Pleasance Courtyard

Even by the fairly vague naming conventions of stand up comedy shows, it’s hard to imagine what sardonic Anglo-Russian Olga Koch’s new show Fat Tom Cruise will be about. Apparently it revolves around a story Koch has to tell. And furthermore, it’s a genre-defying show with immersive elements. In the world of solo stand-up shows this could mean everything or nothing, but Koch is an undoubtable pro and if she’s stretching her wings a bit formally then so much the better.

‘If you laugh it's comedy, if you don't it's performance art’ runs the undoubetdly laughter-worthy tag line Frankie Thompson’s new show, which not only points to how weird her work is but also to the fact that the genre is genuinely uncertain: 2022’s superbly weird Catts was classed as comedy; 2023’s follow up Body Show was in the theatre section of the Fringe brochure. For Horrible Things it’s back to comedy with an hour in which Thompson explores… horrible things, both real and conceptual. Assuming she’s not radically changed her MO, the key thing to remember here is that her performance is in no way done in a stand-up style, but rather involves her lip syncing disquietingly to a mad collage of vidoe clips, like a sort of Adam Curtis fever dream. A genuinely singular performer.

Andrew Doherty burst onto the Fringe with his superb spoof folk horror Gay Witch Sex Cult, before enjoying rather more tepid reviews from with last year’s Sad Gay Aids Play. Well when live gives you lemons, take brutal revenge: his latest show is a pointed swipe at the haters who gave Sad Gay Aids Show a three star review specifically (NB Time Out gave it a three star review). Doherty’s latest slice of amusingly macabre storytelling follows Felix Chatelier, a reviewer who accepts an invite to be guest of honour at a new fringe festival but soon finds creepy things happening ‘as he desperately seeks to answer the question: Why oh why did I only give Andrew Doherty three stars?’

Famously, Ahir Shah’s last Edinburgh Fringe show Ends came to the festival in 2023 as a work in progress that turned out to be so good that not only was its WIP status rescinded but it won the main comedy award that year. Whether or not newie Golden can top it – we know basically nothing about it so far – expect another personal but also cerebral tour de force from a master.