![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/tim-harding-comedy-diary.jpg\")
In a special edition of his diary, reviewer Tim Harding gives a personal rundown of the best comedy he’s most looking forward to seeing at the Edinburgh Fringe, which kicks off next week.<\/strong><\/p>\nWell, I don\u2019t know about you (how could I?) but I\u2019ve been seeing so much comedy around London recently that I feel like I\u2019m at the Fringe already. If only the weather were a strange combination of hot, sunny, overcast and rainy. Ah wait.<\/p>\n
So that this intel-gathering doesn\u2019t go to waste, I hope you\u2019ll take seriously this list of the Most Anticipated Fringe Shows for 2025. I haven\u2019t seen all of these hours in full, and some of these comedians I\u2019ve never even laid eyes on, but my findings are backed and influenced by a shadowy international cartel of ageing oddballs who spend too much time in comedy clubs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Click here to see my predictions for last year<\/a>, and judge for yourself if I\u2019m to be trusted.<\/p>\n Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love<\/b><\/p>\n Despite seeing a decent preview from Will & Noah last week, this list is a little light on sketch and character comedy \u2013 some years it be like that. Ada and Bron, now Bafta-nominated for their TV short Peaked, are a promising prospect. A deeply silly and swooningly romantic pair of rockabilly soulmates, their doomed tragicomedy has been seriously impressing on mixed bill nights in London.<\/p>\n Recommended if you like: <\/b>Wild at Heart; The Delightful Sausage<\/p>\n Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love is at Pleasance Courtyard: Attic at 11pm<\/b><\/p>\n Alasdair Beckett-King: King of Crumbs<\/b><\/p>\n One of the very last young comics to get TV work before an iron curtain fell around panel shows, and a beloved creator of sketch comedy for the socials, ABK is underrated, even so.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u2019s more than just an accessible TV raconteur, although he can do that stuff very well too \u2013 all of his past shows have been clever, fine-boned and highly creative. Recently he\u2019s been off writing a series of children\u2019s books, so this is his first new show since 2022\u2019s Nevermore.<\/p>\n RIYL: <\/b>Sandi Toksvig; Dave Gorman<\/a><\/p>\n Alasdair Beckett-King: King of Crumbs is at Pleasance Dome: King Dome at 8pm until August 11.<\/b><\/p>\n Anna Hale: Control Freak<\/b><\/p>\n I first saw Anna Hale when she blew the roof off the 2024 Musical Comedy Awards and have remained excited ever since for her debut show, which will feature plenty of socially anxious extroversion and original songs.<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> Rachel Parris<\/a>; Tim Minchin<\/a><\/p>\n Anna Hale: Control Freak is at Pleasance Courtyard: Cellar at 5.30pm<\/b><\/p>\n Ayoade Bamgboye: Swings and Roundabouts<\/b><\/p>\n Challenging, slyly confrontational and difficult to get a bead on, Nigerian stand-up Ayoade Bamgboye wrongfoots the audience at every turn with comedy that slips fluidly between voices both figurative and literal. She was a regular at the Bill Murray\u2019s late, lamented Paddock<\/a> night, where she was one of my favourite discoveries.<\/p>\n RIYL: <\/b>Paul Chowdhry; Bridget Christie<\/a><\/p>\n Ayoade Bamgboye: Swings and Roundabouts is at Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker One at 4.45pm<\/b><\/p>\n Christopher MacArthur-Boyd: Howling at the Moon<\/b><\/p>\n Frankie Boyle\u2019s heir-apparent in Scottish comedy, CMB has been building a dedicated following through consistently hitting shows that get better every year. He might be sweeter and gentler than Boyle was as a young man, but he\u2019s just as funny, with a broad-base appeal that makes him one of the Fringe\u2019s most reliable options for an enjoyable night out.<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> Frankie Boyle<\/a>; Kevin Bridges<\/a><\/p>\n Christopher MacArthur-Boyd: Howling at the Moon is at Monkey Barrel 1 at 9pm<\/b><\/p>\n Dan Rath: Tropical Depression<\/b><\/p>\n Rath is another performer who\u2019s been building a following with nothing but the quality of his uniquely depressive material. This year he\u2019s finally at the Monkey Barrel where he belongs, and will be performing the show which Chortle editor Steve Bennett gave the exceedingly rare five stars to<\/a> at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Unbelievably hyped for Rathy this year, even more so than normal.<\/p>\n RIYL: <\/b>Pierre Novellie; Sam Campbell<\/a> if he was suicidal<\/p>\n Dan Rath: Tropical Depression is at Monkey Barrel Cabaret Voltaire 1 at 6.40pm<\/b><\/p>\n Johnny White Really-Really:<\/b> am\/pm<\/b><\/p>\n I bow to no one in my love of JWRR and I wouldn\u2019t be being honest with myself if I didn\u2019t say this was my single most anticipated show of the festival. Not to put any pressure on JWRR, whose balmy stand-up from the depths of the mirror dimension would shatter into refulgent crystals under the strain of too much press attention. This one\u2019s for the real heads.<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> A sorcerer; The Armando Iannucci<\/a> Shows<\/p>\n Johnny White Really-Really: am\/pm is at Monkey Barrel Hive 2 at 12.30pm<\/b><\/p>\n KC Shornima: Detachment Style<\/b><\/p>\n I know relatively little about KC Shornima, a visiting American comic who grew up in the midst of the Nepalese civil war, but have heard very good things from friends across the pond. Coming to Edinburgh with an Emmy nomination for her work on Saturday Night Live and support slots for Nate Bargatze and Shane Gillis, she\u2019s my pick of this year\u2019s US contingent.<\/p>\n RIYL<\/b>: Tig Notaro<\/a>; Jacqueline Novak<\/p>\n KC Shornima: Detachment Style is at Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker One at 6.10pm<\/b><\/p>\n Lachlan Werner:<\/b> WonderTwunk<\/b><\/p>\n Werner\u2019s debut Voices of Evil was a bizarre masterclass in ventriloquism and character comedy, where he presented himself as a conflicted twink under the thrall of a witch. Having come into his power at the end of that show, this new one heads far in the other direction, as Werner this time portrays Jack Hammer, old-school side-show attraction and \u2018the strongest boy in the world.\u2019<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> Nina Conti<\/a>; The Mighty Boosh<\/p>\n Lachlan Werner: WonderTwunk is at Pleasance Dome: 10 Dome at 9.50pm<\/b><\/p>\n Lou Wall:\u00a0<\/b> Breaking the Fifth Wall<\/b><\/p>\n With Rath, Lou Wall is one of only two acts to make this list for a second year in a row. I have a problem with seeking out new comedic experiences relentlessly, but it\u2019s impossible to get bored with Wall\u2019s hyperpop blast of music, visuals, jokes and personal revelation. This is comic opera for the TikTok age.<\/p>\n RIYL<\/b>: Bill Bailey<\/a>; Reuben Kaye<\/p>\n Lou Wall: Breaking the Fifth Wall is at Monkey Barrel 2 at 10pm<\/b><\/p>\n Molly McGuinness: Slob<\/b><\/p>\n Slob is another show that I technically don\u2019t know very much about, it\u2019s just sometimes as a critic you learn to interpret certain portents. Word has reached me from the north that this debut, directed by Chris Cantrill<\/a>, might be very very good. Tour support for Joe Lycett<\/a>, Sophie Duker<\/a> and Rachel Fairburn<\/a>, McGuinness was also a BBC New Comedy Awards finalist and has been getting excellent notices from Manchester.<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> Chris Cantrill<\/a>; Joe Lycett<\/a><\/p>\n Molly McGuinness: Slob is at Monkey Barrel: Cabaret Voltaire 2 at 2.55pm<\/b><\/p>\n Rosa Garland:<\/b> Primal Bog<\/b><\/p>\n Ever since having my world rocked by Rosa Garland at the South London bouffon night Gutter, I\u2019ve been keenly anticipating her debut Primal Bog, which promises to be a truly bonkers piece of queer comedy burlesque filled with nudity and A LOT of slime. Shock factor aside, Garland is a very talented writer and clown, distinguishing her from the many bog-standard (or should that be non-bog-standard?) cabarets that proliferate through Edinburgh during August.<\/p>\n RIYL: barrels of slime; Princess Fiona from Shrek<\/p>\n Rosa Garland: Primal Bog is at Assembly Roxy: Downstairs at 9.50pm<\/b><\/p>\n Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer<\/b><\/p>\n The single best preview I\u2019ve seen so far this year was Sam Nicoresti<\/a> doing their new show Baby Doomer at the Pleasance Theatre in London. After years of toiling away as a cult favourite, they came out as trans in their ornate masterpiece Wokeflake a few years ago. This new show tackles similar topics of trying to find your way as a trans person, but from a starting point of accessible, extremely snappy, gag-based storytelling. If any justice remains in the world, this show will be huge.<\/p>\n RIYL: <\/b>Suzy Eddie Izzard<\/a>; Daniel Kitson<\/a><\/p>\n Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer is at Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker Two at 5.40pm<\/b><\/p>\n Sharon Wanjohi:<\/b> In the House<\/b><\/p>\n A regular writer for Never Mind the Buzzcocks and finalist for both Funny Women and the Chortle Awards, Wanjohi arrives with one of the most widely anticipated stand-up debuts this year. With a mission to fix the world\u2019s problems one at a time, this will hopefully be a peppy and uplifting hour.<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> Amy Gledhill<\/a>; Sophie Duker<\/a><\/p>\n Sharon Wanjohi: In the House is at Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker Two at 6.55pm<\/b><\/p>\n Thanyia Moore:<\/b> August<\/b><\/p>\n Finally, another show that I\u2019m sensing positive vibrations about from afar. Moore has always been a stellar compere and performer but, although she\u2019s very well established by this point, she\u2019s never performed at the Fringe. That\u2019s partly because her planned debut was cancelled under dramatic medical circumstances \u2013 a story that will be revealed in this, her ACTUAL debut. Moore is one of the great modern all-rounders and always brings warmth to the stage \u2013 combine that with a gripping true story and you\u2019ve got a hit on your hands.<\/p>\n RIYL:<\/b> Desiree Burch<\/a>; Zoe Lyons<\/a><\/p>\n Thanyia Moore: August is at Pleasance Courtyard: Upstairs at 5.40pm<\/b><\/p>\n Published: 25 Jul 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tim Harding reveals his comedy tips In a special edition of his diary, reviewer Tim Harding gives a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,14057,14059,14061,14060,1102,4884,712,16,14058,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-291999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chortle","10":"tag-comedy-clubs","11":"tag-comedy-news","12":"tag-comedy-review","13":"tag-edinburgh","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-uk-comedy-guide","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114916861233334166","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}