The Entry Price
Sometimes you can get hold of cheap comedy tickets during the Edinburgh Festival as there are lots of two-for-one deals on. What that genuinely means is that when you use a 2-for-1 deal, it means you pay the same amount to attend a performance as it would normally, as during the Fringe all the entry fees increase two times. I'll take stand up evening at my neighbourhood comedy club over that.
What are the reasons that folk provide to support their statement that the ideal opportunity to experience standup in Scotland's capital is in the Festival? One reason is the quantity of shows that are on.
Rather than the usual selection of stand-up gigs, there are tons during the Festival. But my belief is that quantity does not necessarily mean great material.
In my time I have been to tons of stand up comedy events in the Fringe, and well over half of them have been rank. I've walked out of a lot of shows after sitting for roughly twenty-five minutes without even having the urge to smile, far less giggle.
Simply because a stand-up gig is part of the Festival does not necessarily mean it's going to be hilarious.
I attend tons of comedy performances throughout the year, and from my standpoint there are much less really awful shows being staged at other times of the year.
Lots of folk think the perfect time to catch stand up comedy in Edinburgh is during the Festival every summer. I'm one of those who disagree with this reasoning. Enjoy the fringe by all means, but expand your horizons.
Sometimes the warm up comedians somewhere else would be more amusing.
A prime argument that folk provide for attending the Fringe is that you can see the best known comedians, plus have the opportunity to see the next big things in stand-up before anyone else. My personal experience is somewhat different. The best known stand ups' gigs frequently end up being sold out in advance of the stage where you have actually found out they're performing, therefore you're less able to see them perform as opposed to the rest of the year. And the belief that you can get to catch the up and coming acts being released upon the world: well, I guess it is possible, however you are probably going to see a comedian who has 10 minutes of quite comical stuff, and 40 mins of rubbish. Nevertheless, they had a fabulous write-up since the journalist merely had long enough to see the first ten minutes.