The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
It's a wonderful time of year, where we can jump from venue to venue seeing shows we have never heard of and starting drinking at 10am every day.
But this year I am not going up - because it is too expensive!
Yes, I am sure many of you, like me, are starting to feel priced-out of going to the festival because of travel and accomodation costs.
So, I've put together a list of which shows are having preview performances in London before they go up to Edinburgh.
July is the new August and so embrace the fringe from the comfort of London and check out these shows before they head north.
Kanpur: 1857
Tuesday 1 July 2025
Strapped to a cannon, an Indian rebel finds themselves answering to a British officer for the crimes of Kanpur – an Indian uprising against British colonial forces. Based on historical events, this new play comically satirises contemporary conflicts around gender, colonial violence, and making art in times of crisis.
Amy Webber: Wannabe
Tuesday 1 July 2025
This show was dreamt up after a trip home for the weekend for a free roast and unlimited wine which ended with mum sending Amy away with a box of her childhood junk. The contents of which sparked an idea to bring her teenage angst-filled lyrics back to life, titillating on where she was then and how far she’s come.
Vittorio Angelone: you can’t Say Nothing any more
Tuesday 1, 8, 15 & 21 July 2025
Vittorio is working on his new show and to be fair it’s going well.
Ted Milligan: United
Wednesday 2 & Thursday 24 July 2025
Crubchester United Football Club are at rock bottom: relegated to non-league. Now, purchased by a 6 year old billionaire, can the club win promotion? Join award-winning character comedian, Ted Milligan, for this live mockumentary following Crubchester’s fervent fans, oligarch owners and pitiful players.
BAIRNS
Friday 4 & Saturday 5 July 2025
BAIRNS is a funny piece of new writing that follows Lottie as her chaotic life takes a sharp turn when she agrees to be a surrogate for her sister, Freya. But when Lottie starts to form a bond with the cargo she’s carrying, the lines between selflessness and selfishness blur – and under UK law, the baby is legally hers until the parental order is signed post-partum.
Improbotics Presents: RoboTales
Saturday 5 July 2025
An improvised choose-your-own adventure, featuring actors, a cute robot host and AI, where the audience controls the show! By award-winning Improbotics who created Artificial Intelligence Improvisation.
Liz Guterbock: Nice
Sunday 6 July 2025
Liz Guterbock’s brand new stand-up show explores what it means to be nice, how it feels being an American abroad, and that ONE time when she was mean.
In a world where people (Presidents) get social traction from being nasty, come see someone try to be kind…while telling jokes. It’ll be nice. Promise.
Krystal Evans: A Star is Burnt
Monday 7 July 2025
Krystal is back with a brand new hour of stand up about the horrors of working in restaurants, being married to a chef, having kids, and finding comedy. Expect breakdowns, celeb gossip, even murder attempts.
Susie McCabe: Work in Progress
Monday 7 July 2025
Susie McCabe returns with a hilarious work-in-progress show. Revel in McCabe’s raconteur style and razor-sharp punchlines in this hilarious show as she recounts the absurdities of her life; she’s a shamble and never far from disaster.
Ben Pope: The Cut
Tuesday 8 July 2025
Last year, Ben got circumcised. On purpose, and as recommended by medical professionals. This show is a 55min inventory of his ensuing masculine panic.
Expect jokes and stories on: the male ego, pillow talk, charity shops, the sublime mystery of having a father, and also exactly one pig.
Dusty Creases: Dance Your Life Away
Tuesday 8 & 15 July 2025
Join legendary dance teacher Dusty in her groundbreaking masterclass and discover how to box step like a jellyfish, ball change like a banana and show everyone your grapes. A high energy, ridiculous character comedy hour of physical foolery from a mastermind of stupidity. This show is as interactive as hell, bring your dancing shoes.
Tom Brace Saws Himself in Half
Wednesday 9 July 2025
Houdini. Brown. Blaine. Brace? Tom Brace is aiming to enter the Magic Hall of Fame by attempting a world first. Sawing HIMSELF in half. Join him on a journey through the best tricks and illusions from magical history as he navigates what it really takes to become a legend of magic.
The Colour Red
Wednesday 9 July 2025
Michael is a man who has decided that the best thing to do is to end his life. He feels this because of how destructive his OCD has been for him and his family. However, we get introduced to how Michael really feels, as he takes the audience through all the crazy ups and downs that come along with having ‘severe and enduring’ OCD! He’ll take you on the journey from getting his OCD to spending four months in hospital getting peer-pressured by his therapist to have a wank! Join him for the decision.
Jonno: Edinburgh Preview
Wednesday 9 July 2025
It don’t get much simpler than this, folks. Old Jonno’s doing a show in Edinburgh for a whopping 3 nights and this is the only time he’s previewing it in London. The show is one of those rare gems: a flawless hour. Stand-up, songs, a bit that’s more or less a dance; these are just three of the four things this funny show contains.
Sam Lake: You’re Joking!? Not Another One!
Thursday 10 July 2025
A new stand-up hour from ‘…a rare gem of a comic’ (Rolling Stone), about the highs and lows of pursuing your lifelong passion and just loving a laugh. Don’t you just love a laugh? If you’ve ever had a lifelong passion, a dream or a career you’ve strived for and maybe failed (or are currently failing) at, this is the show for you.
Hold the Line
Thursday 10 & 24 July 2025
Hold The Line as brand new comedy/drama based upon true events of working in a NHS111 call centre. Meet Gary, a health adviser for NHS111 in Barking, East London, who faces the shift from hell when a patient unexpectedly dies during a routine assessment over the phone. Gary now faces the heat as both his job and livelihood are brought into disrepute following this work place incident.
EDEN SHER: I Was On A Sitcom
Friday 11 July 2025
I Was On A Sitcom is a show about finding out who you are when your TV show ends and your “real life” begins. Because when you’ve played a character on TV for a decade, what exactly does it mean to “be yourself?”
This show offers a rare intimate glimpse inside a popular sitcom actor’s real, raw life.
2 Muslim 2 Furious 2: Go Halal Or Go Home
Friday 11 July 2025
Saturday Night Takeaway has gone HALAL. Expect more crowd work, Arab-Kazakh double-act BANTER and Sharia-complaint stand-up. Remember, EDL is guaranteed! (extremely deafening laughter).
Sorry I Hurt Your Son (Said My Ex To My Mum)
Saturday 12 July 2025
A bold stand-up hour about the things his ex-boyfriend did to him, including a pushy-wushy down the stairsy-wairsy.
ALISON SPITTLE- BIG (WIP)
Sunday 13 July 2025
A man told Alison to sit down and now she’s doing a whole stand up show about it.
Sergi Polo · WIP in Spanish
Sunday 13 July 2025
THIS SHOW WILL BE FULLY PERFORMED IN SPANISH
Sergi va a hacer su hora de monólogos en Castellano!
Si, si; lo has leído bien! SU HORA EN CASTELLANO!
Mike Rice: Work In Progress
Sunday 13 July 2025
Mike Rice is working out some new stories and jokes before the Edinburgh Fringe festival.
Mike has millions of views online and has featured on BBC, RTE, and Radio 1, is the Co-Host of hit podcast Mike and Vittorios Guide to Parenting, and is currently on his First UK and Ireland Tour.
PARATROOPERS
Sunday 13 and Monday 14 July 2025
Frank Fletcher, long-time senior MP for Cackby North has suddenly died. Party members have gathered at North Cackby Community Arts Centre to choose a successor. But when Mackenzie Steele and Connor Banks, two low-level operators in the Labour Party, happen to be the only “high-quality” candidates born in Cackby, how much of a choice have you really got?
110% John Kearns and Pat Cahill
Monday 14 July 2025
Old friends and multi-award-winning comics Kearns and Cahill promise an extravaganza of absurdity, false teeth, wartime songs, shouting at the audience and very special guests.
Toussaint Douglass: Accessible Pigeon Material
Monday 14 – Friday 18 July 2025
Hello friend. Open your mind, take out what’s inside and wish it well on its future endeavours. You’re going to need the space for this one.
OLGA KOCH: WIP
Monday 14 July 2025
Comedian Olga Koch is going to tell you a scary story over the course of an hour. The story is a work in progress. Proceed with caution.
Alan Davies: Think Ahead
Tuesday 15 July 2025
He thinks he’s Marty McFly but he’s older than Doc Brown. He spends more time in the pharmacy than the gym. Subject to relentless eye rolls from his kids. What is he? A late middle-aged stand-up on tour for the first time in a decade. Funnier than ever, he says.
Celya AB: Work In Progress
Tuesday 15 July 2025
Following multiple sell out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre, Celya AB (Live At The Apollo, Off Menu, Just For Laughs) is working on her new show.
Expect new jokes on the A-Side and unformed ideas on the B-Side.
Ania Magliano: Work In Progress
Tuesday 15 July 2025
Ania Magliano has some new thoughts/jokes/confessions/gossip to share with you. Her choices on Off Menu are widely regarded as one of the worst menus of all time.
Thanyia Moore: August
Wednesday 16 – Thursday 17 July 2025
A show about mental strength, the female body and how awesome the NHS is in Scotland.
Yes, We’re Related
Wednesday 16 – Thursday 17 July 2025
Dysfunctional sisters Sara and Saskia are forced to confront the unpredictable stages of grief. Sara is living in denial, and Saskia is determined to celebrate the anniversary of their mother’s death with her quirky partner Mark and a party to die for. But when a jaw-dropping secret is revealed, things go from bad, to worse, to catastrophic.
Rory Marshall: Pathetic Little Characters
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Rory Marshall has dug deep into his extremely sad and pathetic soul to create an hour of extremely sad and pathetic characters. He adamantly claims that they’re nothing like him at all, but you can be the judge of that.
John Tothill: Work-in-Progress
Wednesday 16 July 2025
In 2024, John Tothill’s appendix burst onstage, just days after Trump was almost assassinated. Both men claimed that these near-death experiences changed them. Both were lying.
John Kearns and Rob Auton
Wednesday 16 July 2025
A unique chance to see the brilliant John Kearns and Rob Auton previewing new stand-up shows ahead of the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Ahir Shah and Sophie Duker
Thursday 17 July 2025
Ahir Shah and Sophie Duker showcase their profound comedic talents in this Edinburgh Fringe preview stand up show.
Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Work in Progress
Thursday 17 July 2025
An airing of brand new material by the most powerfully wistful comedian in Scotland. Co-host of the podcast Here Comes the Guillotine with Frankie Boyle and Susie McCabe.
Sky-Scraping
Thursday 17 & Friday 18 July 2025
Jack, arriving on Westminster Bridge before the first gas lamps are lit, watches poetry performed until the sun comes up! He will lead you by the hand from 14th Century London all the way up to the estates, train stations and pavements we are so familiar with today! Come see the city spring to life before your eyes!
ECHOES OF NÜWA- THE LAST HUMAN PROJECT
Friday 18 July 2025
After Nüwa created humanity and mended the sky, humanity destroyed itself.
Now, her three minions, experiment to rebuild mankind.
A MINOR THEFT
Friday 18 & Tuesday 29 July 2025
Sophie’s abducted a baby… She doesn’t even want a baby… but she knows that this baby deserves a good life and a good mother that doesn’t deep throat fags and voddy-cokes.
House Party
Friday 18 & Saturday 19 July 2025
Skip is an aspiring actor just trying to stay afloat. It’s her versus her peers with generational wealth. Armed with the perfect playlist, Skip takes us on a dance party through her changing hometown and the forces she contends with on a daily basis. Home Counties transplants. The mullet and moustache army. Those weird skinny expensive dogs.
The Pink List
Saturday 19 July 2025
1957, West Germany. The battle against the Nazis ended twelve years ago – but for Karl, a gay concentration camp survivor, the war never truly ended. Still criminalised under Nazi law, his life is on trial.
The Pink List is a haunting one-person musical inspired by untold stories of queer men in post-war Germany – names recorded in the Pink Lists, then erased.
Rob Moriarty: Sick in the Head
Saturday 19 July 2025
“Sick in the Head” is the story of an Irish man navigating modern life as a mentally ill homosexual who’s doing his best to survive in London. Expect an hour of unapologetic, clever and inappropriate stand-up comedy. Not for the easily offended!
Ed Night Work in Progress
Sunday 20 July 2025
Ed Night does a work in progress of his new hour in anticipation of the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Rolling Stone’s 12 Stand Out Shows of Edinburgh Fringe 2024, Best Reviewed Comedy Shows of Fringe 2024
AYOADE BAMGBOYE- SWINGS & ROUNDABOUTS
Sunday 20 July 2025
The much-anticipated debut show about suffering (and smiling) from Nigerian stand-up Ayoade Bamgboye.
METHOD IN MY MADNESS
Sunday 20 July 2025
Hamlet, stripped to the nerve. An elastic bodied re-imagining of the Bard’s most puzzling play that fuses Shakespeare’s words with clown, physical theatre and illusions.
FACILITY 111- A GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENT
Sunday 20 & Wednesday 23 July 2025
A surreal new audio play, written and performed live by Inge-Vera Lipsius.
Abishek & Nirmal: The Great Indian Positivity House
Monday 21 – Saturday 26 July 25
Welcome to the Positivity Centre, where everyone is encouraged to confess their worst mistakes. Literally the worst evil things or opinions you have. Anonymously, of course.
Rory Marshall – Pathetic Little Characters
Monday 21st July 2025
Join Rory as he takes us on a magical journey through a world of weird, wonderful and work-in-progress characters (both old and new) and then crudely and unprofessionally asks you what you thought of them and whether you thought they were any good or not.
Urooj Ashfaq: How To Be A Baddie
Monday 21 – Saturday 26 July 2025
No longer is she a good girl and relatable comedian, and most importantly, she is not sweet.
A bona fide bad girl and edgelord who at times mentions sexy things and topics. Come watch to find out what happened…
ELYSIUM
Monday 21 July 2025
Enter the wickedly enchanted, suburban world of Elysium Court, where a new mother’s plans of an instagrammable vegetable patch, become her unearthly undoing.
NARIN OZ- INNER CHILD(ISH)
Monday 21 July 2025
Imagine the movie Cast Away but instead Narin Oz is stranded inside her bathroom; with an inflatable emoji named Dr Fecal Matter.
PEDRO LEANDRO- SOFT ANIMAL (WIP)
Tuesday 22 July 2025
Debut show from Pedro Leandro, a comedian who has famously been described as ‘magnetic’ (Guardian) and ‘a beautiful bright-eyed joy’ (Everything-Theatre.co.uk)
Ian Smith: Work in Progress
Tuesday 22nd July 2025
Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show nominee 2023 Ian Smith returns with a work in progress of a new show.
HOLLY SPILLAR- TALL CHILD
Tuesday 22 July 2025
Armed with nothing but a little red loop pedal and her ever-growing rage, Holly Spillar is looking for the catharsis only art (made by low-income people, working sh*t jobs on minimum wage) can provide.
I DREAM IN COLOUR
Tuesday 22 & Wednesday 23 July 2025
Sophie has a choice: remove her remaining eye containing a tumour, or risk cancer. Again. No brainer, right?
Jazz Emu & Adrian Gray
Tuesday 22 & Wednesday 23 July 2025
Jazz Emu: The Pleasure is All Yours Musical meteor Jazz Emu was born to please you. But he’s feeling uneasy. A review described his last show as ‘a bit much’. What? Was his seventeenth stage-dive too tastefully executed? Not this time. This time, he’s living up to his middle-namesake.
Brainsluts
Tuesday 22 July 2025
Five Sundays. Five strangers. One mystery drug. As the trial unfolds, these guinea pigs will discover the sheer lengths each of them will go just to fill the silence. Oversharing ensues, secrets emerge and the stresses of their precarious lives are laid bare. This may not be the dream, but if they listen to each other, they might just learn something. Or maybe they won’t.
Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x)
Wednesday 23 July 2025
The plot of Hannah Montana. If Hannah Montana was a Scouser. And instead of a pop star leading a double life, she’s a Cambridge student working as a cleaner.
Eat The Rich is a comedy which demonstrates the myth of meritocracy, the sacrifices we make to get ahead and who, in the end, these decisions will always disproportionately affect.
Prashasti Singh: Divine Feminine
Wednesday 23 – Saturday 26 July 2025
Growing up in a patriarchal family, Prashasti naturally had only one dream – to become a patriarch herself. Inching towards 40, but pretending to be 30, Prashasti can finally mark this dream complete.
But instead of happiness, she finds herself pondering if the ascent was even worth the price.
Zoë Coombs Marr: The Splash Zone
Wednesday 23 July 2025
Strap in. Let’s go. Welcome to The Splash Zone. Known for award-winning, high-concept meta-comedy, this is Zoë stripped back: her funniest, most straight-shooting stand-up hour yet. A joyfully untethered ADHD stream of consciousness about leaning into discomfort and talking to strangers.
TAMSYN KELLY- HOT T*TTY BUNGALOW (WIP)
Wednesday 23 July 2025
A brand new hour of comedy from Tamsyn Kelly. As seen/heard on ITV2, Comedy Central, BBC One, BBC Three, BBC Radio 4.
DOWN TO CHANCE
Wednesday 23 July 2025
Alaska, 1964. The largest earthquake in US history. Live on air, part-time radio reporter Genie Chance must take unimaginable risks to save her community from chaos. A frenetic and madcap retelling of this incredible true story.
My Name is Rachel Corrie
Thursday 24 – Sunday 27 July 2025
23 years old and six thousand miles from home, Rachel Corrie stands between an armoured bulldozer and a family home.
From Olympia, Washington to the Gaza Strip, ‘My Name is Rachel Corrie’ captures the bold aspirations, blazing eloquence, and distinctive humor of a brave young writer.
Grace Helbig: Edinburgh Preview
Thursday 24 July 2025
Grace Helbig has amassed millions of views as an OG YouTube star. She’s built a career on quick wit, awkward charm, and heartfelt story telling. But at age 37 everything paused when she was suddenly diagnosed with breast cancer.
Frenzy
Thursday 24, Friday 25, Saturday 26 July 2025
A gloriously frenetic hour of physical comedy.
Bursting with all the whacky dynamism and giddy joy of a Roadrunner cartoon, like witnessing Mr Bean on Acid.
Hasan Al-Habib & Eric Rushton
Thursday 24 July 2025
Award-winning comedians Hasan Al-Habib and Eric Rushton each present work in progress previews of their upcoming Edinburgh Fringe shows.
COURIER
Friday 25 July 2025
Courier is a gripping dark comedy based on Piers’ time as a Deliveroo cyclist. This solo show dives into a fractured mind where isolation, identity, and obsession collide as the brakes come off.
JULIA. AFTER 1984.
Friday 25 & Saturday 26 July 2025
A torture survivor, Julia, returns to her interrogator, Thought Police officer O’Brien, only to trigger a cruel cat-and-mouse game that will endanger them both.
LOST THE PLOT- AN IMPROVISED MUSICAL
Friday 25 July 2025
You are invited to the premiere of the world’s newest musical!
Every line of dialogue, note on the piano and catchy chorus is fully improvised.
Why Won’t They Eat the Cake?
Saturday 26 July 2025
Why Won’t They Eat the Cake? is a raw exploration of the insecurities that shape our relationships. Because no matter how much you grow up, you can never really leave the past behind. Two girls. One cake. No party.
Why Won’t They Eat the Cake?
Saturday 26 July 2025
Why Won’t They Eat the Cake? is a raw exploration of the insecurities that shape our relationships. Because no matter how much you grow up, you can never really leave the past behind. Two girls. One cake. No party.
CARA AND KELLY ARE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER FOR LIFE
Saturday 26 July 2025
It’s 2013. Cara and Kelly are 14 and in the prime of their lives! Most importantly, they know they’ll be best friends forever. For life. But when things start to go wrong, they know exactly who to blame: a new face who changes everything.
BRETT BLAKE – LITTLE SCALLYWAG
Sunday 27 July 2025
In 2002 Brett Blake was charged with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct and assaulting a public officer in Perth, Australia. Is he guilty? You be the judge.
4’s A Crowd
Sunday 27 July 2025
4’s a Crowd (Or What Not to Do When Stuck in a Bunker During the Apocalypse) is a farcical fast-paced buckaroo, set in a not-so-fictional world where the rich’s power grows as their intelligence shrinks.
Bombshell
Sunday 27 & Monday 28 July 2025
BOMBSHELL follows three sparkly Vegas showgirls who put up environmentally-conscious cabaret acts in a rundown nightclub called Club Fistfight. Despite their best attempts at making global warming hot, the club is closing.
JESSICA FOSTEKEW: my tiny bits
Monday 28 July 2025
A mixture of stuff from Jess Fostekew – including brand new stuff, stuff she makes up on the night and loads of small bits that have never made it into bigger routines but which DESERVE THEIR PLACE IN THE SUN
All These Pretty Things
Monday 28 – Thursday 31 July 2025
A mixture of stuff from Jess Fostekew – including brand new stuff, stuff she makes up on the night and loads of small bits that have never made it into bigger routines but which DESERVE THEIR PLACE IN THE SUN
YOUTH IN FLAMES
Monday 28 July 2025
Chaos. Rebellion. A city on the brink. But Millie’s focused on living life to the full – who wouldn’t? Amid the 2019 Hong Kong protests, one girl searches for her sense of home whilst a city fights for its own identity.
The Players Of Diadon
Monday 28 & Tuesday 29 July 2025
In a far-off kingdom, King Diadon spends each night watching his life story performed by a company of players. But on performance number 18,338, he’s finally had enough – and gives them three days to come up with something new… or face the chop.