Pleasance Courtyard

This promising young comic makes his Fringe debut with an hour of sketch comedy based entirely around a series of ‘sad and pathetic characters’ who are absolutely not like him. To be honest we’re putting him here because a colleague saw the show and thought it was great, but we’ll soon find out if she’s right eh. 

Lorna Rose Treen’s 2023 show Skin Pigeon was a joyously bonkers hour of sketch comedy that was on paper somwhat unfashionable but in reality delivered with such total bug-eyed conviction it felt instantly timeless. And now here’s the follow up! Whereas the sketches in Skin Pigeon weren’t directly connected to each other, 24 Hour Diner People is nominally set in a diner, which apparently has a working grill. If it’s anything like as good as its predecessor it’ll be a must see.

There’s something genuinely heartening about the fact that Tim Key – essentially a weird poet – has become such a big deal, in part (of course) thanks to his appearances in less poetic guise in everything from talk shows to Alan Partridge to Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17. There’s no clear explanation as to what his new show Loganberry is about, and it seems like a stretch to imagine it’s signifcantly related to his excellent previous show Mulberry (which has nothing to do with mulberries). But really just enjoy the ride as the shambolic master dips into the Fringe for a couple of weeks.

If there’s one comic out there who you can trust to announce a high-concept theme to his new stand up show and then actually stick to it – as opposed to using it as a jumping off point for a more general set of jokes – it’s Kieran Hodgson, whose previous triumphs include shows about Lance Armstrong, the EU and his attempts to learn Scots Gaelic. That last show – 2023’s Big in Scotland – was prompted by his move to Glasgow to star in the sitcom Two Doors Down. Voice of America would also appear to be somewhat inspired by Hodgson’s screen career, detailing as it does his attempts to do an American accent for Hollywood after years of thinking he could do one. Which doesn’t necessarily sound like the formula for an hour of hilarity, but Hodgson has this in hand.

Exactly how in earnest we’re supposed to treat Cat Cohen has always been pleasingly ambiguous: her hilarious Streisand-scale diva shtick has always been intentionally out of whack with playing small comedy clubs (though they’re not so small anymore), but it was clear that at least some of the stories she was telling in her last show Come for Me were entirely true. Broad Strokes takes its name from the fact Cohen – then in her early thirties – randomly had a stroke in 2023. While it seems likely that this show about the incident will be full of showtune style piano numbers, overbearing crowd patter and faux unselfawareness, it will also very likely actually be about how she had a stroke because it would be an insane thing to make up. Whatever the case, Cohen is simply gloriously entertaining company off vibes alone. 

Leftfield comics Riches and Kearns both are and aren’t keeping their cards close to their chests for this oddball seasonal extravganza. On the one hand we know exactly what it’s about: the duo will play Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, the actor-singers who are superstars in their own right and have done serious business as a double act. On the other hand they’re being deliberately opaque about what they actually have planned, even down to who is playing who. Neither Riches nor Kearns are noted for their singing voices; they are renowned for extreme commitment to the bit, no matter how absurd – in Riches’ case it borders on method. Whatever the hell happens, you’re unlikely to forget it in a hurry.

After last year’s virtuosically weird My Huge Tits Huge Because They Are Infected NOT FAKE!, out there US comic Patti Harrison returns to the Fringe with ‘a secretive variety show with some very special friends, beautiful guests, upsetting surprises and sexual revelations’. To be quite frank it’s impossible to know if any of this is true: Harrison’s vibe is so totally singular that it’s hard to imagine her simply inviting other comics to join in with her show, but who really knows? All we can really say is that it’ll be like nothing else at the Fringe and that you should probably take the 18-plus age guidance seriously.