BCG Daily Tuesday 8th August 2023

Edinburgh Fringe Rarely Asked Questions - Steve N Allen

Steve N Allen makes a welcome return to the Edinburgh Fringe this year to the Gilded Balloon with Alzheimer's? I Can't Even Remember How To Spell It.

I have a 97% chance of developing cancer. I'm only 35

The disease killed both her father and brother. When Michelle Brasier was told her odds of getting it her reaction was to write a comedy show.

Gavin & Stacey stars reveal show was never filmed in Essex

Gavin & Stacey's Pam and Mick Shipman have finally visited Essex for the first time.

Despite the series being set across South Wales and Essex, Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb have revealed their Billericay scenes were all TV fakery.

Paul Merton interview

"Is Have I Got News For You kinder to women than it used to be? No, I don't think so".

Stephen Fry says reading about Oscar Wilde made him fear 'a cursed life' as a gay man in Britain

Broadcaster and writer was influenced by learning about the homophobia the 19th-century Irish poet faced.

Dodging death, downpours and Oxbridge dilettantes: Paul Merton's Edinburgh Fringe

Accessibility debates around the Fringe have got ever louder in the last few years, but Paul Merton says it's always been tough for working class performers.

Gabby Killick: I'm Like a Hurricane On Stage

"First of all please don't come if you're easily offended. My banter can be a bit brutal and if you're not into that, we could save ourselves both some time haha!"

Trevor Lock: The Medicine We All Need

Trevor is not really a stand up comic. He sits down quite a lot. Plus he is way too philosophically bent.

EdFringe Talk: Do Rhinos Feel Their Horns or Can They Not See Them Like How We Can't See Our Noses

"If there's one thing I'd like to impart to others doing shows at EdFringe, it's to never rely too much on yourself."

EdFringe Talk: Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu

"I haven't before or since been in an environment where so many different styles of live performance could all be found in the same city and at the same time."

EdFringe Talk: The Last of the Soviets

"Some time ago I went through a surgery and learned how simply great and fantastic is to have a healthy body."

St Albans: Michael Palin's message of support to drama group

Comedian and travel documentarian Michael Palin has advised audiences at an amateur production of his play "to avoid sitting in the front few rows".

Ross Noble interview

Ross Noble has returned to his first love - live comedy - and his bringing his stream-of-conscious freewheeling stand-up Jibber Jabber Jamboree to Harrogate.

Are you spending big this Fringe?

We ask Edinburgh comedians if they're paying for lots of extras... and if so, why?

Katy Berry's Edinburgh Fringe binge, cringe and whinge...

'I peed my pants a little on stage'

Our Top 10 pick of Disabled/ND-Led Shows

With the Edinburgh Fringe now in full swing, we wanted to highlight ten shows we feel are immediate stand-outs at this year's festival. So here they are in no particular order.

Liam Withnail: Sick Humour

"It's very different from your standard stand up show!"

Fringe Dog meets Fiona Allen

Edinburgh's canine critic meets the Smack The Pony star.

Joe O'Curneen on A Comedy Of Operas

"The moment the performers start singing, people instantly recognise the tune".

Martha Watson Allpress on Lady Dealer: 'I have never dealt drugs!'

Loneliness, self-destruction and drug dealing are all filtered through the prism of poetry in Martha Watson Allpress' latest show. We talk to the writer about humanising the socially unacceptable and dropping audiences into 'the abyss of feeling'.

Mark Watson mocks Edinburgh Fringe photo debate

'Not everyone got the joke so I should make it clear,' established comic later clafiried.

Fringe comedian punched by drunk woman during show left in hospital with stitches

Colin Higgins ended up in stitches when an intoxicated woman punched him in the face.

The Kinsey Sicks pick their Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites

'Activist art disguised as boob-filled musical comedy'

'Like a naughty Siri': friendly sex robot Vanessa 5000 asks audiences to test her powers

In her Edinburgh festival show, LA comic and clown Courtney Pauroso plays a latex-clad humanoid pleasure device. But are fringegoers ready to restart her?

Phil Ellis: I Still Have One Functioning Kidney

"I really, truly believe that you should all come and see my show because I am, without doubt, North Manchester's most reliable comedian."

How Good Omens Series 2 swerved ignorant tropes with its disabled angels

Near-perfect representation.

Frank Skinner: 'It's easier to say I'm alcoholic than Catholic'

The comedian on drinking, couples' counselling and keeping the peace.

Jim Davidson puts his historic country manor home on the market for £1.85million

The sale comes four months after announcing the end of his fifth marriage.