Five Comedians Who Started At Edinburgh Fringe Festival

01 August 2025

Those who love their comedy, or perhaps want to make it in comedy, know that the holy grail of making that happen - or at least, taking a step closer to making that happen - is to head up to the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Held every year during the first three weeks of August, since its inception in 1947, it is the world's largest performing arts festival, with a programme boasting theatre, dance, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, music, spoken word, exhibitions and other cultural events. Only the Olympic Games and the World Cup surpass it in terms of attendance and interest.

But comedy is something the festival has long been associated with, and has proven the springboard for some of our finest funny men and women that have gone on to make their mark on TV, radio and film.

Here, we profile just five of our favourite comedians who will forever owe a debt of gratitude to the Edinburgh Fringe…

1. Stephen Fry

People tend to forget that it was in comedy where actor, broadcaster, writer, narrator and ambassador for mental health, Stephen Fry, started out. Whilst studying at University of Cambridge, he was part of the now legendary Footlights group, which had famously birthed the Monty Python team (more on whom shortly), and in his era, also included his future comedy partner, Hugh Laurie, and their mutual friend, the now Dame Emma Thompson.

He took his first play, Latin! Or Tobacco for Boys, up to the Fringe Festival in 1980, where it won a Fringe First prize. This of course, subsequently led to his prolific comedy career on television, most memorably in Alfresco, A Bit Of Fry And Laurie and Blackadder, which in turn led to his best known roles in films such as The Good Father opposite Anthony Hopkins, and the eponymous Peter in Peter's Friends, produced by Kenneth Branagh.

2. John Cleese

As mentioned above, the Footlights group was also the genesis of what became Monty Python. One of its best known team members is, of course, John Cleese. Prior to their formation in 1969, he starred in a Footlights revue at the Fringe Festival in 1963 that he also co-wrote the script for, called A Clump Of Plinths, which later became the Cambridge Circus.

It was ultimately the breeding ground for his work on The Frost Report as a scriptwriter and performer, then of course Monty Python's Flying Circus alongside Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, and the big screen films Monty Python and The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, before he and his then wife, Connie Booth, created and starred in the iconic BBC sitcom classic Fawlty Towers in 1975, which topped the list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes compiled by the BFI in 2000.

3. Miranda Hart

One lady who has certainly had a "such fun" career as a result of the Edinburgh Fringe in recent years, is Miranda Hart. After completing a postgraduate course in acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, she first took a solo show up to the Fringe in 2002 (the late June Whitfield sent her a cheque for £10,000 to fund her performances), some of the material of which was the genesis for later ventures of hers.

This then led to guest appearances on shows such as Absolutely Fabulous, The Vicar Of Dibley, Not Going Out and Smack The Pony. All the while, she pitched a comedy show to the BBC in 2004 - a read through of which, one Jennifer Saunders was present at. The rest, as they say, is history. Her eponymous joke shop-set sitcom, Miranda, first aired in 2009, went onto win a stack of awards and became one of the most successful sitcoms ever on the BBC.

4. Noel Fielding

One man who has single-handedly kept the flag waving for the more absurd side of comedy is Noel Fielding. First making the pilgrimage to Edinburgh in 1992 whilst he was still at university (Buckinghamshire College), he continued to perform stand-up there after he graduated in 1995. Two years later, he met Julian Barratt, and after appearing together at the Fringe in Stuart Lee's show Moby Dick and King Dong in 1997, their own comedic partnership, known as The Mighty Boosh, was born.

That subsequently became a six-part radio series for BBC London Live, before they progressed to a highly acclaimed three series run on BBC Three from 2004 - 2007, as well as regular appearances on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Big Fat Quiz of the Year and his own series, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, for E4. He also, of course, now hosts The Great British Bake Off with Alison Hammond for Channel 4.

5. Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Although she started out in theatre, specifically in plays like Noel Coward's Hay Fever, Phoebe Waller-Bridge soon pivoted to comedy and, thanks to her turn at Edinburgh Fringe in 2013, following a showcase performance at the London Storytelling Festival in 2012, found her breakthrough to success, with what would go onto become her BAFTA and Emmy Award winning comedy-drama series for BBC Two, Fleabag.

She has since gone onto become President of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Society in 2021, and in 2023, she launched a new £100,000 fund, providing £2,000 bursaries for up to 50 performers who are looking to put on their shows at the festival, which she has cited as being her opportunity to reduce barriers and "pay it forward to the creatives of tomorrow and contribute to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to take their work to this amazing festival."

Why not visit our Theatre Tickets page to see some of the hilarious comedy nights and shows we have available to book at venues nationwide? Or, if you happen to be heading up to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival soon (you lucky thing), why not visit our Edinburgh Experience Days page to see what else you can book to enjoy whilst you’re there?

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Also be sure to take a look at our Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 10 Essential Stats infographic!