John Cleese is just one of the comedy giants discovered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

[Image credit: Lord Biro]

Graham Chapman & John Cleese

Graham Chapman & John Cleese later went on to become founding members of Monty Python. They first performed in Edinburgh in the early 1960s with a revue by the name of A Clump of Plinths. Chapman died in 1989 aged just 48 and fittingly it was John Cleese who read his hilarious eulogy. Here we have a clip from Monty Python’s Flying Circus to commemorate these two great comedy legends who gained initial notoriety at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Rowan Atkinson

Rowan Atkinson the lovable rubber faced creator of Mr. Bean, co-creator of (and actor in) Blackadder also got his first critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1976. Atkinson’s facial expressions are often better at conveying a message than words ever could, his comic timing is impeccable as the following clip shows:

Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie

Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie are without doubt two globally loved actors and comedians. Fry & Laurie won the very first Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe of 1981 (as part of Cambridge Footlights along with Tony Slattery, Emma Thompson, Penny Dwyer and Paul Shearer). They have performed together often in such series as The Young Ones, Blackadder, A bit of Fry & Laurie and Jeeves & Wooster.

Hugh Laurie is now best known for his central role in House while Stephen Fry hosts the incredibly successful quiz show QI.

The clip that follows shows their comedic genius in A bit of Fry & Laurie

Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan also won the Perrier Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1992. In Britain he’s possibly most loved for the characters Paul Calf and Alan Partridge, whilst our American readers are more likely to know him from films such as Night at the Museum or Tropic Thunder. The clip we have selected to share with you is his first TV appearance in the role of student-bashing, heavy-drinking, smoking and swearing super star Paul Calf.

The League Of Gentlemen

The League of Gentlemen started as a stage show in 1994, in 1997 they too won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In the same year their show aired on BBC Radio 4 before getting televised in 1999. The League of Gentlemen is a dark comedy based around the village of Royston Vasey which is home to some very strange characters indeed…

Rory Bremner

Rory Bremner is the only one of our comedy legends to have both been born in Edinburgh and to have made it big at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Best known in the UK for his satirical impressions of politicians and celebrities, Bremner is a master of mimicry. His command of foreign languages may not be so well known though, in this clip he does an impression of George W. Bush in French:

Al Murray

Al Murray is yet another Perrier Award winner in our collection here, though he was short listed in 1996, 1997, 1998 before finally winning the prestigious award in 1999. He is famed for the xenophopic character The Pub Landlord who takes no prisoners in his quest to make certain everyone understands the greatness of Great Britain. In this clip he takes on America…

Rich Hall

Rich Hall is an American comedian who has a great following in the UK, appearing in his own shows as well as numerous panel shows. Hall also won the Perrier Award in 2000 and was short listed in 1996 along with Al Murray. Hall is distinguished as having won the most number of times on Stephen Fry’s quiz show QI. He has spent many years in London and, as he tells in this clip, has met the Queen:

• 31,320 performances
• 2,088 different shows
• 247 venues

If the festival actually ran every day of the month, that would have been 43.5 shows *every* hour of the day, 24 hours a day, for an entire month. Thus it goes without saying that Edinburgh can feel slightly crowded during the festival. Locals have quickly learned that to enjoy it, you must embrace it. So, here are a few tips for diving in and making the most of your Edinburgh Fringe Festival experience.

[Image credit: alui0000]

See a “free” show on the Royal Mile

. All day and nearly all night, the centre of the Royal Mile near the Fringe Box Office you’ll find performers showing off street acts and sometimes you’ll catch snippets of the most popular shows. The is the daytime epicentre of the Fringe scene and so it’s got a fantastic vibe that is a must-see.

Just smile and take one of the flyers. A word of warning in advance: from the time you disembark from the airport bus until you check back in for you flight home, you’ll have a friendly University student stuffing a brochure or postcard in your face for one play or another. It will get annoying after awhile. But smile, and have a look at it – it might just be your favourite show of the festival.

[Image credit: DNQA]

Go Check Out The Talent At The Half Price Tent

This is a classic experience in itself and it’s where you’ll find the skint locals hoping to catch a good show on sale. In the afternoon, the Fringe releases seats for shows that aren’t sold out, and you can pick them up 2-for-1 at the sales tent along Princes Street just above Waverley mall. Don’t forget your Fringe programme – you’ll see plenty of people out front, scouring the titles and hoping to find a diamond in the rough.

Dress in layers. Edinburgh weather is fickle, at best, even in August – which thankfully has some of the best weather of the year. But it can still pour rain and be hot and sunny on the same day, so dress in layers and be prepared for anything. One particularly important point to make is to dress appropriately for your Fringe show; many performances are held in makeshift venues which aren’t designed for a hundred people, loads of light equipment, and all the sound electronic equipment. This usually means you’ll find yourself wilting in an unbearably hot room for an hour’s performance.

Have a pub meal – so you can enjoy a drink while you wait. They say Edinburgh has the most restaurants per capita than any city in the UK, but I’m not sure who counted. Regardless, during the Festival, restaurants bulge with diners and struggle to cope. Venues who take reservations stop taking them during August, so you’ll just have to wait in the queue for a seat. So I guess you go enjoy a pub meal instead, so you can have a drink while you wait (and sometimes these places are slightly less busy than the restaurants, if you go early). Good pubs for food include Bobby’s Bar in the Old Town and the Queens Arms in the New Town. If you go to the trendy neighbourhood of Stockbridge, you’ll find yourself only with locals who know that there are few venues in the area and thus few tourists.

Stay out all night because you can. The Edinburgh licensing laws allows pubs and clubs to say open pretty late – or should we say early – during the festival. This means you can literally party all night long, and so you should, because everyone else will be. A hot spot is the clubs on the Cowgate, which often have performers heading in from the nearby venues. Last year’s top drinking destination was the centre of George Square, but since the Spiegeltent will not be returning this year, it remains to be seen where the revellers will head.

[Image credit: theedinburghblog]