The new Fringe cabaret takes to the virtual world this Friday.
The hour long show will be livestreamed and tickets for the broadcast are available now.
The line up includes AJ Bell Fringe on Friday – is being livestreamed, with unique performances from David O’Doherty, Tiff Stevenson, Magical Bones, Erika Ehler, Lost Voice Guy, Craig Hill, Elaine Davidson, Marcel Lucont, Diane Chorley and Christopher MacArthur Boyd.
Hosted by Suzi Ruffell, you will have until Monday 10 August to watch online.
Suzi Ruffell, Comedian and Fringe on Friday host, said: “It’s not August without a Fringe, and I’m so pleased to help bring the festival back to life for a special hour this Friday. I can’t wait to share these brilliant performances with you – with every penny going to creatives who have felt the impact of lockdown. So grab a ticket, pretend you’re in the back room of a venue and enjoy. “
Hilary Goodfellow (Lucky Cat) and Michael Fraser, Co-Creative Producers said:“Although impossible to recreate the bustling queues, the air of anticipation and atmosphere of a packed Fringe venue, the show aims to create an enthralling digital cabaret experience to entertain and provide a high-octane hour of respite from the unprecedented and relentless grimness of 2020 thus far.”
There will be more shows on 14,21 and 28 August with Nigel Ng, Jayde Adams and Courtney Act hosting.
AJ Bell Fringe on Friday is a key part of the FringeMakers campaign, a Fringe-wide fundraising initiative that has been developed in partnership with Crowdfunder.
This new, zero-fee platform is designed to help Fringe artists and venues raise vital funds in the absence of a physical festival in 2020. Artists and venues keep 100% of the proceeds from tickets they sell, plus any donations made to their own campaigns. You can find more detail – including a range of artist and venue fundraising campaigns – by visiting the FringeMakers website here.
The broadcast has been brought to life by Scotland-based cultural producers Lucky Cat and Michael Fraser, and production company Inner Ear.
This week’s line up:
Suzi Ruffell: The working-class comedian of her generation, Suzi Ruffell has had five sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival with stand-up shows racking up critical acclaim from reviewers and audiences alike.
In 2018 Ruffell recorded and released her show Keeping It Classy for Live From The BBC, with a clip gaining over 32 million views on Facebook. Best known for her appearances on Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week, The Jonathan Ross Show, Roast Battle, Ultimate Worrier, Hypothetical, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, The Comedy Bus, Stand Up Central, Harry Hill’s ClubNite and Suzi Ruffell Live From The Comedy Store.
A regular on BBC Radio 4 shows including News Quiz and The Now Show, Ruffell also co-hosts the hilarious hit podcast ‘Like Minded Friends’ with Tom Allen. 2020 now sees Suzi hosting a brand-new radio show on BBC Radio 2 called Explicable Me, as well as launching her own podcast series, OUT with Suzi Ruffell, which celebrates the lives of LGBT+ people and coming out through interviews with star studded guests. Suzi continues on her UK-wide tour with Dance Like Everyone’s Watching, which was in the top ten best reviewed shows of the Edinburgh Festival in 2019.
David O’Doherty: David O’Doherty is an award-winning comedian, author and musician. David first stepped on stage at Dublin’s Comedy Cellar in 1998. In 1999 he won So You Think You’re Funny an award for new comedians and was runner-up in the BBC New Comedy Awards. Nominated for best newcomer in 2000 for his show The Story of the Boy Who Saved Comedy, David went on to win the main Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2008 for Let’s Comedy. David has returned to the festival for the 11 years since, receiving widespread and cementing his reputation as one of the most consistently funny performers at the Fringe. August 2019 saw David bring his 19th solo stand-up show, Ultrasound, to the festival.
David regularly takes his Fringe hits on the road and played his latest tour show, YOU HAVE TO LAUGH, to packed houses across the UK and Ireland. David has also performed stand-up around the world at festivals in Melbourne, Montreal, New York, Prague, Adelaide, Iceland and Wellington.
A TV regular, David made his stand-up debut on BBC2’s Live At The Apollo in 2017. David’s other television appearances include 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Would I Lie To You? and The Alternative Comedy Experience. He has hosted Never Mind The Buzzcocks and made appearances on shows such as QI, Dave’s One Night Stand and Have I Got News For You.
Tiff Stevenson: Tiff Stevenson is an awarding winning stand up comedian, actor and writer, whose thought provoking comedy and satire has played to audiences worldwide from London, Sydney, Montreal, New York, Shanghai and beyond.
As an actress she has appeared in ground breaking shows such as The Office, White Gold, & and as a series regular on hit shows such as BAFTA winning People Just Do Nothing (BBC & Netflix) & Game Face (E4/Hulu). On her role in People Just Do Nothing the Independent newspaper said ‘Character actor and stand-up comedian Tiff Stevenson,has given the show multiple new layers’. She also played the lead in the European premiere of Eric Bogosian’s seminal play Talk Radio at the Edinburgh Festival.
As a stand up and TV personality Tiff is a regular on British TV shows such as Drunk History, Mock The Week , 8 out of 10 cats, The Apprentice-You’re Fired, The Blame Game & This Week . In 2015 Tiff became the UK & European correspondent on Logie winning Australian TV show The Weekly. Of her work on the latter the Sydney Herald said ‘The addition of UK and US correspondents Tiffany Stevenson and Wyatt Cenac has been a bonus’.
Magical Bones: Considered one of the most exciting talents to emerge from the UK Magic scene in years, Magical Bones has been entertaining audiences globally for over a decade. Starting out his career as a professional hip-hop dancer, he was given the nickname ‘Bones’ because of his hard-hitting dance style. An exceptionally skilled break-dancer and a gifted showman, Bones established himself as one of the most respected and prominent figures within the UK hip-hop dance scene.
He has worked with globally recognised artists including Madonna, Alicia Keys and Plan B, and is the featured dancer in the music video of Mint Royals’ No. 1 smash hit single, ‘Singing In the Rain’. Now focusing on his career as a magician, Bones has starred in the TV magic series, Around the World in 80 Tricks, which has been shown in over 60 million homes across the world. He regularly tours internationally with the hit West End magic show, IMPOSSIBLE, was selected as the closing act of the prestigious BAFTA Awards and has had a sold-out run at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival in 2019.
2020 marks a new chapter in Bones’ trajectory as he headlines his first National UK Tour, Black Magic, plus during lock down an innovative run of the interactive, live, online magic experience A Kind Of Magic which he will perform an extract from in this week’s opening Fringe show.
Erika Ehler: Erika’s razor-sharp, dark and visceral writing paired with precise delivery makes her one of the most exciting young comedians on the circuit. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Erika now lives in the UK after completing the Comedy Writing and Performance Program at Salford University.
In 2019, she was crowned winner of the Chortle Student Comedy Award, was the recipient of the Mike Craig Comedy Award, and the Hot Water Roast Battle Champion. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, Latitude Festival, and the Toronto Sketch Festival. Erika has recently written for the upcoming fourth series of Comedy Central’s Roast Battle.
Lost Voice Guy: Lee Ridley, AKA Lost Voice Guy may not be able to talk, but he definitely has something to say, and his comedy will leave you speechless. Since making his first stand up performance, Ridley has gained quite the reputation for being both very funny and very unique. The Newcastle funnyman, whose cerebral palsy affects his ability to speak, uses a voice synthesiser for his act, and is the first stand up comedian to use a communication aid. Right from the start of the competition, Lost Voice Guy impressed and entertained with his comedy routines, and after his win was invited to fulfill his dream to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, broadcast on ITV. The comedian took to the stage after being introduced by BGT boss Simon Cowell, where the telly mogul expressed his pride over Lee’s achievements.
Craig Hill: One of Scotland’s best-loved comedians and hosts, Craig is an alumni of 20 consecutive Edinburgh Festival Fringes. A winner of the Radio Forth Fringe Award, his extensive sell-out UK and worldwide tours include annual comedy festival seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. He has performed at London’s Palladium, hosted a specially created alternative variety show Craig Hill’s Forbidden Vaudeville for Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and was UK Ambassador for the Montreaux Comedy Festival’s Joke Nation. He has numerous BBC TV series to his name and international TV credits include Australia’s Good News Week, hosting Sydney Comedy Festival’s prestigious Cracker Night gala and hosting the all-star Britcom lineup as well as starring on The Best Of Just For Laughs in Montreal. Having started his career working in the box office of an Edinburgh Fringe venue, each August he looks forward to performing his shows and meeting fans and finding new things to see – the Fringe is something Craig holds very dear.
Elaine Davidson: Elaine Davidson is a well-known Edinburgh Street Performer. She is also the world record holder for body piercing in the Guinness Book of Records and as of 2014 her piercings totalled 9,800. Elaine has now achieved a new Guinness Record….. “The person holding the piercing record for the longest time”.
Marcel Lucont: Marcel Lucont is the multi award-winning laconic Frenchman whose dry wit, bawdy chansons and exquisite sex poetry have made him a star from Roubaix to Melbourne and back again. Marcel was a series regular on two series of BBC3’s Live At The Electric, as well as appearing on Comedy Central Live From The Comedy Store (Comedy Central), Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC3), Set List (Sky Atlantic) and The John Bishop Show (BBC1). He has performed several sell-out runs in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and New Zealand, where he has also appeared on The New Zealand Comedy Festival Gala (TV3) and 7 Days (TV3).
A stalwart of the Edinburgh Fringe, he was awarded the Amused Moose Laughter Award in 2012 and celebrated 10 years at The Fringe with his smash hit show No. Dix in 2019. Marcel is also the author of the hit book What We French Think of You English and Where You Are Going Wrong, which is available here.
Diane Chorley: Diane Chorley shot to fame when her cult 1980’s nightclub The Flick, a hedonistic temple of acceptance, became THE celebrity hang out for the generations glitterati. Stars from Barrymore to Bowie would swing from the self proclaimed ‘Duchess’ of Canvey’s arm as she ushered in the outcast, the freaks and the disenfranchised onto a dancefloor of majestic disco beats.
Long forgotten, Diane recently returned after having spent some time at her Majesty’s leisure and has slowly been claiming back her throne of light entertainment by regaling tales of unexpected rise and spectacular fall from stardom. In this time she has stunned modern audiences at some of the UK.s most prestigious theatres whilst collecting on entourage of celebrity friends. It’s clear that Diane Chorley is back and set to be bigger than ever and this compilation of her Greatest Hits ensures that cultural domination is surely within her gold sovereign cladded grips once again.
Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Born and bred in Glasgow, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd is a rising star of Scottish stand-up. Fast becoming a Fringe Festival favourite, Christopher’s debut hour Home Sweet Home was officially the best reviewed of any Scottish stand-up at the Edinburgh. 2019 saw Christopher returning with a sell-out run of Dreamboat. Christopher has followed this up by winning Best Breakthrough Act at the 2019 Scottish Comedy Awards and being listed the 59th, on a list of 60, funniest person in Scottish history.
Christopher co-stars in BBC Scotland’s Up For It, with the second series airing in spring 2020. Other TV credits include hosting BBC Scotland’s The Comedy Underground. Christopher has also made appearances on BBC Scotland’s Breaking The News, BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Stands Up At The Fringe. and BBC Radio 4’s Fred at The Stand, as well as the podcast Evil Genius with Russell Kane. Christopher Macarthur-Boyd is also a writer, with pieces appearing in The Skinny, The National and Glasgow Times. In 2019 he made his debut as an author when his first short story was published by Speculative Books.
AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK with assets under administration of £54.3 billion. The firm is headquartered in Manchester.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
