Edinburgh Fringe 2024 Preview – Part Four

Conquering heroes return.

To rework the old showbiz adage, you play the Edinburgh Fringe twice. Once on the way up and once...Only kidding for these folks below of course, they are still very much at their artistic peaks. There's a significant batch of past Edinburgh Comedy Award winners returning this year. Some, such as Hannah Gadsby, Ahir Shah and Rose Matafeo are doing short or very short runs. Here's my pick of the rest of the bunch, three left-field acts to savour.

Adam Riches

Riches made a name for himself as that very rare beast, an utterly genius/fearless immersive character comedian. He won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2011 with Bring Me The Head of Adam Riches. He really pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable in audience participation, frequently inviting members of the public to hit him in his chest which had plastic bottles of probiotic yoghurt strapped to it. Not so much a cult comic as a Yakult comic.

This year Riches (picture ©Matt Stronge) returns with a show all about, yes, that's right, you guessed it, tennis legend Jimmy Connors. It is probably best to let Riches explain: “I know what you're thinking. AT LAST, a comedian doing a one-man show about tennis. Just what the world has been waiting for! But when I first saw the ESPN documentary on Jimmy and his US Open run in 1991, I immediately thought, this would make a terrific play. Over-the hill sportsman, overwhelming odds, overbearing Mother...what’s not to love?! Throw in the glaring similarities between a player getting his ass whooped on a tennis court and a comedian dying on his arse on stage and the only real question is, why has this taken so long?” Yoghurt may not be involved.

Summerhall, August 1 - 26 at 21.30.

Jordan Brookes

I first saw Jordan Brookes at the Fringe playing an off-the-beaten track free venue near The Meadows. If you've seen Baby Reindeer it was a bit like the pub in that, with an audience that was a mix of confused regular punters and curious comedy fans. I knew he was going to be special to me before he even came onstage when I heard him shouting from the wings "Is Bruce in?". It was only after I'd been giving him rave reviews that I realised he was actually saying "Is Brookes in?"

Brookes (picture by Sojo McKenzie) went on to win the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2019 with I've Got Nothing, a show which was largely improvised but kept to his basic template of barefoot, raw, self-debasing confessional comedy. This year's show sounds like a departure. He is apparently looking to drop his nihilistic and overwrought outlook in Fontanelle, which takes the Titanic as its starting point.

Once again it might be best to let the artist explain: “The world is obsessed with turning everything into entertainment, finding stories to tell in a feverish desire to ensure every moment in human history has been thrown onto the bonfire of spectacle. I’ve taken a different approach, and turned back towards one of the original moneymaker tragedies in the biz - the Titanic. Convinced there’s something previously undiscovered, I’ve gone on an obsessive deepdive to prove there’s life in the old ship yet, and by extension, me. Can I find something original to say about the most well-worn topic of all time? Or will I have to make something up?”

Pleasance Dome, July 31 - August 25, 20.30

Tim Key

Tim Key has become such a familiar face on television that some fans might not know that his big break was winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award for his poetry/comedy show The Slutcracker in 2009. Since then he has appeared in pretty much every single television comedy that has been made, most notably for some become Sidekick Simon to Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge. I sat next to him at the screening of the very last episode of Inside No 9 earlier this year and thought to myself I bet he wishes he was in this. He turned out to be the first person you saw onscreen.

Key is now back in Edinburgh workshopping some new material with a view, one presumes, to hitting the road at a later date. L****b**r* is described as an "Advanced Work-in-Progress", which presumably means it is nearly the finished article. Key is always compelling though whether with the finished article or something much more rough and ready. A master of the perfectly precise poem, who can forget one of his early classics: "Tanya googled herself. Still nothing."

Pleasance Dome, August 11 - 25, 21.50.

Read more Fringe recommendations here.

The Edinburgh Fringe runs from August 2- 26, previewing from the very end of July. for tickets and more details of all the shows here go to edfringe.com.