transferring from two sold out London runs, this is one not to be missed.
Trigger warning: contains blinding ambition.
Jack Barry: Don’t Happy Be Worry PRESS RELEASE HERE
VENUE: Monkey Barrel, MB4
TIME: 10:40pm
DATES: 3rd to 28th August 2022 (not 17th)
Hot piece of ass Jack Barry rises from the ashes of the pandemic to heal your soul like a hearty dose of medicinal magic mushrooms. Cry from laughing, laugh from crying, forget that we’re dying. Jack returns from the global, viral, fun hiatus in search of joyfulness, contentment, and an end to anxiety – if such a thing exists!
Join Jack for a magical hour of mental health musings as this ‘immensely likeable and hilarious performer’ (Sunday Post) explores polyamory, pandemic weddings, drug decriminalisation, therapy, feline adoption and why fungi is the future.
