Edinburgh Fringe 2024 Round-Up

And just like that, the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 comes to a close.

The famous festival, held every August in venues throughout the whole city, with acts ranging from internationally famous comedians, to unknown acts hoping for their big break.

Flooded with 4 and 5 star reviews every year, the festival is the one-stop-shop for all things comedy, cabaret and theatre. Its beloved, diverse line-up showcases the most innovative performances, spread throughout over 300 registered official Fringe venues that range from pubs and cafes to street corners and larger theatre auditoriums.

The legendary outside Pleasance Courtyard and Monkey Barrel Comedy Club are among the most popular venues at Fringe for comedians. Whilst you may have missed your favourite shows here during the festival, many comedians will be doing the rounds of popular London comedy clubs during the rest of 2024 and into the new year.

There really is something for everyone at Fringe. Whether you’re a fan of dance, physical theatre, circus, opera, spoken word or you’re bringing the little ones (there are lots of children’s shows), everyone will leave happy!

Overview of the Edinburgh Fringe 2024

Running from Friday 2nd August until Monday 26th August, this year’s festival took over Edinburgh for three weeks in the height of summer.

There were 12 major themes this year:

• Climate change and sustainability
• Sport
• Cooking and world heritage
• The female experience
• Neurodiversity and neurodiverse led works
• Technology and AI
• Capitalism
• Family-friendly shows
• Wellbeing and mental health
• Famous faces
• Creating a buzz
• Free and pay-what-you-can/want shows

Dive deeper into the shows fitting into these themes here!

Must-See Performances from the Festival

As comedy connoisseurs, we pride ourselves in keeping up to date with the latest comedy news. Here we’ve collated some top reviews from Fringe 2024, also known as the Edinburgh comedy festival 2024, as its comedy is what it’s most famous for!

Sarah Keyworth took their ‘My Eyes Are Up Here’ show to The Fringe this year - a show about a loving family, and how everything will be okay if you’re surrounded by love. A very personal show that looks back on Sarah’s childhood in line with just turning 30, being diagnosed with ADHD and electing to have top surgery, Sarah is adored by the audience. A brilliant show that’s received countless 4- and 5-star reviews, the recognition is more than deserved!

The nation’s favourite ventriloquist, Nina Conti took to the Edinburgh Fringe stage with her laugh-out-loud fun-packed show ‘Whose Face Is It Anyway?’ Filled with silliness and audience participation, Nina’s audiences have hailed her has “hilarious” and “ahead of the curve”. Her recognisable monkey hand puppet, of course, makes an appearance, but the quickfire wit of audience participation is what really sets her above others!

Host of The Last Leg and one of our favourite Aussies, Adam Hills’ ‘Shoes Half Full’ is a relaxed, chatty show with plenty of audience participation. Tackling the big and small things going on at the moment, Adam does a great job at making his audience leave his show with slightly more hope about the world than before they entered the doors.

The cheeky and charming Finlay Christie performed ‘I Deserve This’ to a room buzzing with anticipation. Nodding at his privilege, the youngster took his crowds on a light-hearted journey through his (so far) successful comedy career, whilst highlighting a particular incident of him being mocked in Scandinavia. He interacts with the audience smartly and is so at ease, owning the room with his brilliant material.

Impressive storyteller Elliot Steel shares insights into his major identity and mental health crisis. He minces the more serious topics for laughs, finding a lot of his material lies in the gap between what he is, what he wants to be and the environmental factors which make it hard for him to achieve his ideal. He took his audience on a journey that included his dad’s declining health, ultimately ending with an uplifting look into their relationship and Elliot growing more attuned to his feelings than ever before.

The up-and-coming superstar, fresh from supporting Ed Gamble on his UK Tour, Chloe Petts’ Edinburgh Fringe show ‘How You See Me, How You Don’t’ was her best so far. For her third time at the festival, Chloe owns the stage. Creating a perfect show consisting of both relatable and personal content, the show has been deemed as ‘flawless.’

Rose Matafeo’s Fringe set this year was met with huge anticipation, following on from her incredibly successful streak since her first show in 2018. Her chaotic energy has been incredibly well-received again this year! ‘On and On and On’ focuses on self-analysis, having been on a self-proclaimed personal journey, Rose shares her learnings and experiences with a brilliant running commentary which had audiences in tears of laughter.

There were, of course, about a million and one other acts who performed brilliant shows at this year’s festival. Whilst we sadly can’t list them all here, you can see our comedians page to get some inspiration as to who else was at the festival.

Hidden Gems from Fringe 2024

The award of the Funniest Joke of the Fringe is selected by the beloved TV channel Dave and highlights the best joke (most typically a one-liner) that’s chosen by 2000 members of the public from a shortlist selected by a panel of comedy critics.

This award has been happening since 2008 and has had a fantastic reception every year! Last year’s winner was Lorna Rose Treen, with “I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah.”

Winning the award two consecutive years, Masai Graham claimed the crown in 2022 and 2021, with “I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me, and I couldn’t get pasta.” and “I thought the word ‘Caesarean’ began with the letter ‘S’ but when I looked in the dictionary, it was in the ‘C’ section.

Edinburgh Fringe 2024’s funniest joke was by Mark Simmons - “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship, but I bottled it.” Ranked the best by 40% of those surveyed, this year’s win brings Mark’s total number of top jokes to 4.

Looking Ahead to 2025

Before we jump to next year, there’s still plenty of opportunity to see some of the stars of Fringe 2024 in action, along with many other loved comedians who couldn’t make it to Edinburgh this year.

You can see the celebrated Josh Widdicombe, Ivo Graham, Helen Bauer, Phil Wang, Joel Dommett and many (many) other fantastic comedians at the Greenwich Comedy Festival in mid-September.

Lots of comedians are touring the UK throughout the latter half of the year, check out your favourite comedian’s website and social media channels to see if they’re stopping by your city!

Now, into 2025. Whilst this seems like a lifetime away now, we all know that it’ll come around quickly. Before Fringe 2025 arrives next August, there are a bunch of other comedy festivals happening before then:

• The BBC Comedy Festival - May
• The Camden Fringe – July
• The Balham Comedy Festival – July
• Croydon Comedy Festival – July
• Ealing Comedy Festival – July

The above is a very small selection, there’s lots more funny business happening throughout the year!

Have you got your eye on any Edinburgh Fringe 2024 acts? Are you in need of a comedian for an upcoming corporate event?

Successful Fringe acts tend to get booked up quickly, following on from the hype of their great Fringe run, so it’s important to get in quick, just in time for awards season at the end of the year!

See more of our comedians here, or get in touch with our friendly and impartial team by giving us a call on 02076077070 or emailing us at info@speakerscorner.co.uk