727 shows so far...

The Edinburgh Fringe programme officially launches tomorrow… but Chortle can bring you an exclusive peek at the vast majority of the comedy listings now.

We have details of 727 shows heading to the festival this August – including almost all of the shows at the biggest venues: Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Stand, Underbelly and Just The Tonic, as well as the Laughing Horse Free Festival.

The total is just short of the total number of shows we listed at the 2008 Fringe, but the explosion in free shows means we expect the total number of shows listed on Chortle could top the 1,000 mark for the first time. We cover the entire comedy section of the programme, plus children’s and theatre shows of particular interest to comedy fans.

Among the highlights of this year’s fringe are:

• Arthur Smith’s Pissed-up Chat Show. In which he remains sober, but all his guests must be drunk – and take a breathalyser to prove it. Other chat shows will be hosted by Tim Vine, Olivia Lee, Neil and Christine Hamilton, and Jack Whitehall – who is co-hosting with his agent father Michael.

• Visiting US comedians Kristen Schall Margaret Cho, Michael Winslow (the sound effects guy from the Police Academy series), Todd Barry and Tom Green.

• Paul Daniels in a show with Debbie McGee, Ruby Wax’s show about her depression Losing It and Al Murray with his Compete For The Meat gameshow.

• Other famous names such as Sarah Millican, Paul Merton, Dave Gorman, Barry Cryer, Andy Parsons and Phill Jupitus – who will be leading an improv group as well as doing his own stand-up show.

• Chortle presenting an hour-long version of the Fast Fringe showcase at 6.40pm every day, giving Fringe-goers bite-sized chunks of a dozen shows before setting off for the evening.

• And returns to the fringe for children’s TV star Little Howard; last year’s award-winner Russell Kane; old favourites including Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and Simon Munnery; and genital manipulators Puppetry Of The Penis… with their projections now in 3D.

Click to browse our Edinburgh Festival Fringe listings.

Published: 8 Jun 2011