The Edinburgh Fringe Festival began in 1947 with just eight theatre companies taking part. It has expanded considerably since then to include comedy, music, dance, opera and musicals and is worth around 75 million quid each year to the Scottish economy. The Fringe is divided into a number of smaller festivals and each of these make up the Fringe Festival. Over one third of all shows in 2009 were comedy performances, slightly ahead of theatre, while music accounted for one sixth of the shows. In just over three weeks, Fringe 2009 sold (wait for it) 1.86 million tickets to over 34,000 performances of more than two thousand shows in 265 venues. Phew! In contrast, I was only able to buy 12 tickets to a dozen performances of twelve shows in ten venues. I guess I’m going to have to get more organised next time. Nearly a quarter of all shows at the Fringe are free and many more cost just a fiver to attend. It is also possible to get tickets for half price on the day for some performance in a 2-for-1 deal. The Fringe does not have a selection committee and, so, is open for anyone to set up their own show. These year there were nearly 19,000 performers putting on shows from sixty different countries. All of these people had to come up with money for travel, accommodation, meals and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, they have to pay a registration fee for their show and print up and distribute posters and flyers as well. Therefore, it may come as no surprise to learn that very few performances actually break even, never mind make a profit. For most of the performers, taking a hit financially is a small price to pay for the the amount of exposure and attention that putting on a show at the Festival brings. I’ve already provided some exposure for the musical acts that I saw this year, so here’s a few words about the more serious business of comedy at this year’s festival

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