It wasn't exactly a stellar year for comedy but there were plenty of shows that shone brightly and have stayed with me, even if the Edinburgh Fringe – for so long the highlight of the comedy year – increasingly disappoints.
Where once comics based their working year on appearing at the Fringe each August, building an audience year by year in increasingly bigger rooms, many younger comics now build their audience much more quickly on social media. Having a sellout run, crowned by winning the prestigious Perrier award (now the Edinburgh Comedy Award) is no longer the career achievement it once was.
Getting a Netflix special is what many comics aspire to, and they don’t have to bankrupt themselves by spending a month in the Scottish capital to receive the accolade. I – and many others in the industry – have said repeatedly that the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, the City of Edinburgh Council and all other interested parties need to sort out the ridiculous price of accommodation in August or the festival will wither.
The Edinburgh Fringe is not the draw it once was – as evidenced by this year’s lacklustre Edinburgh Comedy Award shortlist for the main award, which shockingly overlooked Cat Cohen, a five-star performer giving a knockout show that I wanted to be double its length.
As well as Cohen, there is plenty of comedy I look back on fondly; still in Edinburgh, I was delighted to see the newcomer award going to the talented Ayoade Bamgboye for Swings and Roundabouts, and another newcomer I want to see more of is Toussaint Douglass, who was nominated for his Accessible Pigeon Material. They are two shows that I still quote lines from months after I saw them, always a good sign.
Two shows I saw at the fabulous, newly restored Soho Theatre Walthamstow – Bryony Kimmings and Dara Ó Briain – equally remain in my head, while Tim Key returned to live performance after some time away acting on various television projects with Loganberry, as did Kerry Godliman with Bandwidth.
If there were themes of the best shows of 2025, it was illness, bereavement and finding one’s true self – subjects that you may feel don’t lend themselves to comedy. But that surely is the art of great comics; they take subjects that may seem unpromising and make them sing. We can both laugh and cry at the human condition, after all.
Also finding himself, in a way, was Nick Mohammed, who, I'm delighted to say, has found a whole new audience with his appearance on The Celebrity Traitors. Although he was on stage as his alter ego Mr Swallow, Show Pony was his most personal show yet, in which he told his creation’s origin story. It was very funny, but touching too as we saw glimpses of Mohammed break through.
Looking ahead, 2026 has some marquee names – Harry Enfield, Jason Manford, Kevin Bridges, Russell Howard and Lenny Henry among them – performing live.
Also on the road are Sue Perkins, Bridget Christie, Taskmaster alumni Phil Ellis, Ania Magliano, Phil Wang and Judi Love, while Greg Davies, the Taskmaster himself, has extended his Full Fat Legend tour.
While many of the above-mentioned are appearing in arenas and large theatres, the beating heart of comedy is still in small venues such as pubs and clubs – where most of the above-mentioned perform work-in-progress shows for a fraction of the price. Try one out if you haven’t previously. I wish you a laughter-filled year.
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