There are many showcases at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which claim to have unearthed this gem or that star, but the number of such shows that can make a genuine claim to having given performers a worthwhile leg-up is much smaller. The Five Pound Fringe's own show, The Lunchtime Club, is among that elite group... despite the fact it was only introduced last year.

Lisa Keddie and Jon Briley - joint founders of the Five Pound Fringe - scout some of the best young talent to take part at the daily show at The Tron. Despite the lunchtime slot, audiences have already been flocking to this year's show to check out comedians for whom they may have to pay a hefty admission charge to see in the near future.

Chortle Best Newcomer 2010 Joe Lycett and 2009's So You Think You're Funny? champion Ivo Graham were among the line-up last year, and both have gone from strength to strength ever since.

This year, Jon and Lisa have asked Joel Dommett (of Channel 4's Skins fame), Tom Rosenthal (who reached the final of the Chortle's student competition last year, and is set to star in Channel 4's new sitcom Friday Night Dinner alongside Simon Bird this Autumn), and So You Think You're Funny? finalist Liam Williams, amongst others, to appear in the 2010 lunchtime line-up.

"We're all young and quite new to it, but all have enough experience not to be shit," Liam told us. "I think there's something quite exciting about writers and performers at that formative stage - there's something very genuine about it. Plus, we might all be famous one day, and you'll feel smug that you saw us now." Tom adds: "Statistically one out of the five of us will probably achieve a modicum of success. You can say you saw them when they were worse!"

The Edinburgh Fringe must therefore offer a chance for the young hopefuls to see some of their inspirations? "Many," Liam said. "Everything the Invisible Dot are doing. Alex Horne, Jonny Sweet, Nick Mohammed, Andrew Lawrence, Emo Phillips, Sarah Pascoe, Nat Luurtsema... to name far too few." Ian adds: "John-Luke Roberts, Nick Sun, Tim Key, Jonny Sweet, Terry Saunders, Tom Toal - too many to mention..."

The Lunchtime Club team also have a ready-made cure to the inevitable hangovers that come with a month at the Fringe... "A trip to Greggs the bakery for some sort of pastry, an orange flavoured Lucozade and then I phone my mum," Rob Beckett explains. "I don't trust anyone that actually likes original flavour Lucozade."

So if you want to grab a preview of the hottest new talent around in the comedy world, and moreover do so for a mere fiver, then The Lunchtime Club is the show for you...