Edinburgh Fringe 2008 officially begins

This year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival officially starts today. The festival is considered to be the most important gathering of comedians in the UK.

However, before this year's Fringe even began, it has been dogged by problems. The most notable source of woe is the festival's now notorious box office. The ticket booking system has been known to have been problematic for many years now, due to it not being able to handle the influx of people wanting tickets. This year however, it was so bad that the system was taken offline for over a week while the software was improved. While four of the Fringe's biggest venues (The Assembly Rooms, The Pleasance, The Gilded Balloon and The Underbelly) were able to sell some of their tickets themselves, most of the smaller venues were unable to. As a result, many people may be unsure if they have got tickets to some shows until it is too late.

Including the comedy acts, there is a total of 19,000 performers at this year's Fringe. Many of the comedians will be looking out for the festival's if.comedy awards (the modern day Perrier), one of the greatest honours for a comedian to receive. The winner of the main prize last year was the controversial Australian comic Brendon Burns for his show "So I Suppose THIS is Offensive Now". The award for best newcomer went to Tom Basden, most noted for his work with The Cowards. Also starting this year is the Malcolm Hardee award for "Most Original Act".

The Guardian has posted a video in which Richard Herring and Arthur Smith take the temperature at the first day this year's festival: Guardian Video