40 Fun Facts About Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Which hit BBC comedy began as Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe?

Fleabag won a Fringe First award on its Edinburgh debut, and its creator was named the first-ever President of the Fringe Society in 2021.

Which Netflix drama did Richard Gadd adapt from the one-man show he premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe?

Baby Reindeer went on to win six Emmys, with Gadd winning for both his writing and his lead performance.

Which TV game show did comedian Alex Horne first stage as a live show at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe?

Taskmaster grew out of Horne's envy of his close friend Tim Key, who had won the Edinburgh Comedy Award the year before.

Which hit pop musical was first staged by Cambridge University students at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe?

Six, the pop musical about Henry VIII's wives, sold out its student run and went on to the West End and Broadway, despite winning no major awards at the Fringe.

Underbelly's best-known Edinburgh Fringe venue is a giant purple inflatable shaped like which upside-down animal?

A cow is the mascot of every Underbelly venue, and the upside-down tent, the Udderbelly, later lent its name to a festival on London's South Bank.

Which French mineral water brand sponsored the Edinburgh Fringe's top comedy prize from 1981 until 2005?

Perrier created the award to support young talent, with a first prize of £1,000; past winners are now often said to have won 'the Eddie'.

Which future double Oscar winner was in the Cambridge Footlights cast that won the first Edinburgh Comedy Award in 1981?

Emma Thompson shared that first award with castmates Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery for a revue called The Cellar Tapes.

The Edinburgh Fringe began in 1947 when eight theatre companies did what at the first Edinburgh International Festival?

Turned up uninvited sums it up: with the city's major venues taken by the official festival, the eight troupes took over smaller, alternative halls.

Which American talk show host inspired a hit 2002 Edinburgh Fringe musical co-written by comedian Stewart Lee?

Jerry Springer saw the opera bearing his name in Edinburgh and said he wished he had thought of it himself; it later won four Olivier Awards.

Which historic Edinburgh street, home to the Fringe Shop, fills with buskers and flyering performers during the Fringe?

The Royal Mile hosts the Fringe's daily Street Events, and the stretch beside St Giles' Cathedral is where casts hand out flyers and perform scenes.

In which month does the Edinburgh Festival Fringe fill the Scottish capital with thousands of shows every year?

August is also when the International Festival and the Military Tattoo take place, and since 1983 they have jointly promoted Edinburgh as 'The Festival City'.

What does it mean that the Edinburgh Fringe is an 'unjuried' festival, a principle dating from its 1947 origins?

Anyone may take part because there is no selection committee: the Fringe Society's founding constitution set out a policy of not vetting or censoring shows.

Which playwright's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead had its first full staging at the 1966 Edinburgh Fringe?

Tom Stoppard wrote it around two minor courtiers from Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the Oxford Theatre Group gave the expanded version its debut.

Which percussion show played on everyday objects premiered at the Assembly Rooms during the 1991 Edinburgh Fringe?

Stomp was created in Brighton by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, and it won a Best of the Fringe award on its Edinburgh premiere.

Which character comedian won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 1999 after three straight years as a losing nominee?

Al Murray first played his Pub Landlord character at the 1994 Fringe, in a show called Pub Internationale.

Which future Phoenix Nights star won So You Think You're Funny, the Edinburgh Fringe's new-act contest, in 1997?

Peter Kay came back a year later for his first proper stand-up run at the Fringe and was nominated for its top comedy award.

Which Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt stage show won Best Newcomer at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe?

The Mighty Boosh was followed to Edinburgh by Arctic Boosh and Autoboosh, and the pair had first performed together in a Stewart Lee show at the 1997 Fringe.

Which future US late-night host broke through at the 1986 Edinburgh Fringe as a character called Bing Hitler?

Craig Ferguson devised the act as a send-up of over-patriotic Scottish folk singers, borrowing the stage name from Peter Capaldi.

Which Australian comedian shared the 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Nanette, a show later filmed for Netflix?

Hannah Gadsby tied with John Robins, the first time the main prize had ever been split between two shows.

Which New Zealand comedian won the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Horndog, three years before her romcom Starstruck?

Rose Matafeo was the first New Zealander to win the award, which came with a £10,000 prize.

Which newspaper has handed out Fringe First awards for new plays at the Edinburgh Fringe since 1973?

The Scotsman launched the awards through its arts editor Allen Wright to encourage new theatre writing, and once aimed to review every show on the Fringe.

Which National Theatre of Scotland play about soldiers in Iraq premiered in a drill hall at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe?

Black Watch was built by writer Gregory Burke from interviews with former soldiers of the regiment, and went on to win four Olivier Awards.

Which Australian musical comedian won Best Newcomer at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe, before composing Matilda the Musical?

Tim Minchin won with Darkside, the show that had already made his name at that year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Which Hollywood actor caught chickenpox while starring in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe?

Christian Slater's illness was only one setback: the production's original director quit before it opened, yet the show still moved on to London's West End.

Which legal drama was staged at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe with stand-up comedians such as Bill Bailey in the cast?

12 Angry Men cast Irish comic Owen O'Neill in the Henry Fonda role of Juror number eight, alongside Stephen Frost and Phil Nichol.

Which Grumpy Old Women star became the first solo woman to win the Edinburgh Fringe's top comedy award, in 1995?

Jenny Eclair won with a show called Prozac and Tantrums, and no other solo woman took the prize for another ten years.

Which Edinburgh Fringe comedy venue, founded by Karen Koren in 1986, lost its original Cowgate home to a fire in 2002?

Gilded Balloon moved its Fringe base to Teviot Row House after the blaze; a 3am licence had made the old site the comedians' late-night haunt.

Which Edinburgh Fringe arts venue opened in 2011 in the former home of the city's Royal (Dick) veterinary school?

Summerhall stands on a site first used by a family brewery in the 1710s; the vet college moved in two centuries later, in 1916.

Which landmark hosted a one-off 6,000-seat Ricky Gervais stand-up show during the 2007 Fringe?

Edinburgh Castle already had the Tattoo's seating in place; Gervais was accused of drawing audiences away from smaller shows and gave the profits to a cancer charity.

Which former doctor won the very first Best Newcomer prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, in 1992?

Harry Hill's win was his breakthrough, and the radio series Harry Hill's Fruit Corner followed a year later.

Which Scottish playwright and journalist is credited with coining the name of the Edinburgh Fringe in 1948?

Robert Kemp wrote that private enterprise was springing up around the edge of the official festival's drama, and joked that locals would not be at home in the evenings.

Which Edinburgh Fringe venue, housed in a former church, is the oldest student-run theatre in the United Kingdom?

Bedlam takes its name from an asylum that once stood nearby, and Edinburgh University's student company hosts up to eight Fringe shows a day there.

Which Edinburgh Fringe venue, founded in a former Lawnmarket brothel, calls itself Scotland's new writing theatre?

The Traverse began as a theatre club in 1963, and at only its second performance the lead actress was accidentally stabbed on stage.

Which spoof horror author, created by Matthew Holness, fronted a winner of the Edinburgh Fringe's top comedy award?

Garth Marenghi's Netherhead took the prize, after which its creators baffled the press by refusing to speak out of character or give their real names.

Which American comedian, an early YouTube star, won the Edinburgh Comedy Awards' Panel Prize with his 2010 Fringe debut?

Bo Burnham was also shortlisted for the main prize with Words, Words, Words, and picked up a Malcolm Hardee award as the act most likely to make a million quid.

Which West Bromwich-born comedian beat Jack Dee and Eddie Izzard to the Edinburgh Fringe's top comedy award in 1991?

Frank Skinner won at the Pleasance, and returned to the same venue in 2007 during his first stand-up tour in ten years.

Which comedian was the first to win Best Newcomer and then the main Edinburgh Comedy Award in consecutive years?

John Kearns took the newcomer prize in 2013 with a show on the Free Fringe, the first year all three awards went to venues outside the 'big four'.

Which Canadian city is home to North America's oldest fringe theatre festival, founded in 1982 on Edinburgh's model?

Edmonton's festival is also the continent's biggest by ticket sales, and it was a founding member of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals.

Which pun-loving comedian won the Edinburgh Fringe's funniest joke award in both 2010 and 2014?

Tim Vine was also runner-up in each of the three years between, and once held the world record for the most jokes told in an hour, with 499.

Which Australian city's Fringe, begun in 1960, has long ranked second in size only to Edinburgh's?

Adelaide briefly overtook its Scottish inspiration in 2020 and 2021, when South Australia was less badly hit by the pandemic than most places.