Guardian theatre and comedy critic Brian Logan is hosting a live reader Q&A ahead of the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which begins this weekend and runs for three weeks, featuring more than 4,000 shows across the Scottish capital. The session gives fringe-goers direct access to critical insight into the world's largest performing arts festival, covering topics such as awards controversies, the state of political comedy, and how the festival's audience has changed over the years.

Among the questions tackled, Logan named several acts he felt were unfairly overlooked for Comedy Awards, including Bo Burnham's Words Words Words (2010), Rhod Gilbert's The Award-Winning Mince Pie (2008), and Pappy's Last Show Ever (2012), arguing that committee-based judging often sidelines brilliant but idiosyncratic performers. He also addressed a question on why populist comedy is scarce at the fringe specifically, pointing to mainstream figures such as Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle, plus rising fringe acts like Vittorio Angelone and Geoff Norcott, as evidence that right-leaning comedy thrives elsewhere even if it is less visible in Edinburgh.