One of the biggest arts festivals on the planet, the Edinburgh Fringe is still hitting audiences’ funny bones almost 50 years on – even though, in 2026, they might seem harder to find than ever.
From international conflicts to climate change and threats of a British recession, it feels like we’re slapped with a barrage of bad news on a daily basis. However, the depressing state of the world won’t stop the comics at this year’s Fringe from looking for laughs.
“If anything, I feel like people want to laugh and go out and have a good time,” says Ania Magliano, who is performing her show Peach Fuzz at the Fringe. “I haven’t felt any more resistance.” The Saturday Night Live UK star is getting personal on stage, tackling everything from sex and boundaries to how “a lot of us are quite disconnected from our bodies”.
“Society can feel more isolated, with us spending a lot of time on our phones and feeling quite separate,” she continues. “It’s a good sign that there’s still a need for collective experience. You can obviously watch stand-up on your own at home now or on your phone, but if that were to replace live comedy, it would be a real loss. There’s something about being in the room with other people and enjoying something together that I think is really magical.”
open image in gallerySome comedians are quite literally knitting their audience members together, with Tom Towelling making his stand-up debut at the Fringe with his alternative take on community. The Brummie comic and teacher is drawing on his academic day job with Tom Towelling Teaches You To Knit – “sending up the idea of how, over an hour, we can build connections with each other” through song, dance and balls of wool.
“The main similarity between teaching and comedy is they are both about meeting crowds, audiences, and classes halfway,” he says. “I think people really like comedy shows when they feel drawn in and get involved.”
Plus, thanks to the rise of social media, audiences are ready to laugh – with fans flocking to the Fringe to see their favourite comics after being served their stand-up by TikTok and Instagram algorithms.
“Audiences are much more comedy savvy,” says Olga Koch, who has performed at the Fringe for a decade. Her current show, Fat Tom Cruise, sees her turn a hilarious dinner party anecdote into an hour of stand-up on an unrequited crush, fraternity hazing and gender equality.
“There’s the ubiquity of the YouTube special or a TikTok clip, but also more people know about comedy as a thing. They can actively go to see it and not just on TV, so I do think there is a huge and wonderful democratising force. You don’t have to be a comedy nerd to go see comedy anymore and it’s all over social media now.”
For Magliano, social media has also been a game-changer. “It’s been massively helpful because you can put your clips online,” she says. “And while the algorithm is obviously evil, it will send your clips to the exact target demographic who will enjoy them.”
While Magliano admits that sometimes the algorithm will send clips to demographics who “will comment hateful stuff and get really wound up” by a particular comic’s content, the social media grind is worth it just to find an audience that’s right for you. “When I was newer, it would send my clips to young women my age who related to the stuff I was talking about,” she continues. “It’s a good way to find them.”
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open image in gallerySo, are we all looking to comedy, now more than ever, for an escape in these uncertain times? Fringe veteran Pierre Novellie thinks it’s not that simple.
“People would say that back in 2016 with Brexit and Trump,” says the comic, whose show Okay, One More Then Bedtime, examines his “workaholic” tendencies and why he keeps returning to the Fringe. “By the time they’re in a comedy audience, they’re already halfway to not thinking about the outside world, which is useful for us.”
It’s also not always guaranteed that audiences want to completely disengage from the crumbling state of the world, with a number of shows tackling big issues like gender identity politics (Dee Allum: Raumdeuter), the Russia-Ukraine war (Sasha Nezlobin: I’m Fine) and artificial intelligence (Garrett Millerick: We Tried it Your Way).
open image in gallery“I’m a very avid comedy audience member and my two domains are either silly and nonsensical or something that’s really head-on, difficult and knotty,” Koch says. “I’m looking for extremes and I do think that’s reflective of all audiences who either want to completely smooth-brain it and have a giggly old time or talk about it.”
Ultimately, the Edinburgh Fringe is still a buzzing hub for all things live comedy – and only becoming more important with the artform starting to disappear from TV. Live at the Apollo, which launched the careers of Michael McIntyre, Mo Gilligan and Katherine Ryan among other comedians, was axed by the BBC last month after 22 years.
“That means there’s no stand-up on mainstream TV anymore,” Novellie says. “Yet, it’s the cheapest thing to film. You just need a camera, the stage and the audience. I don’t really understand what’s so incredibly complicated about it.”
“It’s a heartbreaking thing,” Koch adds, “when any sort of comedy platform disappears. It makes the world smaller.”
Magliano says that the comedy industry needs “big-scale funding” to be pumped into it for it to continue thriving – much like South Korea has invested in its flourishing K-pop market.
“British comedy is such an export and loved worldwide. You still need big portions of money going into it because it can open doors with what can be created – I love Nathan Fielding’s [American docu-comedy] The Rehearsal and it just shows that if you have a big budget, it really makes a difference for comedy and art,” she says.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is running in venues across the city until 31 August