AliceFraser

Pre-Edinburgh Breakdown

Added 2017-07-30 09:59:59 +0000 UTC

It’s three days before the 2017 Edinburgh fringe, where I’m taking my show, Empire. I open on Tuesday. This is terrifying but okay. Nobody's going to die. (We're all going to die).

This is very much the calm before the storm. You can fiddle with your show, but you don’t really know how it’s going to go. You can’t hold it back. It’s like that feeling before you throw up where your mouth is flooding with saliva and you know you’re not going to be able to hold it back – you just have to find a tree or a bin.

My point is, I feel a bit sick. I also am very excited.

I love Edinburgh. It’s such a wonderland of risk and excitement – so many people doing so many incredible shows. It’s daunting and inspiring in equal measure.

Some people I can recommend right off the bat are Laura Davis who is utterly brilliant, a friend of mine, a semi-regular on Tea With Alice, and will be making her debut here this year. She’s so good.

Tom Ballard and Tiff Stevenson if you like your politicals. Tiff has jokes that you’ll find yourself quoting in arguments, like literally forever (I still remember her ‘ahhh, Syria?’ line whenever virtue signalling gets into smug ‘whatabout’-ing territory). Hannah Gadsby won the award in Melbourne this year and her baseline is very very dry hilarity which from all the reviews is this year also has been layered with utterly heartbreaking truths. Larry Dean is undeniable and gorgeously fun if you like straight down the line funny funny and Glaswegians. John Hastings for storytelling and fart-jokes. I saw his preview the other night and it's truly great.

Demi Lardner if you like wonderfully ridiculous, dry, physical character comedy. Andy Zaltzman if you like Andy Zalztman’s unique brand of laid back, giggly, ridiculous and wordy satire. This year he's doing Satirist for Hire, so you can get it on-demand by writing in before the show. Set List if you like watching comedians panic.