The Secret of Comedy
Which might be the reasons which people offer to back up their argument that the greatest opportunity to see stand-ups in Scotland's capital is in the Festival? One reason is the volume of shows that are on. Instead of the typical handful of standup shows, there are thousands throughout the Festival.
However my point is that quantity does not necessarily mean great material. Over time I've been to tons of stand up comedy events at the Festival, and most of these were dire.
I have walked out of a number of performances after sitting for roughly half an hour without ever feeling the need to crack a smile, let alone guffaw. Just due to the fact that a comedy gig is part of the Festival doesn't necessarily mean it's likely to be hilarious. I see countless comedy gigs all year round, and in my opinion there are far less really terrible performances being staged outside of the Festival.
The majority of people think that the best time to go and see stand up comedy in Scotland's capital is in the Fringe every year. I'm in the minority who doesn't agree with this reasoning.
Enjoy the fringe whenever you've got the opportunity, but expand your horizons. Occasionally the warm-up acts elsewhere will be more amusing.
Occasionally you are able to grab cut-price comedy tickets in the Edinburgh Festival because there are a great deal of two-for-one promotions happening.
All that actually means is that if you utilize a two-for-one deal, it costs you the same amount to attend a show as it would at any other time of the year, because at the Festival all the ticket prices increase two times. I will go for stand up night at my local comedy club over that.
One principal argument which folk offer for attending the Fringe is that we get to catch the most renowned comics, and have the opportunity to see the rising stars in standup at an early stage. My own experience begs to differ.
The best known stand ups' shows inevitably sell out prior to the time when you have even found out they're happening, so you're less able to see them doing their act in relation to months other than August. Furthermore the point that you'll have the opportunity to see the up and coming acts as they're released upon the world: to be fair, I suppose it is conceivable, but you're probably going to witness somebody who gives you 15 mins of pretty funny stuff, and 35 minutes of rubbish.
None the less, they had a great write-up because the journalist merely had long enough to stay for the start of the show.