2018 Edinburgh Fringe

Opinion: Edinburgh Fringe advice from Chris Head

It's never too early to start planning for the Edinburgh Fringe. With only ten months to go director Chris Head, author of A Directors Guide to the Art of Stand-up, offers some tips below.

Why standups should refresh the tired 'Edinburgh show'

The classic Edinburgh comedy show lasts an hour, with a strong narrative component and an inevitable 'sad bit'. But this rigid template is stifling creativity.

Jenny Eclair on women winning Edinburgh Comedy Awards

When I won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in the 1990s we were debating whether women could be funny. Now we wonder if the men can keep up.

Stephen Carlin Fringe diary, day 25

At last, the sweet release of death. Not death... coffee.

Seven sensible questions: Lloyd Langford

Like a sort of comedy hamster, this up-and-coming rascal packs laughs into his big face. We sent a stuffed monkey to make him spit out some masticated fun morsels.

Richard Todd interview

Richard Todd is getting to grips with toilets and electric hobs. Oh, and tightrope walking over his performance abyss...

Land of guilt and funny

Jews, comedy's chosen people, used to love free speech - until recently, says Ivor Dembina.

Comedy Awards prove that proper humour is back

In recent years, the ECAs have prompted grumbling in some quarters for praising important but challenging work over shows with mainstream appeal.

Why Rose Matafeo winning is such a huge deal

Last night Rose Matafeo won the Edinburgh Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, one of the most prestigious awards for comedians anywhere. Here's why that matters.

This festivsl might appear finished but it is not

Edinburgh. Erratic weather conditions. Sun. Rain. Heavier rain. Sun. Icy chill. Hot streak. A tough 5 minutes.

Stephen Carlin show diary: day 24

Perhaps I am entering my fat Elvis stage?

Trump's making our job so much harder

Fred MacAulay is no fan of the political landscape even though he may be related to the president.

Laugh Out London's Edinburgh Fringe Awards 2018

It's been another amazing Edinburgh Festival Fringe full of great comedy, captivating drama and too many chips. The Edinburgh Comedy Awards have made their decision on who won this year's festival, but we now bring you the only awards that truly matter - Laugh Out London's Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Awards, also known as the LOLlies.

Interview: Hajo Schüler on Infinita

Since their founding over two decades ago at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, Familie Flöz has enchanted the world with their unique combination of masks and movement.

Here's the comics to watch

Did you hear the one about stand-up making a big comeback at the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Awards?

Stephen Carlin show diary: day 23

The crashed ambulance show.

Lucy Pearman picks her comedy favourites

It's a shrew singing Phantom of the Opera...

Award champ Rose Matafeo's Horndog is a comedy smash

The Kiwi standup thoroughly deserves her success with an uproarious, emotionally intimate and feminist show.

What are you going to do once the Fringe is over?

Now it's time to curl up and cry.

We present the ThreeWeeks Editors' Awards 2018

Here we run through all the winners...

There's comedy in everything

It's Thursday morning and seven comedians have walked into a bar. It should be the cue for a joke but over the next hour or so all of them seem lost in the excitement surrounding the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Funny women on the Fringe podcasts: Rose Matafeo

Funny Women were backstage at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards to chat to a very happy Rose Matafeo, the first person of colour and the first Kiwi to ever win the prestigious prize! Congratulations Rose! with Becky Sing.

Frappés and funny people: Damian Clark

Wrapping up the last few days of his fifth Edinburgh Fringe Festival solo-show run, Damian Clark is the epitome of funny.

Reviewer-review: Paul Mitchell (Fest)

Paul Mitchell gives his readers the unusual feeling that he is trying very hard to explain what's going on onstage, yet leaves you with very little idea what went on onstage. There's a lot of florid prose that just bursts into nothingness like sprays of cherry blossom if you get too close to it.

Circuit Bunny: Comics in old bangers getting sausages

A photo comic.

Three to see on 24 Aug

Three recommended shows to see on Friday 24 Aug...

Fringe's best fish jokes revealed

The winning joke was submitted by Harriet Cartledge (pictured), of the comedy improv group Hivemind, whose effort received 25% of votes cast by the international fishing community:

Bethany Black recalls her most memorable gigs

This is why I no longer car share...

Lolly Jones chooses her comedy favourites

'Everything he says sounds like a Grimms' fairytale'

The Terrier Awards

As the Edinburgh Fringe nears its conclusion, the best five-star comedy critic in town delivers his verdict on this year's shows. o boy o boy.

Tessa Coates: The funniest TV show? The Royle Family

Writer, standup and member of sketch group Massive Dad on the things that make her laugh the most.

Who would be your perfect double act partner?

Theatre Weekly's best of the fest

As the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival enters it's final few days, the team at Theatre Weekly have been looking back at the hundreds of reviews we've written, and compiled our Best of the Fest.

The Half interview

A show about entertainment industry sexism and the dynamics of double acts is making Edinburgh audiences laugh and sob. Its writer and stars tell all.

The distinctly millennial rising star

A BBC New Comedy Award finalist, Jacob Hawley uses his show to rally against Brexit, and lampoon outdated ideas of race, sexuality, and gender.

Interview: Kwame Asante on his Teenage Heartblob years

I can imagine doctors need a sense of humour at the best of times and what better way to push NHS health messages than through the medium of comedy. Obesity is the theme of junior doctor Kwame Asante's current fringe show Teenage Heartblob and it is rooted in personal experience.

Weekend: Edinburgh Award shortlister Rose Matafeo

Somewhere in the bowels of YouTube there's footage of a nerdy 16-year-old Rose Matafeo doing her first stand-up set.

The Lenny Henry Birthday Show, review

A 60th birthday bash I was delighted to be invited to.

Edinburgh: where being right-wing makes you exotic

Conservative comics still raise eyebrows, but things seem to be changing.

Stephen Carlin Fringe diary, day 20

'Why don't you pore over every clause like a lawyer..?'

I've planned your last fucking week

So without further ado: here's a really easy list of what to see during this last week.

Dale Adams interview

I asked some questions of actor Dale Adams, who plays that little dog trying to find his voice in the Edinburgh version of the show.

Three to see on 23 Aug

Three recommended shows to see on Thursday 23 Aug...

Brexit's a joke: Edinburgh fringe's EU comedies

Britain's exit from the EU is quicksand for artists as well as politicians. This year, it's inspired polemical cabaret and a drama that goes nowhere fast.

Interview: Andrew Maxwell

This year, Andrew Maxwell is getting to grips with Brexit, the Kremlin and the social-media brainwashers.

Luke Kempner picks his comedy favourites

Little Britain convinced me to do comedy.

Tania Edwards recalls her most memorable gigs

'It turned out that the front table were Tourette's sufferers'

The most unusual comedy shows at the Fringe

From shows you control with your phone to tap-dancing economics lessons, these comedians do things a little differently.

What inspired you to get into comedy?

Seasons of the Fringe

We had joy, we had fun, we are pretty fucking done...

Stephen Carlin show diary: day 22

The audience has a life outside my show, and it includes a toilet.

My people: pensive chucklers with one eye on bedtime

As a child I would often get scolded by my uncle for being irresponsible (though I still refuse to believe that the suction power of the vacuum cleaner I was using to levitate my sister's hair was enough rip her head off).

Matt Price, interview

Comedian Matt Price chats about his 2018 Fringe show Last Night A Weegie Saved My Life.

Politics keeps providing for Edinburgh Fringe satirists

It's a laugh or cry situation, and comedians Lolly Jones, Pierre Novellie and Matt Forde are trying to ensure festival goers are laughing more than crying.

Three to see on 22 Aug

Three recommended shows to see on Wednesday 22 Aug...

Next Wednesday, Sir Lenny Henry turns 60; here, Sir Trevor McDonald presents a lighthearted and celebratory look back at a career that started 43 years ago with an appearance on New Faces and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. There is the added lure of some new sketches.

Stephen Mangan can do no wrong with his hilarious adaptation of Lisa Kudrow's US comedy Web Therapy. Tonight, put-upon therapist Richard Pitt's mother tries to move in, loan shark Neil rants about his grim past and Kevin Eldon joins the cast as a mean lottery winner. No wonder Pitt feels "like a cock in a blender".

Eli Matthewson: Edinburgh Fringe 2018 interview

Eli Matthewson interview.

William Andrews chooses his comedy favourites

'It's completely batshit and I love it'

Flo and Joan recall their most memorable gigs

'It was like dying and watching your own funeral'

BWW Q&A- Yianni Agisilaou

Yianni Agisilaou interview.

Who have the Edinburgh Comedy Awards panel overlooked?

This question was asked before today's shortlists came out...

Heard the one about the US comic storming Edinburgh?

Natalie Palamides, a 28-year-old comic based in Los Angeles, talks to Dominic Maxwell about her alter ego and making sexual consent funny.

Watch our chat with Pete Firman at Edinburgh Fringe

He'll be taking his Marvels shows on tour this year.

Three to see on 21 Aug

Three recommended shows to see on Tuesday 21 Aug...

Comedy duo magic up a prom night to see out Fringe

Some of the biggest names in comedy are to join a 1950s-style American school prom, devised to bring "joy and magic" to jaded performers and audiences at the end of the Fringe "term".

Comedian signs his entire show in comedy first

As the son of deaf parents, Ray Bradshaw regards British Sign Language as his first language.

Stephen Carlin Fringe diary, day 19

I feel like a rabble rouser at a union meeting at the docks.

Matt Rees picks his comedy favourites

'Louis CK let everyone down... but he's still the best stand-up I've seen'

Natalie Palamides podcast interview

We caught up with Funny Women favourite, Natalie Palamides at one of the beating hearts of the Fringe, the Pleasance Courtyard. Join her as she talks about her show Nate, character and show development with US versus UK audiences and her take on the Festival Fringe. Interviewed by Mariana Feijo.

Catherine Bohart interview

If you want to attract attention in the over-crowded marketplace of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival it helps if you have an angle. Catherine Bohart has three. As she says at the start of her striking debut show, Immaculate, "I'm the bisexual daughter of a Catholic deacon and I have OCD".

Kate Berlant recalls her most memorable gigs

'I came out in a wheelchair wearing a kimono'

Salty effluvia has sluiced down my legs

The biggest problem now is my shoes.

Interview: Dave Chawner

Dave Chawner is an award-winning comic, published author and mental health campaigner.

How would you improve the Fringe?

'We should make it free and move it to Norfolk'

Brian Logan: I saw a man die on stage. It was me

He's been derided by Daniel Kitson, shamed by Stewart Lee - and now our comedy critic has been depicted having his brains blown out by Sam Campbell. Just as well he can take a joke.

Adam Rowe on the struggle behind his Job Centre joke

'I know what it's like to be in that system'

How did the Coopers become bigger than Cumberbatch?

Daisy May and Charlie Cooper have stealthily become TV's most successful siblings after word of mouth propelled their masterly sitcom to two Baftas.

James Dangerfield: When You Fall Down interview

I put some questions to him to find out more.

The American Invasion - Judah Friedlander

In the final part of our American Invasion, Thomas Black asks the well revered comedian and actor Judah Friedlander what has brought him over the Atlantic to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe.