More comedians share the best Fringe shows they've ever seen

We asked some comedians to tell us what was the best show they've ever seen at the Edinburgh Fringe. Here are their answers...

Aaron Wood

A show called House Of Life, abouve. I took a punt on a random show when I had an hour to kill. It was the campest thing I’ve ever seen with a frontman adorned in glitter from head to toe and a smoke machine following him around. So fun and so stupid. 

Their whole MO was for people to leave happier than when they walked in. He would go out into the crowd and ask people what makes them happy, he found everyone from people getting divorced from their horrid exes to a woman who had just beaten cancer. It was quality. Just pure joy. 

I saw it three times in the end because I wanted others to see it. At one point,  I was talking the show up to a pal in the toilet and the host came out of a cubicle. I’m pretty sure he thought I was insane. 

Aaron Wood: More To Life is on at 4.50pm at Hoots @ The Apex during the Edinburgh Fringe

Ben Pope

 If I can switch my empathy circuit off for a second, one of the best, most fascinating live experiences I’ve had was at the 2014 Fringe. My sister was up visiting me doing my show and sort of by accident I took her to see John Robins’ and Sara Pascoe's shows back-to-back in the same evening.

They were, it turned out, in a relationship at the time, and it was really intriguing to see two excellent shows made of material lit differently by their different perspectives. Particularly as they both had a joke (I think about trousers) that tessellated perfectly - one joke the inverse of the other’s.

Incredibly, the next year the same thing would happen - but in the wake of their break-up - with a joke about Twixes and singledom. To watch all four shows in those two years - a tragic piece of long-form, live-in performance art.

Ben Pope: The Cut is at Assembly George Square at 5.05pm during the Edinburgh Fringe

Su Mi 

I recall a great show I was flyering for, can’t for the life of me remember the name of it but it won a Fringe First award and told a Shakespearean story in East London slang. Bloody brilliant.

Su Mi: This Motherphucker is on at Underbelly Cowgate at 6.40pm during the Edinbugrh Fringe

Edy Hurst 

It was 2015, and I had gone up to the Fringe sleeping on the floor of celebrated sketch group Sam & Tom’s flat, watching shows and pretending to be a comedian, when I heard that something was going on at midnight in the Counting House.

It was a show called This Is Business, described in the programme with just the word ‘Business" over 20 times, but the intended show never showed. Now that’s Fringe business. 

Instead, Joe Hollingworth, Jack Kelly and a group of friends began putting on a show in the space, inviting us to come watch, perform and muck around to a surprisingly invested and growing audience. It was rowdy and silly and held together by the sheer will to create something where there was nothing, an abandoned room at the Fringe where a handful of people thought ‘yeah let’s give it a go’. 

As an early trip to the Fringe, with its huge machinery, where it seemed a mystery how you even get to take a show up one day, to see a bunch of students take a punt on a midnight show, and create something in that space, felt like witnessing the true spirit of the Fringe.

 I worry that these things are getting further and further away, but I hope this year there are still some students finding empty rooms where a show was meant to be and embracing the spontaneity, the insanity, and most importantly, the business.

Edy Hurst's Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself is on at Assembly Roxy at 2.2pm during the Edinburgh Fringe.

Jacob Nussey 

I like going to shows as blind as I can. I think it's always more exciting when you let a show surprise you. Joe Kent-Walters: Frankie Monroe Live is probably the most fun I've had watching a show at the Fringe. I'd seen his double act with Mikey Bligh-Smith, The Lovely Boys and they're great. But I hadn't seen this character so had no idea of what to expect. It was incredible! His comedy is completely different to what I do, so I can watch as a proper punter without analysing jokes and relax. Well, not quite relaxed at his show but that's the point!

Jacob Nussey: Primed is on at Pleasance Courtyard at 7.15pm during the Edinburgh Fringe

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Published: 31 Jul 2025