The Pleasance’s famous cobblestone Courtyard has been entertaining festival audiences since 1985 and is considered by many to be the very heart of the Fringe. Come join us for the best comedy, theatre and children's shows at 'the centre of the cultural universe' (Scotsman).

After sold-out runs in Edinburgh and London in 2024, Australia's favourite workplace wankers are back with a brand-new show. Delivered in the form of an agonising all-staff meeting, Just Touching Base is a hilarious real-time demonstration of the buzzwords, bureaucracy and bullsh*t of modern working life. Wankernomics' blend of observational comedy and dark satire has notched up millions of views online. So synergise your stakeholders and pop some time in the diary for a laugh-out-loud, wince-inducing, 'oh-my-god-that's-exactly-what-happens-at-my-work' deep-dive into the working world. 'Life changing' ***** (WeekendNotes.com). 'Wickedly clever satire' ***** (OnTheRecordUniSA.com).

Wankernomics: Just Touching Base

Parker talks a lot of maths. He's a NYT best-selling author and sold-out Edinburgh Festival Fringer. But now it's time he does the maths. Really gets in there and gives the maths a good doing. It's time he programmes his own Christmas tree lights and then 11,184,024 people watch his downfall (and counting). It's time he shares his hand-crafted maths code online only for viewers to improve it by 40,832,277,770%. It's time he shaped-up and crawled out from under the square named after him. Come watch Matt Parker do the maths.

Getting Triggy With It: Matt Parker Does the Maths

A magical, musical science experiment that turns people into instruments! Two scientists take kids on a wild ride where movement becomes music, turning anything and everything into musical instruments. A funny interactive all-ages family show exploring the history of sound and music, including the thoughts and feelings behind any toot, ding, dong or symphony, featuring the incredibly exciting technology of AirSticks.

You're an Instrument!

Comedic fireball Deirdre O'Kane is mad for road, mercilessly mining hilarity from the human condition. Will she conquer the chaos or revel in it? Tame the mayhem or O'Kane it? Either way you're in for a night of relentless laughs fuelled by warped personal insight. 'Unique star quality' (Guardian). 'O'Kane quickly sets up a rhythm of her own and when she exits, applause follows her all the way down the street' (Scotsman). 'She won the audience over from the moment she opened her mouth' (Metro).

Deirde O'Kane: O'Kaning It

Celebrating 20 years of Tape Face, the show returns to where its worldwide journey began. Mime with noise, stand-up with no talking – drama with no acting. Las Vegas headliner Tape Face has become a global sensation. See the critically award-winning show that started it all. Physical comedy, mime and silent stand-up collide in an unforgettable performance that will leave you laughing, gasping and lost for words. Tape Face has to be seen to be believed. 'Sublime physical lunacy... fight for a ticket' ***** (Time Out). 'A delight from start to finish' ***** (Scotsman).

Tape Face: 20

Simple Town combines smart ensemble riffing with dumb slapstick in one hard-hitting hour. Simple Town has toured their live show across the US, sold out two runs at the MOTH Club in London, and had their work appear on Adult Swim, Comedy Central, NoBudge, Cracked and more. Their live show has played New York Comedy Festival and Netflix is a Joke Festival, and they now bring an hour of their best sketches to Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 'Simple Town are peerless when it comes to handling... surreality' (New York Magazine).

Simple Town

With a stage presence as electric as it is thoughtful, Seaton blends sharp observations, wild storytelling and a touch of poetic absurdity. Fresh from Madison Square Garden and touring with John Mulaney, his stand-up tackles everything from social chaos to political absurdity, exploring life's biggest (and pettiest) questions, including the fine art of sleeping with people you hate. An artist: A playful provocateur who loves twisting ideas into unexpected punchlines, he's spiritual yet ridiculous, deep yet delightfully childish. One day, he hopes to escape it all and live in the woods. But first, here's his story.

Seaton Smith: Trauma Bonding

Aaron walks with a cane, and everyone asks 'what happened?'. Aaron answers the question twice, first with a story you've heard a thousand times, and then with one you've never heard before. Faced with a spinal-cord injury, this show follows Aaron's journey to understand this new body in the uncertain world of first loves, online dating and sex. The show untangles his own understanding of his body and the stories he tells himself. Falling is an uncomfortably sexy and hilariously vulnerable stumble through Aaron's misadventures searching for love, lust and life after disability.

Falling: A Disabled Love Story

Be amazed by the power of pressure – and what it can teach us! Doktor Kaboom's new show is fit to burst with astonishing live science experiments, stand-up comedy and lessons in empowerment – using the physics of pressure to explore the stresses of real life. Back for a fourth year with brand-new experiments for 2025, don't miss this spectacular hour of 'perfect family entertainment' (POWShowbiz.com). Commissioned by the John F Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington DC. 'One of the most fun, educational and hilarious family-friendly shows Edinburgh Fringe has ever seen' ***** (TheatreScotland.co.uk).

Doktor Kaboom: Under Pressure!

An hour of sensational improvised comedy hosted by two of the UK's masters of improvisation, with their very special guests. Expect fast, fabulously funny improvised games, scenes, stories and laugh-out-loud surrealism. 'Amongst the best in the business for years... class, nonsense, inventiveness and a whole barrel load of laughs' ***** (One4Review.co.uk). 'This show absolutely delivers the big laughs... hilariously absurd' **** (BroadwayBaby.com). 'Paul Merton and Suki Webster have established themselves as two of the UK's best. This show is improv comedy at its strongest' **** (TheScotsReviewer.com).

Paul Merton and Suki Webster's Improv Show

The Olivier Award–winning West End hit is back! It’s opening night for the hottest new musical in town... every night! There's just one problem - the writer hasn't written a note and needs your help... See your suggestions turned into a brand new musical ‘the funniest improv on the Fringe’ (BroadwayBaby.com). Now in their 16th year, your Edinburgh experience is incomplete without it! 'So polished, it defies belief' ***** (Telegraph). 'This festival mainstay is a consistent audience favorite for a reason' ***** (Playbill.com). 'Achingly funny... worth seeing again and again' ***** (Time Out).

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical

The Kiwi icon returns after 13 years with a new stand-up show for 2025. In a world full of AI and robot tech can a simple dad with slightly too-tight jeans stay relevant? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes! Rhys hopes to prove that right now a touch of very human silliness is more important than ever. Perhaps his unique human skills, once thought of as absurd, might be useful after all! Famous for TV shows like Flight of the Conchords and Our Flag Means Death, Darby is excited to return to the stand-up stage.

Rhys Darby: The Legend Returns

Time to decide once and for all... cake or biscuit? Inspired by the 1991 tribunal which determined the true identity of a Jaffa Cake, multi award-winning family-friendly musical makers Gigglemug Theatre (Scouts! The Musical, RuneSical, Timpson: The Musical) return to the Fringe with their latest sell-out smash-hit comedy that really takes the biscuit (or cake?). 'Spectacularly fun' ***** (NorthWestEnd.co.uk). 'Pure delight' ***** (ThreeWeeksEdinburgh.com). 'Phenomenal' ***** (ThePhoenixRemix.com). 'Wildly funny' ***** (TheatreWeekly.com). 'A Jaffa Cake Musical is a hit!' ***** (TheatreAndTonic.co.uk). 'This show is ready for the West End' ***** (Fringesider.com). 'Ridiculously catchy songs' **** (Stage).

A Jaffa Cake Musical

After a UK tour, Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Taskmaster, Ghosts) brings his all-star improv show back to where it all began for a strictly limited run! Turning stories from the audience into improvised comedy scenes, Kiell is joined by a rotating cast of world-class improvisers: Lola-Rose Maxwell, Nic Sampson, Graham Dickson, Robert Gilbert, Emily Lloyd-Saini, Emma Sidi, Anna Leong Brophy and Brendan Murphy. Plus a special guest each show! Past guests include Lily Allen, Mo Gilligan, Guz Khan and Munya Chawawa. 'This magnetic performer's great improv shows always prove a hit' (Evening Standard).

Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Friends: Kool Story Bro

Humpty Dumpty is dead – was he pushed? Did he jump? Or was it simply a great fall? Enter Jill, a filmmaker with big dreams and an even bigger problem: she's on trial for egg-icide. With BB Wolf defending her, Little Red out for blood and a courtroom messier than Jack and Jill's tumble down that hill, this case is gripping the nation. Tabloid media, conspiracy theorists and familiar fairy-tale faces combine in this wild, hilarious musical that will have you hooked from the first note. 'Impressively realised' **** (Stage, for A Christmas Carol).

The Uncrackable Case

Hal is back with a brand-new show that promises to stick it to The Man, as long as The Man doesn't stick it back to him. With his trademark hard-hitting 'take no prisoners comedy' (this is what Hal told me to write!) he will be hilariously pontificating on subjects like middle-aged dating, social media, the insanity of modern politics and the fragility of marriage – look at the stats! ***** (Mirror). ***** (Daily Record). 'Reminded me of how much I love stand-up' **** (Times).

Hal Cruttenden: Can Dish It Out But Can't Take It

Newcomers Ada and Bron invite you to third wheel an unmissable hour of weirdo soulmates and 'hilarious doomed romances' (Chortle.co.uk). With debauchery, live music and cuckolding to the eleventh degree, The Origin of Love is a spectacle for lovers of the strange, stupid and sexy. A cursed couple's character comedy from the creators of Channel 4's Peaked. As heard on BBC Radio 4's Time of The Week and one half Funny Women Comedy Short winner (2021). 'Beautifully tragicomic' (Times). 'Delightful oddballs' (Chortle.co.uk).

Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love

Life is hard. Come and have a laugh about it. As seen on Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week and his 2025 NextUp stand-up special. Last Edinburgh show totally sold out. 'Hysterical. Andy Parsons is on fire' (Mirror). 'Very funny' (Times). 'Laugh-out-loud funny' (Sunday Telegraph). 'It's great to welcome sharp, topical comedy and Parsons remains one of its most skillful exponents' (Guardian). ***** (List). ***** (Scotsman). ***** (Herald).

Andy Parsons: Please #@!$ Off to Mars

Middle-aged and newly single, he's spent the salary of an NHS nurse in Decathlon and he's on the verge of a breakdown. Get to know this absurd and deeply flawed man as he gets to know himself. Goofy drag king show from award-winning character comedian Kathy Maniura, BBC New Comedian shortlisted, 2023 and Sketch Off winner, 2020. Follows her debut show Objectified, which received five-star reviews at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and subsequently toured the UK, gaining four award nominations. 'Charming' (Guardian). 'Stand-out performer... enigmatic' (Scotsman). Directed by Cecily Nash.

Kathy Maniura: The Cycling Man

Arab. Muslim. Brummy. Award-winning stand-up Hasan Al-Habib was born to Iraqis that moved to Birmingham after deciding Baghdad wasn't dangerous enough. This debut show dissects his love for both cities – despite being hated by the US Government / Leicester. An exploration of racism, sectarianism and a high metabolism, this is the show that Tommy Robinson, Saddam Hussein, and Joe Wicks don't want you to see. You're not gonna listen to them, are ya, bab?! 'Al-Habib will be famous' (Rolling Stone). 'Deliciously Funny' (Guardian). Directed by Jet Vevers.

Hasan Al-Habib: Death to the West (Midlands)

Great value lunchtime comedy club showcasing established favourites and rising comedy stars from across the Fringe. Now in its 20th successful year in the Cabaret Bar – take a seat, you're in for a treat! Line-up changes daily. See EdComProductions.com for daily listings. 'Cannot be bettered anywhere... This top class hour is an excellent investment' ***** (One4Review.co.uk). 'A perfect bite-sized flavour of the festival' **** (ThreeWeeks). 'A brilliant way to discover new talent' **** (Threeweeks). 'This delightful afternoon slot at the Pleasance is a crowd-pleaser' (BroadwayBaby.com).

Best of Edinburgh Showcase Show

Following three sell-out shows, Petts (Live at the Apollo, HIGNFY) returns to the Fringe and she's delving where she's never delved before: this is a show about sex. The problem is that she blushes every time she says that word. From Page 3, to the time she was cast as a sex offender, to the not-niche-at-all phenomena of vagina dentata, join 'one of the most accomplished stand-ups working in the UK today' (Scotsman) for her most titillating hour yet. 'When it comes to comedy, Petts is very much Premier League' (Evening Standard).

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