Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

The art of keeping formats simple is an important one, and The Comedy ​Arcade understands this. A tiny bingo ball dispenser sits on stage. As numbers are called by host Vix Leyton, each number corresponds to a question for the guest panelists to all answer.

And that’s largely that. The questions are the Route One sort you might find dating apps asking you: ‘Worst job you’ve ever had?’, ‘What are your instant red flags?’, ‘Name your burning grudge?’. Which, in the hands of skilled comedians, would make for an enjoyable Fringe hour, right? 

Well, yes. And luckily, this lot are skilled comedians (tonight that's Alex Mitchell, Emerson Brophy, Kate McCabe and Kate Dale). Sure, the comedy temperature never gets hot enough for you to immediately consider booking tickets again, but - world remaining un-set alight – there’s fun to be had here. 

Even as a story that peters out, McCabe’s anecdote about being invited to be a mole at a mafia-run strip club is gripping. Disabled comedian (and Britain’s Got Talent star) Mitchell questions why he’s the one that has to walk up stairs in order to distribute items around the audience.

There are easy fixes that could really elevate the experience. At the start of the show, their technician doesn’t know how to operate the venue’s lights. On hosting duties, Leyton forgets to involve the audience in what sounds like it might be a fun little additional format point. Mitchell steals an (admittedly fantastic) Frankie Boyle line about not wanting to play golf because he’s ‘not trapped in a loveless marriage’. 

Most problematically, at the end, each panelist is invited to plug their own shows, as well as recommend others. Which, with so many panelists, just takes ages, and isn’t much fun. This makes the main section of The Comedy ​Arcade shorter than you feel it ought to be.

Ultimately, you perhaps won’t be surprised if such a show is getting lost at an arts festival with endless options. You can imagine it successfully building up an audience if it ran, say, every fortnight in an arts venue in Hexham or somewhere. Or on daytime TV 30 years ago. 

It's of no surprise that it was a podcast for a while. Both live and in podcast form, it's the kind of format that you can only see properly succeeding if it's got a household name or two attached to it. It’s difficult to think how else you could make it stand out.

Review date: 7 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Mark Muldoon
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower