COMEDY
BILL BAILEY: PART TROLL
The shaggy-haired captain from Never Mind the Buzzcocks with guitar-based stand-up.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-4 & 6-8, £5-£12.50 (0131-556 6550)
JO BRAND
Britain’s most witheringly funny female comic exorcises the ghost of Celebrity Fame Academy.
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 2-3 & 5-8, £12-£13 (0131-226 2428)
ROB BRYDON — MARION AND GEOFF
Brydon makes his Fringe debut as the cuckolded Welsh cabbie Keith Barrat.
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 3-8, £11-£12 (0131-226 2428)
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JASON BYRNE
Energetic, risk-taking genius from the hottest draw at the Fringe.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-4 & 6-8, £5-£12 (0131-556 6550)
JIMMY CARR: CHARM OFFENSIVE
Clever puns and dead-eyed observations.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-4 & 6-8, £9.50-£10.50 (0131-556 6550)
NINA CONTI AND MICKY FLANAGAN
The hilarious ventriloquist shares a bill with the rumbunctious Flanagan.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-4 & 6-8, £9.50-£10.50 (0131-556 6550)
SIMON EVANS
Razor-sharp observations make Evans one of the most consistently entertaining acts at the Festival.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-5 & 7-8, £9.50-£10.50 (0131-556 6550)
FASCINATING AIDA — ONE LAST FLUTTER
A savage satirical swansong for the plummy-voiced cabaret trio.
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 5-8, £11-12 (0131-226 2428)
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DAVE GORMAN’S GOOGLEWHACK ADVENTURE
The internet’s most popular search engine is the inspiration for a hyperactive comedic quest.
George Square Theatre, George Square, Aug 2-8 (0131-662 8740)
PHIL KAY
Freewheeling lunacy from one of the circuit’s most unpredictable operators.
Metro Gilded Balloon Teviot, 5/2 Bristol Square, Aug 2-8, £9.50-£10.50 (0131-226 2151)
JEFF MIRZA — WALKING WITH MUSLIMS
The star of Bend in Like Beckham explores the foibles of Islam.
Smirnoff Underbelly, Cowgate, Aug 2-8, £8.50-£9.50 (0870-745 3083)
MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS
Les Spectacles Rémy Renoux performs sketches by Cleese and company in French, with subtitles.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-8, £10.50-£11.50 (0131-556 6550)
OSAMA LIKES IT HOT
Comedy terrorism courtesy of Prince William’s infamous gatecrasher.
Smirnoff Underbelly, Cowgate, Aug 2-8, £6.50-£7.50 (0870-745 3083)
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SIMON MUNNERY: TRILOGY
One of British comedy’s biggest brains returns with an eccentric three-parter.
The Stand Comedy Club, 5 York Place, Aug 2-8, £7 (0131-558 7272)
ROSS NOBLE — UNREAL TIME
Hair-brained improvisation and more polished gags.
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 5-8, £10-£15 (0131-226 2428)
JANET STREET-PORTER
Join the journalist, broadcaster and rambler for an evening of bitching, backstabbing and colourful rants (see my cultural life).
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 2-8, £5 (0131-226 2428)
JASON JOHN WHITEHEAD
The Canadian’s slick routines and deft observations made his shows a complete sell-out in 2002.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 2-5 & 7-8, £9.50-£10.50 (0131-556 6550)
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THEATRE
DARK EARTH
David Harrower’s comedy of manners puts the spotlight on Scotland.
Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, Aug 2-3 & 5-8, £14 (0131-228 1404)
ENGLISH JOURNEYS
Steven Waters’s play reveals the intimate recollections of an estranged couple as they drive across Britain.
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The Pleasance, Aug 3-4 & 6-8, £4-£7 (0131-556 6550)
I EAT PEOPLE LIKE YOU FOR BREAKFAST
Steven Allen Green’s zig-zagging life story, from a painful childhood in Beverly Hills to an ill-fated meeting with Jerry Lewis.
Metro Gilded Balloon The Venue, Aug 2-8, £12-£13 (0131-226 2151)
12 ANGRY MEN
Guy Masterson directs Bill Bailey, Stephen Frost and others in Reginald Rose’s Pulitzer prize-winning jury drama. Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 2-8, £12-£13 (0131-226 2428)
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EXHIBITIONS
INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
The 141st instalment of this annual exhibition features more than 200 prints by photographers from all over the globe. The Edinburgh Photographic Exhibition Centre, 68 Great King St, Aug 3-8, £2.50 (0131-226 0000)
JON SCHUELER: TO THE NORTH
A large-scale retrospective of the New York painter, much of whose work was inspired by visits to Scotland.
City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Aug 2-8, free (0131-529 3993)
MONET: THE SEINE AND THE SEA
Eighty landscapes feature in this exclusive new show (see Amber Cowan’s choice).
Royal Scottish Academy Building, The Mound, Aug 6-8, £8.50 (0131-624 6200)
UNLV FILMAKERS SHOWCASE
A collection of digital shorts by the students and faculty from the Department of Film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The Garage, Grindlay St Court, Aug 3-8 (not Mon), £5 (0131-221 9009)
POP
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
A riot of punk, funk and ecstastic harmonies from the British band of the moment.
The Queen’s Hall, Clerk St, Aug 7, £15 (0131-668 2019)
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
Textured, Jesus and Mary Chain-style rock from the swaggering San Franciscans.
The Liquid Room, 9 Victoria Street, Aug 2, £15 (0870-169 0100)
GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI
The Camarthen quintet play a whimsical blend of progressive pyschedelia and pop.
The Liquid Room, 9 Victoria Street, Aug 4, £8 (0870-169 0100)
TOM McRAE
The singer-songwriter has sweetened his sound, but retains a blast of fire in his belly.
The Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, Aug 5, £12.50 (0131-668 2019)
DANCE & PHYSICAL THEATRE
DEREVO — ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
The darlings of last year’s Festival return from St Petersburg with more anarchic physical theatre.
Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Aug 4-6 & 8, £5-£12 (0131-226 2428)
LOFT — NATS NUS DANSA
A solo dancer confronts his own video image in the latest inventive offering from Barcelona’s leading company.
St Stephens, St Stephen Street, Aug 7-8, £10 (0131-558 3853)
PANDORA 88
Two men who are trapped in a box respond with imaginative results in a show dedicated to Brian Keenan and Stanley Kubrick.
St Stephens, St Stephen Street, Aug 2-3 & 7-8, £10 (0131-558 3853)