Comedy: No Laughing Matter
Which might be the explanations which people offer to support their affirmation that the ideal chance to see standup in Scotland's capital is during the Fringe? One argument is the volume of shows that are happening. Rather than the typical handful of stand-up performances, there are thousands throughout the Festival. However my point is that quantity doesn't always mean great material. Over time I've gone to tons of stand up comedy performances in the Festival, and well over half of them were dreadful. I have walked out of several shows after sitting for more than 30 mins without ever feeling the need to smile, never mind laugh. Just due to the fact that a stand-up show is in the Festival does not guarantee that it is likely to be amusing. I go to many comedy performances all year round, and in my opinion there are way less genuinely awful performances on outside of the Festival.
One prime reason that folk offer for attending the Fringe is that you get to see the most famous stand-ups, plus get to watch the rising stars in comedy before anyone else.
My own experience begs to differ.
The most renowned stand-ups' performances frequently end up being sold out prior to the time when you have actually found out they're happening, therefore you're no more able to catch them doing their act in relation to months other than August. In addition the point that you're able to see the rising stars as they're discovered: in all honesty, I suppose it's feasible, however you are more likely to witness someone who offers 15 minutes of fairly funny material, and thirty minutes of unfunny nonsense. However, they had a fantastic review due to the fact that the journalist only had long enough to watch the first ten minutes.
A lot of folk think that the perfect occasion on which to go and see stand up comedy in Edinburgh is during the Festival each summer.
I'm in the minority that disagree with that theory.
Make the most of the Festival if you get the chance, but expand your horizons. Sometimes the warm-up acts somewhere else will be more entertaining.
Once in a while you're able to get hold of cheap comedy tickets in the Edinburgh Festival due to the fact that there are tons of 2-for-1 deals happening. What this actually involves is that if you use a buy-one-get-one-free deal, it costs you the same price to see a performance as it would at any other time of the year, as throughout the Festival all of the entry fees multiply by two.
I'll go for stand up night in my neighborhood stand-up club over that.