If the Edinburgh Fringe is a living, breathing, performer, then sketch comedy is its favourite outfit – ever changing each year, yet always marvellously there.
Sketch comedy has a deep history at the Fringe – from Monty Python, to Cambridge Footlights to the current cast members of Saturday Night Live.
In 1981 a Footlights crew which included Emma Thompson, Fry and Laurie and Tony Slattery were the first winners of the Perrier Award – now known as the Edinburgh Comedy Award.
The Mighty Boosh, Tarot, the Pin and the League of Gentlemen all have their origins at the Fringe. And there are plenty of examples of the genre at this year’s festival.
This year’s sketchers are a varied bunch, from the fearsome ‘Crybabies: The Scaring’, promising jump-scares from the producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, via the heart-ticklings of BAFTA-nominated Ada & Bron’s show ‘The Origin Of Love’, into the downright nihilistic ‘Armageddon Outta Here’ at Just the Tonic.
Sketch Off! 2026 Finalists Lady Bolognese say: “To us, sketch comedy is the opportunity to perform the most ridiculous situations, where we can imagine lots of outrageous little worlds to play in. Our favourite sketch shows are ones where the smaller ideas adjoin to build a larger, bizarre narrative, like The League of Gentlemen or The Day Today.
“We’ve always loved creating grotesque, cartoonish characters who bring the audience into their own outlandish world before disappearing into the night. We created our characters (unhinged dinner ladies Barbara and Veronica) for Leicester Square Theatre’s Sketch Off! competition in 2024, and then decided to keep expanding their grimy world.”
Lady Bolognese show ‘Class War’ picked up the Best Variety Show gong at the Leicester Comedy Festival Awards 2026.
Winners of ‘Best Sketch Act’ at SketchFest 2026 Will & Noah, in town with their new show ‘Dinner Dinner Chicken Winner’, also struggle to pin down a definition. “Sketch comedy is a very nebulous and hard to define thing,” they admit. “We love the endless possibilities of sketch comedy; the fact it’s hard to define is what makes it fun to play around with.
“Sketch comedy is an invitation to imagine, to step outside of everyday situations and into a world where there might be an awkward mix-up at a restaurant, or a coin toss on the moon, or the hare and the tortoise meeting 10 years after their big race, or even a completely normal scene except one of the characters has a new hat but is refusing to admit it.
“Our shows often contain everything from one-liners to songs, dances, games, crowd-work, and lots of shouting in silly voices,” offer Will & Noah. “We can’t and won’t be put in a box!!!”
Along with versatility, sketch comedy also offers the important element of comradery, in the form of other players. Solo clown Luke Rollason is back this year with his sketch group Stepdads, joining forces with another sketch group – The Flop – member Tom Penn for off-the-wall musical fun.
Sketch troupe Biscuit Barrel back for their seventh year is also promising something of a creative explosion with ‘The 69-Sketch Show’, ambitiously promising 69 individual sketches.
The fact that sketch can be a hard and fast hothouse for talent is proven time and time again. And that collaborative skillset continues to bring sketch performers back to the Fringe in other guises – looking at you Tom Parry of Pappy’s, directing former Perrier winner Will Adamsdale.
