Programme swells to almost 3,000

Another 1,596 Edinburgh Fringe shows have gone on sale from the official festival box office today.

It brings the number of shows up to 3,000 – of which 1,117 are in the comedy section.

The numbers suggest the Fringe is on track to have more shows than last year, where the figure stood at 3,385 on the eve of the festival. However, a glance at the listings seems to suggest that more shows than previously are doing less than the full run.

More shows will be added to this year’s programme on Thursday June 8 as part of the festival’s full programme launch, with other shows being added online right up to the Fringe start date of August 4, and beyond.

Monkey Barrel has announced shows by John Kearns, Sofie Hagen and Spencer Jones, Adam Rowe, Dane Baptiste and Avital Ash – as well as works in progress by the likes of Rose Matafeo, Ed Gamble, Tiff Stephenson and Glenn Moore.

Across all venues, around 50 comedy shows are labelled as works in progress.

Pleasance’s new offerings include the return of Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Catherine Cohen with her show Come For Me; as well as shows from Rosie Jones, Mawaan Rizwan, Shaparak Khorsandi and Celya AB; plus Kiell Smith-Bynoe  and Ed MacArthur’s musical comedy String V SPITTA and Jordan Brookes’ work in progress Snakes For Cats To Watch.

Gilded Balloon’s roster includes a new show from Jon Culshaw (pictured) Imposter Syndrome; American comedian, actress and plus-size model Megan Stalter and Scot Squad star Jack Docherty with Bowie & Me: Parallel Lives, reminiscing on the time spent with David Bowie on his chat show in 1997.

At Underbelly, the new comedy offerings include identical twins Patrick and Hugo McPherson with their double act Pear; Adam Riches returning with the  site-specific Adam Riches Is The Guys Who, and  Sounds Like…, an improvisational panel show, from Doc Brown based around rhyme and rap.

» Chortle's Edinburgh Fringe comedy listings

Published: 11 May 2023