Over the decades, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has given an early stage to some groundbreaking shows, before anyone had ever heard of them.
Here are some of the most famous projects to use their time in Edinburgh as a springboard to fame.
Stomp, 1991 (Assembly)
A fusion of live music, physical comedy and movement, Stomp has toured the world with its energetic, trashcan-thumping performances. It made its Edinburgh debut in 1991, though creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas had been making waves in the city at least a decade before – an earlier outfit, Pookiesnackenburger, was cited as a major 1981 inspiration for an emerging street performer now known as Suzy Eddie Izzard.
The League of Gentlemen, 1996 (Pleasance)
Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson started performing sketch comedy as The League of Gentlemen in London in 1995, but it was their Edinburgh Fringe run the following year that led to a BBC-commissioned radio series. A second stint at the Fringe in 1997 won them the much-coveted Perrier award, and the subsequent TV series (which first aired in 1999) would ultimately earn them the ‘Best Comedy’ BAFTA in 2000, not to mention a legion of fans.
The Mighty Boosh, 1998 (Pleasance)
Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt (together with Rich Fulcher) first brought their Mighty Boosh concept to Edinburgh in 1998, though the roots of their partnership started a year earlier during a production helmed by a fellow Fringe legend, Stewart Lee. Fielding and Barratt would go on to bring two more shows to Edinburgh – Arctic Boosh in 1999 and Autoboosh in 2000 – laying the groundwork for a radio series in 2001 and their TV debut in 2003.
Flight of the Conchords, 2002
A fresh-faced Taika Waititi shepherded Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement to Edinburgh in 2002. They performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2002, 2003—when they were nominated for the Perrier Award. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of the self-titled BBC radio series in 2005 and, subsequently, the HBO series Flight of the Conchords from 2007. But, rather than keep going on about it, we’ll leave that to the boys themselves in this video.
Black Watch, 2006
It feels a little unbelievable that the National Theatre of Scotland has only existed since 2006, but it landed with a bang. Gregory Burke’s Black Watch, a verbatim piece recounting the experiences of Iraq war veterans, debuted at the Fringe on 01 August 2006, and went on to win dozens of awards (including four Oliviers) and tour across three continents. A young Jack Lowden was inspired to become an actor after seeing the play in 2007; he’d go on to join the cast in 2010.
Taskmaster, 2010
In 2009, Alex Horne set a series of monthly challenges to 20 fellow comedians; the results formed the basis of two-hour standalone Fringe show called The Taskmaster in 2010. A slimmed-down version of the show returned to the Fringe in 2011; fast-forward to today, and the televised Taskmaster has resulted in 18 series, nine specials, 12 international adaptions, a board game and a Junior Taskmaster spin-off hosted by Rose Matafeo and the original 2010 champion, Mike Wozniak.
Fleabag, 2013 (Underbelly)
It’s one of the best-known stories of the modern Fringe era – the one-woman show that became a hit TV series, propelling its creator to global stardom. Phoebe Waller-Bridge hasn’t lost sight of the Fringe though – in 2021 she took on the role of the Fringe Society’s first event honorary President, and she still pops up at our artist-facing events now and then to inspire and encourage the next generation of Fringe talent.
Six: The Musical, 2017
A Broadway smash and international touring sensation, this musical retelling of the wives of Henry VIII made its debut at the Fringe in 2017 with a Cambridge University student cast, returning for a victory lap the following year before hitting London’s West End in 2019. The rest, as they say, is history.
Baby Reindeer, 2019 (Summerhall)
Richard Gadd hasn’t had the easiest ride, but he’s adept at channelling his difficult experiences into groundbreaking work. His 2016 Fringe show, Monkey See Monkey Do, dealt with the trauma of being drugged and sexually assaulted; his 2019 follow-up, Baby Reindeer, recounted his experience as the victim of a stalker. Both shows fed into the Netflix adaptation of Baby Reindeer, which took the world by storm when it debuted in 2024; now, all eyes are eagerly on Gadd to see what he does next.
These are just a handful of shows that made a name for themselves at the Fringe in the past – now go ahead and browse this year’s offerings, and #DareToDiscover the next Fringe success story as it happens!
