Edinburgh Fringe Festival Guide Part 13

In part 13 of our Edinburgh Fringe Festival Guide, we have some of the greatest comedians around, see below for a full list of who to see.

HAL CRUTTENDEN

Hal again is one I am sure everyone will be familiar with. Hal has been doing this a long time but this new show is a big change for him as for the first time in decades he’s actually single as he has just got divorced. His wife featured heavily in his old material so it’s going to be an interesting new road for him. He’s also gone on a complete health transformation and has lost loads of weight so it’s a whole new Hal.

So, make a date to see a show from a man who hasn’t had a date since 1999 when conversation revolved around the twist in ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘will the Millennium Bug kill us’ and ‘isn’t that Boris guy funny on ‘Have I Got New For You’.

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Two

Time: 8.10pm

Dates: 3^rd – 28^th August (except 16^th)

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

YURIKO KOTANI

Japanese comic who lives in London, Yuriko won the BBC new comedy award and was a runner up in the So you think you’re funny final as well. She says she dreams in English which is her second language which is fascinating.

Yuriko Kotani returns to the Edinburgh Fringe this year with her brand-new second hour long show ‘Kaiju About’ to the Pleasance Dome. The award-winning comedian continues to showcase her unique style of comedy, with a show about challenges with new things and make big changes in her life.

Venue: Pleasance Dome – 10 Dome

Time: 7.10pm

Dates: 3^rd – 28^th August (except 15th)

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

ALIYA KANANI (DEBUT)

Aliya is Canadian, she is fluent in both French and English and she grew up in Canada and Africa and in a fairly nomadic lifestyle. She is a Canadian Academy Award nominated actress, graduate of Second City and sellout at Melbourne Comedy festival.

Aliya Kanani who makes her debut with her show ‘Where You From, From?’ to Just The Tonic @ Tron – this year an all-female venue.

30 countries, 10 schools, 6 languages (she is fluent in both English and French!) so, where is Aliya from? Good question…. Aliya Kanani takes us on a turbulent journey around the world with tales of fitting in, sticking out and standing up.

Venue: Just The Tonic @ The Tron

Time: 7.40pm

Dates: 4^th – 28^th August (except 15th)

Previews: 4^th & 5^th August

ALICE BRINE (DEBUT)

We also have New Zealander Alice Brine who is making her Edinburgh debut. She won best newcomer award at NZ comedy festival and went on to be nominated for Billy T best show award.

Having ADHD is less about getting distracted by shiny things and more about ripping through life like a human tornado with no real ability to stop and think. While this makes things difficult, it also makes things hilarious. When someone without ADHD catches a bus, they just catch a bus. When someone with ADHD catches a bus there’s a real chance that person might end up in Mexico even if they hopped on in Slough. This is how Alice Brine’s life goes.

Venue: Gilded Balloon – Turret

Time: 4.20pm

Dates: 3^rd – 28^th August (except 16^th)

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

SIKISA (DEBUT)

Sikisa is a home grown firebolt of talent. By day she’s an immigration lawyer and by night she’s a 3 time Leicester Comedy Festival nominee. Her show is set at her party which she hosts on stage, she has multiple tv credits already.

‘Life of the Party’ will be set at Sikisa’s own house party because she loves a party and wasn’t allowed to go to any before she was 18 (and now she wants to make up for lost time)! Her mother is a very strict, West Indian woman who still lives with her. Sikisa is never one to toe the metaphorical party line and goes against the grain constantly, this includes dating outside of her race, for which she gets discriminated against!

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Below

Time: 8.25pm

Dates: 3^rd – 28^th August (except 17^th)

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

MICHAEL AKADIRI (DEBUT)

Another great London based debut. Michael or Dr Michael is a junior doctor. He worked throughout the pandemic and still had time to write an amazing show. His show shares anecdotes about his life in the NHS and he again has already amassed multiple tv credits.

As a junior doctor on the frontline, with the myriad of challenges this poses, can he balance being a role model and a young man from London? His anecdotes from his time rotating through Geriatrics & Psychiatry suggest otherwise. Should a doctor tell you to reduce your sugar intake then an hour later you both in the queue for Krispy Kreme donuts?

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Cellar

Time: 8.30pm

Dates: 3^rd – 28^th August (except 16^th)

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

ANTHONY DEVITO (DEBUT)

Anthony Devito is a New York based comic and makes his much-anticipated Edinburgh Festival debut at Just The Tonic’s Bottle Room with ‘My Dad Isn’t Danny Devito’.

His show is about how he found out that his dad was in the mafia. His dad was assassinated when he was a baby and he talks about how he only found this all out later and the crime films that made him think it was kind of cool but also not at all.

Most people think that organised crime is cool! He can’t argue it’s not “cool” when Italian criminality accounts for some of our best TV and films: Goodfellas, The Godfather, The Sopranos to name but a few. But to him this is real life and not just made-up characters. With My “Dad isn’t Danny DeVito’ he’s going to offer another perspective and show you why you’re not wrong for thinking “that’s so cool.” But he can’t match your enthusiasm until you know his story…

ERYN TETT (DEBUT)

Erynn is a model born and raised in Singapore and is a multi award nominated comedian and produces her own series of sketch and comedy videos. her show is a scientific attempt to analyse her audience to collect data to better work out ‘who’ her audience is. It’s funny and deadpan and absurd and brilliant.

With a style that toes the line between straight standup and absurdism, classic misfit and the newly proactive Eryn Tett makes her Edinburgh Fringe debut this year at the Just The Tonic, The Tron – the very first all-female venue – for the month of August with ‘Eryn Tett Finds Her Audience’.

Venue: Just The Tonic – Downstairs @ The Tron

Time: 5.00pm

Dates: 4^TH – 28^th August (except 15^th)

Previews: 4^TH & 5^TH August

JAMIE DSOUZA (DEBUT)

Jamie is an Indian Swiss comic who talks about his first crush and becoming an emo in an emo band. He’s got a really broad demographic and has been Leicester festival, BBC new comedy, so you think you’re funny approved. He’s a real one to watch.

Jamie combines stories and one liners, delivered with an instant likability and an understated confidence. Covering a range of topics including veganism, his mixed-race heritage, growing up in dull suburban Staines and coming to terms with entering adulthood.

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Below

Time: 7.10pm

Dates: 3^rd – 29^th August

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

LILY PHILLIPS (DEBUT)

Lily is already getting massive even before her debut. Her show is called Smut. She was a dancer and so consistently had her body analysed and now attempts to de sexualise her body. She’s already done loads of tv and her wry sarcastic style is really fresh.

‘SMUT’ explores the many trials and tribulations of being a woman today, from birthing your own Mooncup to desperately hiding the fact that you poo from your boyfriend of 8yrs. She also delves into her pre-stand-up life as a dancer when she took on various ‘odd’ jobs in between contracts. She worked as a Disney princess impersonator at children’s birthday parties but got fired for spouting too much feminist rhetoric. She also had a brief stint as a fish-n-chip shop model, donning a mermaid suit and a pot of bubbles to sell haddock and chips to creepy men…

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker One

Time: 7.25pm

Dates: 3^rd – 28^th August (except 16^th)

Previews: 3^rd & 4^th August

You can find tickets to all Edinburgh Fringe events here and the rest of out festival guides here