‘If you’d done that in the 90s, you’d be torn to shreds!’: comedy icons share their Edinburgh fringe survival tips with first-timers
The Guardian brought together six pairs of Edinburgh Fringe comedians – seasoned performers and first-time debutants – to discuss the realities of taking a show to the world's biggest arts festival, from handling bad reviews and empty houses to surviving a month surrounded by fellow comics. The feature, timed to the 2026 fringe, offers a candid, generational perspective on how the festival has changed, contrasting the shambolic, anything-goes atmosphere of past decades with today's more professional, career-focused environment.
Pairings include Frank Skinner, who recalls his disastrous 1987 debut playing to audiences as small as nine (and sometimes none), advising newcomer Cecily Hitchcock; Gyles Brandreth, a seven-time veteran, meeting NHS nurse-turned-drag performer Brandy Bex; and Smack the Pony's Fiona Allen, who only took up standup in her 50s. Other debutants featured include 78-year-old entertainer Joe Pasquale, making his first fringe appearance in a comic play, and Berlin-based Iranian comedian Sepideh Kaav. Recurring themes include the shift from purely joke-based sets towards shows built around a theatrical concept or personal theme, and the now-accepted openness among performers about using the fringe for career advancement.
- Guardian pairs fringe veterans with 2026 debutants to swap survival tips
- Frank Skinner recalls disastrous 1987 debut to audiences of nine
- Contributors include Gyles Brandreth, Fiona Allen and Joe Pasquale
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Comedians heading to the Edinburgh Fringe – the world's biggest arts festival, held every August – face a gruelling month of daily shows, tiny audiences, and the risk of savage reviews, all while trying to launch or sustain their careers. The Guardian gathered pairs of comics, veterans alongside first-timers, to compare notes on what to expect, drawing on decades of collective experience of the festival's ups and downs.
Among those featured are Frank Skinner, whose disastrous 1987 debut saw him play to almost empty rooms, comedy duo Smack the Pony's Fiona Allen, broadcaster and author Gyles Brandreth, and entertainer Joe Pasquale, all offering guidance to newcomers including drag performer Brandy Bex and Iran-born, Berlin-based comic Sepideh Kaav. Their conversations touch on how brutal audiences and critics could once be, and how much tougher survival at the Fringe used to feel.
The piece also reflects a broader shift in the festival itself, from its rougher, more chaotic past towards a more professional scene where shows are often built around a theme or personal story rather than straight jokes, and where using the Fringe to build a career is now openly discussed rather than something comics played down.