WTF: Edinburgh special

• 'I spend my day trying to stop my four-year-old committing acts of violence or stupidity and when he's in bed I moonlight as someone deliberately trying to get people to do that,' Mark Watson.

• With venues in London and Edinburgh succumbing to protest agains Israeli performers, you might have thought that Israeli improv troupe Lamabati might have wanted to keep their heads down. But this is the Edinburgh Fringe, and everyone needs publicity, so they've sent out a press release pointing out that their show Outrageous Courageous Highly Contagious: Israeli Style Improv comes at the worst time for comics of their nationality to perform abroad. 'We see this as an important opportunity for us to show that our art can be meaningful especially in times of conflict,' the release says with gravitas. The official programme blurb, submitted months ago is a bit more breathless, and includes the rather unfortunate promise of 'explosive plots'.

• Nicholas Parsons's Happy Hour is back at the Fringe for its 14 year. Last year, the audience at one show were delighted when the host introduced David Mitchell on to the stage... only to be left baffled when the much-less-famous David Mills strode on stage, a slip of the tongue from the then 89-year-old interviewer. As Mills shook Parsons' hand, he leaned in and whispered into his ear 'It's David Mills - let's do that again' turned on his heels and walked offstage. Parsons was a 'consummate professional' about the incident, said Mills, who's also returning the the Fringe later this month. The host made his apologies and correctly re-introduced his guest. When the applause died down, Parsons kicks off by asking Mills how he is. 'Thrilled to be on the Mervyn Stutter Show,' was the comeback. Touché.

• Meanwhile another publicity-hungry improv group, Baby Wants Candy, have taken a leaf out of the Hidden Money online phenomenon,and concealed cash, sweets, gift certificates and tickets around Edinburgh. Audiences at their Improv Explosion are given a clue at the end of afternoon performances to find the treasure, which has been up to £100.

• Jonny Awsum ran into some of the Downton Abbey cast on the train up to Edinburgh... so serenaded them with some of his musical comedy. Here he is with Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Allen Leech and Lily James…

• One day all Fringe reviews will be like this...

• Alternative comic Luke McQueen has released a customised alarm clock to tie in with his Fringe show. The free iPhone and iPad app will awaken you with such alerts as 'Luke is surprised at how much a sandwich is', 'Luke gives directions to Flitwick Leisure Centre' and 'Pajumtag'. Mother's Best Child, which is behind the app, suggest using the app 'to scare a friend by downloading it on their phone without them knowing and setting to 5:30am.'

• If you're going to set up a website reviewing the quality of reviews, you'd make sure your own reviews were impeccable, right? But FringePig managed to review Broadway Baby critic Katherine Price by calling her Katherine Ryan all but once...

• Edinburgh Fringe audiences can sometimes face a battle to stay awake in hot, darkened rooms under the influence of alcohol, no matter how good the show. But it's rare a performer feels the same drowsiness. Yet it came over Ray Peacock during one of his Here Comes Trouble shows this week… after he swallowed a melatonin sleeping pill pre-gig, mistakenly thinking it was a vitamin tablet.

• Tweets of the week
Adam Hess (@adamhess1): It's so stupid that in that 1984 book, a room that was meant to be filled with loads of really scary stuff was called 'Room lol'.
Ian Power (@IHPower): Everyone says I won't be able to mend my broken rifles with superglue, but I'm sticking to my guns!
Tony Cowards (@TonyCowards): For @brianblessed business is booming

Published: 8 Aug 2014