2014 Edinburgh Fringe

More details

When the Tories make you sad, fight them with love - and punchlines! Comedian and activist Chris Coltrane presents an hour of hilarious, passionate political stand-up comedy, guaranteed to leave you inspired and eager to protest.

Politicians. Love them or hate them, you definitely have to hate them. Luckily, Coltrane is is here to hold the rich and powerful to account. In his new show he celebrates the heroes fighting for change. From tiny dissent over gender-coloured Kinder Eggs, to spectacularly gate-crashing a weapons company's shareholder meeting, Coltrane's show is packed full of protest stories and biting stand-up that shows us the power of protest and the joy of activism.

Fans of sharp satire, intelligent nonsense and engaging storytelling will utterly adore Coltrane's third Fringe show. If you love social justice, feminism and fighting bad guys, this is the show for you.

Never over-earnest and always playful, fans of thoughtful, radical comedy will find him a must-see act. Mark Thomas says "Chris Coltrane is one of a handful of comics who are the future of British political comedy. He is funny, smart, playful, and often right!"

Coltrane's 2012 show Activism Is Fun was in the top 20 highest reviewed comedy shows of the entire Fringe, according to the aggregation of all reviews by comedy.co.uk. It was directed by Josie Long, who also describes him as her "favourite comedian on Twitter".

His 2013 show Compassion Is Subversive contained a stupid joke about time machines that was voted into the Top 10 Jokes of the Fringe. He also joined Mark Thomas, Susan Calman and an audience of 400 in a free gig outside Edinburgh's Russian consulate to protest Russia's LGBT persecution.

Both shows are free downloads at chriscoltrane.com

Chris Coltrane

- Coltrane runs Lolitics, one of London's only political comedy clubs, and a regular venue for Mark Thomas, Andy Zaltzman, Bridget Christie and Rob Newman. Its podcast receives over 20,000 downloads per episode, and was featured as Chortle's Podcast of the Week.

- He is a member of the anti-cuts group UK Uncut, who take direct action against tax-dodgers like Vodafone and Top Shop. He has turned Barclays Bank, Soho Square and Westminster Bridge into spontaneous free comedy clubs, where over 500 protesters came to occupy and fight austerity with laughter, and has even presented an award to George Osborne when he was voted "Top Tax Shirker" by members of the PCS Union. Story

- He is a satirical columnist for the world news magazine New Internationalist, and blogs about politics

- He has almost 8,000 followers on Twitter at @chris_coltrane, where he tweets regular jokes about politics and nonsense.