My Trip To The Edinburgh Festival

I am a big fan of stand up comedy and this year I decided to take a trip to the Edinburgh festival with my teenage son, J. He is a great fan of comedy too and some of our favourite shows are The Inbetweeners, Mock The Week, and Not Going Out. J enjoys slightly alternative comedy too and some of his favourite shows are The Mighty Boosh and The Young Ones. During this review, I will post some of the jokes voted the best from the festival this year, of course, comedy is subjective so don't hold that against me.....

The Edinburgh Festival is one of the biggest festivals in the world and during the month of August every year, Edinburgh is packed full of people enjoying the festival. Comedy, Theatre, Music, Film and much more make Edinburgh one of the best festivals in the world. For some more information check out these websites http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/ and http://www.edfringe.com/

"You know who really gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks." - Stewart Francis

You are never too far away from a juggler!

During our time in Edinburgh, we saw some fantastic shows. The best show we saw was a show called The Boy With The Tape On His Face - More Tape. This show by New Zealand comedian Sam Wills was brilliant. The audience was packed full of people of all ages and I think this shows that it has universal appeal. The Boy, as he is called does the whole show mute with, yes, you guessed it duct tape on his face. This is a show that you have to experience to enjoy as I cannot do it justice in a description, but to give you a taster during the show he had a gunfight with a staple gun and battled Darth Vader with a measuring tape! All I can say is search for a video of him on the Internet. The show relies on audience participation but the audience is never picked on, and everyone had a huge grin on their face when they returned to their seat. Simple joyful, fun and childlike in some ways, a different and memorable show.

"I waited an hour for my starter so I complained: 'It's not rocket salad." – Lou Sanders

We also saw Tim Vine. This man is a genius. Known for his one liners and the TV show 'Not Going Out' with Lee Mack he is well worth going to see. Another comedian who uses the audience to great effect, he picked a few people who had completed a brief questionnaire first to be interviewed on stage. He had comedy gold in our audience. An Astrophysicist and an older couple getting married tomorrow were two he chose and the jokes came thick and fast, with wonderful ad libs along the way. So if you are not a big fan of comedians who use one line jokes, don't rule out this show as it was brilliant.

Other shows we saw included Marcus Brigstocke, a great intelligent political show and The Return of the Lumberjacks with comedians Greg Wool, Stewart Francis and Craig Campbell which my son really enjoyed.

"Last night, me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily, I was the one facing the telly." - Tim Vine

Some Tips

Book accommodation early and budget well. Hotels get very expensive in Edinburgh during the month of August.

If you live a distance from Edinburgh consider flying, I found it cheaper and much quicker to fly from South Wales than taking the train.

Book shows in advance, some well-known comedians WILL sell out, however, there are hundreds of free shows too and many offer last minute such as 2 for 1 tickets, so if you are happy to see what's available when you arrive you can grab a bargain.

Consider doing a tour of Edinburgh when you are there. I recommend a ghost tour, and one of the funniest is run by The Witchery Tours.

The Witchery Tours

"I'm good friends with 25 letters of the alphabet … I don't know Y." –Chris Turner

So if you have ever thought "I wonder what the Edinburgh festival is like?" all I can say is GO! There is something for everyone, you will not be disappointed.

4 comments

legs213 September 2013 at 19:27
looks like you had a great time
Unknown21 September 2013 at 19:34
I love Mock The Week, and Not Going Out (and Have I Got News For You). The Festival sounds great - I have been to it but that was way way back when I was a student at Edinburgh Uni so I'm sure it's changed a lot since then!