Edinburgh Fringe Preview 2024 – Part Seven

Comics That Deserve Your Love

Rob Auton

There is one name above any other that I’ve always felt should be garlanded with an Edinburgh Comedy Award and isn’t. And that’s Rob Auton. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t push himself out there enough. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t fit neatly into boxes and categories. But somehow Rob Auton feels like the most overlooked comedian in Edinburgh Comedy Awards history.

And I’ll be honest, he is hard to classify. Is he spoken word? Is he stand-up? Is he storytelling? His creative shows have previously had an ethereal, poetic feel to them, often homing in on one particular unexpected subject. A colour, or hair, for example. Then last year he surprised me, and I guess a few others, with a more autobiographical set. It is hard to believe that this deep thinker once worked in advertising. Although maybe it was less surprising to discover that his advertising career did not work out.

This year Auton is back on familiar terrain with a show all about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut. Rob talks about what makes him open his eyes and what makes him shut them. Go along and be amazed. One thing it will have in common with his previous shows is that it will probably be a five star show. He has just announced a tour too. Dates here. The Eyes Open and Shut Show is definitely what I’d call a must-see show.

Rob Auton, Assembly Roxy, July 31 - August 25, 14.15.

Mat Ewins

Mat Ewins was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2017 but if I had my way he’d win the award every year. The rules don’t allow it, but if I had my way I’d change the rules. Over the years nobody has come up with shows that have been as nutty or as ingenious. Well, maybe Sam Campbell has, but we aren’t talking about Sam Campbell here. And if Sam Campbell can win awards, then give an award to Mat Ewins now.

Ewins really does push the boundaries for what’s possible at a comedy show. I’ve previously found myself filmed and onscreen at his gigs so last year I hid at the back, but no sooner had I sat down that Ewins was talking about me onstage. I’m not even sure how he knew I was there, never mind the fact that he incorporated me into his act. He presumably has spies in the queue and/or a very good technician pressing various knobs. Either that or he is a warlock.

This year’s show sounds like another interactive gag-packed masterpiece, this time with a game show element to it. In Ewins Some You Lose Some he sets out on a mission to test the resolve and ingenuity of his audience. He’ll preside over a smorgasbord of high octane stunts and daring challenges, offering genuine cash prizes in an effort to discover the most danger-defying people at the Edinburgh Fringe. Ewins is the Edinburgh Fringe’s finest fool. And you’d be a fool to miss him

Mat Ewins, Monkey Barrel, July 31 - August 25, 21.15.

Zoë Coombs Marr

Australia’s Zoë Coombs Marr has built up a reputation for shows that have tackled toxic masculinity, gender and identity politics, but in an inventive way that is never heavy-handed (even though she does seem to have rather heavy hands in the picture below). This year she has a different goal. She intends to cover every single thing in her whole entire life.

In this personal storytelling comedy, she’s getting her affairs in order and cataloguing it all. Emphasis on all. Everything she knows, everything she can remember, and probably some of the things she’s forgotten. Every object, every detail, every word mispronounced and ornamental soap and smell from a drain, all the big stories, the small secrets, the minutiae and exes and haircuts and pencil cases and chips.

And all of this in an hour. With the aid of some hoarded paperwork and a giant Excel spreadsheet. It’s a show that will apparently change every night. As you would expect, as more things will have been added to her life as the Fringe goes on.

It sounds like a break from Coombs’ Marr’s usual character comedy, but as with her previous work, one thing you can be sure of is that it will be mind-alteringly hilarious.

Zoë Coombs Marr, Monkey Barrel, July 30 - August 25, 17.00.

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.