Unveiling the Truth About Edinburgh Fringe Week 2

My fav review!

We move into week 2 of the fringe and my feet hurt a little less, mainly because I started to pace myself better and I’m leaving more in reserve. I haven’t been walking around town all day every day looking for spots.

I have been given some spots and made a couple of good contacts, which is one of the main reasons for doing this. Being in the same area as promoters from up and down the country and having a good set can set you up for some time on one of their nights later. It can also do nothing. These people see a million acts over the course of the fringe, so unless you stay relevant in their book and make a bit of noise — enough to maintain attention without becoming annoying — it will probably work out for the better.

Being here for 2 weeks has led me to believe that it really is all about marketing. The better the marketing, the more successful your show will be. That shouldn’t be a surprise, but it strangely is. As a performer I’d like to think that your passion and skill alone are enough to get people in the door. Which is probably true, but then you realise the fringe has over like 50,000 shows. All of the people performing have that same passion and many of them that same skill, so what can you do to stand out? Market yourself well.

My numbers for the week:

Sat – 6

Sun – 8

Mon – 4

Tue – off

Wed – 3

Thurs – 13

Fri – 11

Sat – 7

Pretty happy with that! Quite the improvement on last week’s numbers which I will put here:

Saturday – 1

Sunday – 5

Monday – 7

Tuesday – off

Wednesday – 6

Thursday – 6

Friday – 0

So week 1, 25 people saw my show, and week 2, 52 people saw my show. The reality of the fringe is that, despite from the outside not looking worth it, I’ve actually had a lot of fun in those rooms. We’ve all been to enough open mics to realise that 2 people in a room isn’t what you’d hoped for when you were dreaming about being on Live at the Apollo, but for a lot of people that’s what it is.

For me, when it is a lower number it becomes more of a conversation that I pepper with jokes throughout and less of the show that I have built. Which is conflicting, because I worked hard on the show but also can’t ignore that there are 3 people in the room. It almost feels rude not to address that. The nice thing about it is that I’m just so grateful that anybody turned up at all, I try to give them the best show that I can. Some nights I am just not as good as others.

I.e. I bombed hard last night. It was a Saturday night and everybody in the room liked me — they just didn’t like my jokes. Honestly, I’d prefer it to be the other way around.

They were very kind afterwards, putting money in my bucket even after I said money wasn’t necessary because I hadn’t earned it, since they didn’t enjoy it. I think they pitied me, which was even worse! A lovely couple insisted they did enjoy it and decided to buy me a drink after my show. While we were drinking they told me about all of the jokes they didn’t like. So now you all know, I will adhere to any sort of humiliation as long as there is a free beer involved.

Mostly it’s a lovely place to be. There are undertones of desperation and jealousy in the air, especially as it has been the 2nd week and a lot of people have been reviewed, while many haven’t. It’s a very political place to be because the free fringe here stands up for what a fringe is: artists with the ability to access and show off their creative work. Many of the free artists aren’t happy with the ones that have money and can afford better rooms and advertising.

I must admit I do understand where they’re coming from, but also if I had the money I would be doing the same thing to make my show as popular as possible. That said, those with money do seem to get preferential treatment when it comes to reviews.

For example, The Stand-up, DJ, remix reviewer, Worms Armageddon speedrunner Ian Lane shared a chart showing how many reviews Chortle had given out by 15th August 2025 and how they were split up. You should checkout Ian's facebook. Hes a clever man

What I take from it is that bigger venues tend to get more reviews — maybe because of larger audiences, maybe because it’s “pay to play” and reviews are part of that. Probably both.

But here’s the thing: spending money doesn’t guarantee success. Plenty of expensive shows still get trashed. Chortle have given out some pretty awful reviews to big, costly productions, which cements that while there is an element of pay to play, it’s not play to win. Spending 10k on a show and getting a 2-star review seems painful. Honestly, I’d probably prefer a 1-star. One star is so bad it’s almost funny, whereas 2 stars just stings.

I’ve painted it to be a rather bleak place to be. It really isn’t… at all. People are nice. Even when they think you’re rubbish, they’re nice. When you’re handing out a flyer to them and it’s the 15th one they’ve been given in the last 50ft, they’re still nice about it. Performers are nice to one another — some have come to my shows to support me after I mentioned I’m struggling to get bums on seats, and they clearly didn’t enjoy it.

It’s nice to be surrounded by people that know exactly what you’re going through and hope that you get more people in the room. So generally it’s good here. There are things going on behind the scenes that people get upset about, but mostly it’s the same as anything you do: if you come into it with a good attitude it’s great to be here. And comparatively, being here struggling to flyer people day after day with maybe a handful of people coming to see me is 100x better than my real job. It faces different challenges for sure and is hard in its own way to be constantly rejected. But it sure beats waking up at 6am to do my regular job.

If anybody is coming here to do this my recommendation would be: don’t think about what everybody else is doing, think about what you’re doing. Stick to your goals for the fringe and don’t get caught up in professional jealousy. That won’t serve you here.

some shows that i have seen that i have enjoyed is

The Pros and Cons of Joining ISIS by Bilal Rashid #isthisessex by Wes Defoe and Sorabh Dhir

Anyway, if you liked all that then come watch me do penis jokes sometimes. My jokes aren’t half as well thought out as this but you might like them.

Cheers