Tash Snaith shares her picks of the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe
With the Edinburgh Fringe festival kicking off this week, here’s a handy Fringe guide, rounding up some of the best shows to see at this year’s festival, especially for you. Whatever type of comedy is your bag; from brand new debut acts, to seasoned pros with many a Fringe under their belts, spanning traditional stand up, drag, clown, character and musical theatre, there’s plenty of shows to get on down to. So grab that tea and biscuit and get reading.
DEBUT SHOWS
© Su Mi, Amelia Hamilton, Jessie Nixon
SU MI: THISMOTHERPHUCKER
Thurs-Sun 31 July-24 Aug @ 6:40 PM, Underbelly Cowgate, Iron Belly
A punk, surreal, character comic, Su Mi’s act is genre bending chaos of the best variety. You can expect an hour of anarchy, clowning, a song and maybe a giant piece of fruit thrown in.
You can grab your ticket here
AMELIA HAMILTON: FORGET ME NOT
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 9:45 PM, Attic, Pleasance Courtyard
Blending stand up, comedy song and rap, Amelia Hamilton delivers sharp wit and impressive one-liner gags in her hour on dating, women in STEM and her own internal monologue.
You can grab tickets here
JESSIE NIXON: DON’T MAKE ME REGRET THIS
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 7:20 PM, The Crate, Assembly George Square
Jessie Nixon (Funny Women final 2022) brings her commanding and cerebral stand up style to the Fringe this year, with satirical poems, sharp punch lines and wider points on equality, class and upbringing weaved in.
You can grab your ticket here
© Sharon Wanjohi, Jessica Barton, Kayleigh Jones
SHARON WANJOHI: IN THE HOUSE
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 August @ 6:55 PM, Bunker Two, Pleasance Courtyard
Funny Women alum (2021), Sharon Wanjohi brings her debut show to the Fringe this year – with the relaxed demeanour of a seasoned comic, Wanjohi has sharp observations about being gen z, coming out, and a sprinkling of impressions for good measure.
Grab your tickets here.
JESSICA BARTON: Dirty Work
Thurs-Sun 31 July-24 Aug @ 5:25 PM, Delhi Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate
Melbourne Best Newcomer Winner 2025, Barton brings silliness and chaos in her character comedy show, introducing Mary Floppins, to bonny Scotland this year. Expect a medley of clowning, character, comedy songs and a bit of dance to create a whirlwind hour.
You can grab a ticket to the show here!
KAYLEIGH JONES: I FED MY DAD TO A PELICAN
Thurs-Sun 31 July-24 Aug @ 7:00 PM, Gilded Balloon
Musical comedian Kayleigh Jones’ (Best Newcomer nominee Leicester) show follows her journey to find her biological father. An hour of storytelling and songs that take you through the twists and turns of Jones’ upbringing, with colourful characters and comedy songs throughout.
You can grab your ticket here
RETURNING COMEDIANS’ SHOWS
© Lou Wall, Alice Cockayne, Alison Spittle
LOU WALL: BREAKING THE FIFTH WALL
Mon-Sun 28 July-24 Aug @ 10:00 PM, Monkey Barrel 2, Monkey Barrel
Best Show Nominee at Melbourne Comedy Festival earlier this year, Lou Wall brings said show to the Fringe, with their iconic mile-a-minute stand up interspersed with manic songs about navigating the perils and delights of social media and the millenial condition of constant overwhelm. Directed by Zoe Coombs-Marr. You can read our review of their show in 2023, here.
You can grab your ticket here
ALICE COCKAYNE: LICENSED. PROFESSIONAL. TRAINED. QUALIFIED.
Thurs-Sun 31 July-24 Aug @ 10:40 PM, Bunker 2, Pleasance Courtyard
A unique character comic with a focus on the bizarre, Alice Cockayne spends her hour concocting colourful characters, with innovative use of wigs, tech, versatile voices and mannerisms. Chaotic and high energy; a characteristically Fringe show.
You can grab a ticket to the show here!
ALISON SPITTLE: BIG
Tues-Sun 29 July-24 Aug @ 4:45 PM, Monkey Barrel 1, Monkey Barrel Comedy
Irish comic Alison Spittle brings her cool calm and collected stand up style to the Fringe again this year – with many Fringe shows under her belt. You may have heard Spittle on the radio waves, presenting Petty Please on Radio4, and as co-host on The Guilty Feminist podcast.
You can grab your ticket here
© Marjolein Robertson, Bebe Cave, Claire Noy
MARJOLEIN ROBERTSON: LEIN
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 8:20 PM, Queen Dome, Pleasance
Funny Women alum, Marjolein Lein’s 2023 show Marj was nominated for best show at the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and this year, she’s back with a brand new hour, blending storytelling, folklore and stand up. Lein’s show attempts to take you on a journey into her soul.
You can grab your ticket here
BEBE CAVE: CHRISTBRIDE
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 5:40 PM, Jack Dome, Pleasance Dome
Bebe Cave, who you may have seen go viral playing hilarious hyper femme characters online, brings her first ever character comedy show to the Fringe this year, in the form of a tale about Christibride; a mystic medieval woman, navigating her life of devotion.
You can grab your ticket here
CLAIRE NOY: FUNNY THOUGH
Weds-Mon 30 July-25 Aug @ 3:30 PM, Bunker One, Pleasance Courtyard
Cast member of A Play That Goes Wrong on the West End, Claire Noy puts her stand up wig on for her Fringe hour this year. Expect some dark humour, gags about burnout and, in her words, a ‘bisexual in crisis’.
Grab a ticket here!
LEGENDS SPOT
© Michelle Wolf, Cat Cohen, Jena Freidman
MICHELLE WOLF
Mon-Sun 11-17 Aug @ 8:30 PM, Pleasance Courtyard, Multiple venues
Emmy nominated, hit comedy specials on Netflix and HBO, Edinburgh Award nom and performance at the White House (pre 2016…) under her belt, US comic Michelle Wolf is at the Fringe this year for 1 week only. Expect sharp and slick traditional political stand up from a comedy legend.
You can grab your ticket here
CAT COHEN: BROAD STROKES
Thurs-Sun 31 July-24 Aug @ 9:00 PM, Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard
Best show winner for The Twist… ? She’s Gorgeous in 2022, which then streamed as a special on Netflix, after touring around the states and Europe, Cat Cohen is back at the Fringe this year, with a new show all about her experience at the Fringe in 2023, where she unexpectedly, had a stroke. Expect ballads, self indulgence and flamboyance that dazzles.
You can grab your ticket here
JENA FREIDMAN: MOTHERF*CKER
Fri-Sun 8-24 Aug @ 4:15 PM, Hive 1, Monkey Barrel
US Comic, producer and writer Jena Freidman (writer for The Daily Show, appearing on Conan, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) brings a new hour to the Fringe, which marks 10 years since her acclaimed show American Cunt visited the Fringe in 2015. A personal show that explores grief, motherhood and politics today.
You can grab your ticket here
© Josie Long, Jaqueline Novak
JOSIE LONG: NOW IS THE TIME OF MONSTERS
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 7:00 PM, Queen Dome, Pleasance Dome
Fringe legend (3-time award nominee, 9 shows performed at Fringe) and pioneer as one of the few women to dominate the UK comedy scene in the noughties, Josie Long is back this year with a brand new show about discovery, extinction, and how to find joy when the world feels like it’s in apocalypse around us.
You can grab your ticket here
JACQUELINE NOVAK
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 5:00 PM, Monkey Barrel 4, Monkey Barrel
US based comic Jacqueline Novak brings her hotly anticipated hour to the Fringe this year, after getting nominated for an Emmy for the Netflix special of her previous show Get On Your Knees in 2022, which was met with high acclaim. Definitely one to watch.
You can grab your ticket here
CLOWNING, THEATRE, VARIETY SHOWS:
© Cabbage the Clown, Footballers Wives the Musical, That Show About the Hot Dog
CABBAGE THE CLOWN: CINEMADROME
Weds-Sun 30 July-24 Aug @ 9:45 PM, Buttercup, Underbelly George Square
Tragic clown, trash sculptor and drag artist Cabbage the Clown brings their weird and wonderful hour to the festival this year, where you can expect oodles of props, a choreographed plastic bag routine and a cabaret number from a giant slushy cup. You can read our review of the show here.
You can grab your ticket here
FOOTBALLERS WIVES THE MUSICAL
Weds-Fri20 July-24 Aug @ 6:35 PM, Music Hall, Assembly Rooms
Remember the TV show Footballers Wives? Well, this is an excellently camp and tremendously noughties-nostalgic re-telling of it, in musical theatre form. Expect infidelity, glamour, absolute belter ballads and the highest drama.
You can grab your ticket here
WELL BEHAVED WOMEN
Weds-Mon 30-25 July-Aug @ 2:20 PM, Doonstairs at Gilded Balloon Patter House
A play taking us back to 1883, to the lives of 3 female friends in their 20s, who host a fake seance in an attempt to get an aristocrat to help them achieve their dreams. Obviously resulting in chaos. From the returning theatre company behind last year’s hour Crash and Burns.
You can grab your ticket here
THAT SHOW ABOUT THE HOT DOG
Sun-Sat 3-23 Aug @ 1:50 PM, Forest Theatre at Greenside, George Street
Yes you read that right – a show dedicated entirely to the cultural significance of the hot dog, with different ‘dog’ characters, puppets, songs, dance, music, all centred around the main character, Wee Wennie Wiener, trying to find ultimate truth.
You can grab your ticket here
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