Laura Davis on the best and worst of Edinburgh

Laura Davis is back at the Edinburgh Fringe with Despair Is Beneath Us, a show about 'love, courage, awe and heartache'. Here the Australian comic shares what they can't get enough of at the festival, their most embarrassing Edinburgh experience and the worst thing about the Fringe. Apart from the cost of accommodation, obviously…

Fringe Binge

The late-late-late night ACMS shows that go for just an incredible number of hours with so many funny people trying things that they couldn’t try anywhere else. 

I want to see a very well-respected mime accidentally illustrate why they don’t say anything on stage. I want to see comedians find a wobbly line on a topic you wouldn’t normally think was that divisive. Makes comedy a bloodsport again, I think.

Fringe Cringe

There are late night gigs that fade to a blur, yet reside permanently in the subconscious. You can get through them in the moment but a part of you will always remember. 

Maybe you set an alarm for 2.30am. By the time it goes off, you are regretting every decision you’ve ever made that has led you here. None of this needs to be happening except that these people do not want to go home and you don’t not need £40. 

The audience is so drunk that they just sing Hey Jude over your set instead of listening, and by this point it’s actually just easier to join them and sing along. 

By 3.30am you’re back in bed pretending it didn’t happen. The next morning it feels no more real than a particularly vivid dream.

Fringe Whinge

The elderly. 

Or a specific type of elder, as I do understand that is a generalisation and there are always exceptions. 

I mean only the kind that means the show will start ten minutes late because they were arguing with the ushers. They don’t want to fill from the front. They don’t want to move down and not leave any gaps. They didn’t expect other people to sit around them, even when the show was sold out. They are prepared to argue that point. 

When the show starts they will already be furious because of how cruelly they have been mistreated. They do not care for the language. Especially the men who have been dragged along by their wives when really they should have been dropped off at the John Lewis food court. 

This isn’t the experience that they expected. They do not really know what they expected. They do not want to pay for a ticket. They also do not want to put money in the bucket after the show. 

They are holding up the line to tell you why they hated it. They are stealing my fans on the way out. They are complaining about the heat in the venue. They are wearing at least five layers. They are mad the show has run over even though they were the reason it started late. They are leaving three minutes before the end. 

They will not do this quietly.

• Laura Davis: Despair Is Beneath Us, is on at  Monkey Barrel 2 at 5.45pm 

Published: 25 Jul 2025