JW3 welcomes acts dropped by their Fringe venues

The two Jewish comedians who made headlines when their Edinburgh Fringe venues pulled their gigs are to perform their cancelled shows in London. 

The JW3 Jewish arts and  cultural centre in Hampstead is presenting Rachel Creeger’s Ultimate Jewish Mother on Wednesday September 17 and Philip Simon’s Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way? on October 22.

Both comics were told they could not perform at the Whistlebinkies Free Fringe venue because of ‘safety concerns’ raised by staff just days before the festival started in a move they condemned as a ‘shocking cancellation of Jewish voices’.

Creeger told the Jewish News at the time: ‘Sadly, this is part of an ongoing problem faced by Jewish performers in this country. We are being cancelled and often silently boycotted.’

She subsequently found a new home for her show at Hoots and Le Monde in Edinburgh.

Simon’s Jew-O-Rama line-up show was cancelled at the Fringe as well as the crowd-work show  Shall I Compere Thee In A Funny Way?, which also found a new home at Hoots. 

He was told by the Banshee Labyrinth venue that his views on Palestine were ‘in significant conflict with our venue’s stance against the current Israeli government’s policy and actions’.

JW3 describe the two comedians’ shows as ‘no politics, no religion, no bitterness – just pure joyously funny Jewish comedy’.

Published: 5 Sep 2025