Jonny Pelham shares his Edinburgh highs and lows

Jonny Pelham is back at the Edinburgh Fringe with a show about ‘what it means to be diagnosed as 'neurodiverse,' what constitutes normality and how to find happiness in a world that’s falling apart’. Here he shares what he can't get enough of at the festival, his most embarrassing Edinburgh experience and the worst thing about the Fringe. Apart from the cost of accommodation, obviously…

Edinburgh binge 

Obviously, Edinburgh is the biggest arts festival in the world, a uniquely magical place where you can walk into the back of a pub and see shows that will change how you think and feel about the world.  However, the thing I love most about it is the only time I let myself play Football Manager. 

We all know that the fundamental problem with Football Manager is that it’s so much better than life. You can be halfway through the most passionate love affair, at the most exciting party, but if you are playing the game a small part of you will still be weighing up whether you should buy the seasoned pro or gamble all your budget on a Latvian 17-year-old. So, throughout the year, I just don’t let myself play the game. 

However, because Edinburgh can be such a strange, tiring, suffocating bubble, any form of escapism is actively encouraged. Therefore, on day 3 or 4, when I feel the show is settled in, I load up the game and try and lead Bradford City to Champions League glory. 

Edinburgh cringe

One day I was bombing super-hard and someone in the second row was just staring at me with a peculiar combination of boredom and contempt. So, I ask him what he does, and he says he works for Hat Trick which I don’t really understand, but for some reason decide means that he is a magician. 

I then spend the rest of my set mocking magicians, the only job beneath comedian, does pulling a rabbit out of a hat make him temporarily forget how terribly unhappy he is etc.

At the end of the gig, I am holding my bucket, there are few things bleaker than standing with a bucket as people you have bored shuffle awkwardly past you, This man says nothing, but drops a card in the bucket. The card says Hat Trick Productions – he isn’t a magician, he’s a producer for Hat Trick Production who make Have I Got News For You?, Whose Line is it Anyway and Derry Girls. 

I have never been on any of their shows. 

Edinburgh whinge

I have aphantasia which means I don’t have a visual imagination and can’t picture images in my mind. I am therefore stupendously bad at remembering’ people’s faces, I can have met someone four or five times and, particularly if I bump into them in an unusual context, have absolutely no idea who they are.

In general life this often causes a great deal of confusion and embarrassment, but during the fringe, when you are never more than 6ft from a comedian, it becomes absolutely ridiculous.  Every time I catch someone’s eye in the street I have no idea if they are a comic, an audience member or just a random person I have made eye contact with.  I’ve blanked comics, I’ve asked audience members how their show is going. It really is remarkable how many times I have found myself in conversations with people with absolutely no clue who they are or how we know each other. 

I am basically writing this, so that if I do blank anyone, it’s not because I am a wanker and it’s not because I am rude, I just have absolutely no idea who you are. 

• Johnny Pelham: Is It Me? is on at the Monkey Barrel at The Hive at 9pm throughout the Edinburgh Fringe.

Published: 28 Jul 2025