Did you not catch the Fringe this year? Don’t worry – here is your guide to catching up via podcasts! This was an exciting year for Fringe both in real life and in the world of podcasting. Some streams took off in August to bring you the best of Fringe coverage; some brilliant podcasts graced Edinburgh this year, and some of the festival’s top comedians record year round, giving you the perfect chance to glimpse their genius after the festival season.
Fresh Fringe
The university radio station we know and love, Fresh Air, kicked it up a notch during August with daily coordinated Fringe coverage. A dedicated team of interviewers laughed with and interrogated puppeteers, comedians, actors and drag queens live on air throughout the festival and their student-personalised antics are available at mixcloud.com.
Funny From the Fringe
Comedian Phil Ellis recorded 24 days of features, news and interviews all focused on the top Fringe comedy. The day to day details are anything but mundane through Ellis’s unique comic lens, and the full power of the BBC brings the most talked about comedians to his door for discussion.
My Dad Wrote a Porno
One of Gilded Balloon’s quickest shows to sell out was the two days of live recording from My Dad Wrote a Porno. This phenomenal podcast had audiences roaring with laughter, and it is sweeping the nation. The premise is outrageous; an aging father starts to write some of the world’s worst pornographic novels, and his son copes by reading it out loud to his two best friends and thousands of eager listeners. Laugh along as the hosts mock the perverse details, or enjoy the schadenfreude – because at least it’s not your dad.
Carl Donnelly & Chris Martin
These two comedians and their guests turn headlines and day-to-day shenanigans into comedy gold all year round, but this Fringe it was good enough for people to go into Hive just to hear their live recordings. Aside from running critically acclaimed Fringe shows of their own, both comedians have plenty of material leftover for this side-splitting hour-long podcast.
The Comedian’s Comedian Podcast
If you love stand-up so much that you’re thinking about giving it a go yourself, or you just have any interest in comedians themselves, this is the podcast for you. Some of the world’s best comedians talk about how they got into comedy, describing how they turn their small thoughts and ordinary lives into beyond-hilarious content. This year’s host Stuart Goldsmith catches Andy Daly during the Fringe, but check out past episodes to see how Fringe epics like Rhys Nicholson, Phil Wang, and Hannah Gadsby got to where they were this August.
The Guilty Feminist
Deborah Frances-White and guests get into the gritty details of feminism, warts and all. This year they brought their guilt, self-doubt, insecurities and hopes to Edinburgh where they recorded an episode live for Underbelly. Listen to them complicate dominant narratives in our own city, or check out Frances-White’s episode with Fringe favourite Pippa Evans released just before her stellar August run at Pleasance.
Image: Kim Traynor @ Wikimedia Commons
