Edinburgh has come to a close and we're into tour season. Many of the great shows up at the Fringe will start to tour, alongside shows that haven't been up there.

Here are six shows I'd absolutely recommend catching on tour:

Laura Smyth : Living My Best Life

https://laurasmyth.com/pages/tour-dates

I love Laura. She's smart, hilarious and says it how it is. She's recently done Live at the Apollo and deserves to be absolutely huge.

Esther Manito : Hell Hath No Fury
https://www.seetickets.com/tour/esther-manito

I've loved Esther since seeing her first hour at Edinburgh a few years back...and she's on FIRE at the moment. Get in there!

Jordan Gray : Is It A Bird?
https://www.comedy.co.uk/JordanGrayTickets/

If you haven't seen this show yet you must! Jordan won our Biggest Award in Comedy at the fringe last year and went on to do multiple TV performances and a sold out show at the Palladium. The talent is insane.


Josie Long : Re-enchantment
https://josielong.seetickets.com/tour/josie-long

Josie is my favourite. She's political and f*cking funny. Her shows are always perfectly crafted and whilst I haven't seen this one, I will certainly be booking in for the tour.


Rosie Jones : Triple Threat

https://rosiejonescomedy.com/live/

Rosie's a national treasure - a must-see act who keeps getting pushed over by naughty Nish Kumar. She writes for and performs on loads of TV shows and this is your chance to catch her live on stage!

Jen Brister : The Optimist

http://www.jenbrister.co.uk/tour/

Jen is one of the funniest acts on the circuit - her rants are legendary. Definitely catch this tour.

We're nearly ready to head up to the fringe again so thought it might be good to share some highlights of 2022 to wet your whistles...

1) We launched our 'Biggest Award in Comedy' and the incredible Jordan Gray won it - going on to perform at the Palladium in London and on numerous TV shows. 

2)We streamed over 60 shows, with themes of gout, death and ADHD coming up a LOT last year (thank you lockdown!)...wonder what 2023's trends will be? (guesses in the comments below please).

3) Jason dyed his hair in NU green in support.

4) We streamed The Wrestling. It was epic.

4) Our flat had a power outage at a crucial moment, so Carlos had to cadge power from the bar below (health and safety please!!).

5) We tried out some striking new posters.

6) Dan's mum was texting him from London about the laughter in the room of one of our live streams. 

7) The bin men went on strike. 

8) Bonus content: we were reminded of our first NU fringe - the NextUp baby is now SIX!

Just in case you're struggling for where to start with our Summer Showdown content drop...here are a few recommendations (definitely watch them all though - it's an awesome list).

Firstly - check out Emmanuel Sonubi's 'Emancipated', his debut hour from last year's fringe. He's a comedian on the rise, with material about his past career as a doorman, his kids and his stint in the magic of the musicals...you'll be able to say you saw him here first.

Second, another up-and-comer - definitely watch Lily Phillips's 'Smut'. Absolutely smashing the sh*t out of this set at the beautiful Bedford in Balham - she's going to be huge (Not physically! Though you'll probably notice that she was fairly pregnant when we filmed this).

Finally - if you fancy something a bit out there, check out 'Clinton Baptiste vs Ramone' - this incredible character from Phoenix Nights battles for the title of Britain's Greatest Paranormalist.

In terms of short-form sets, start with Esther Manito's 'Being A Parent' (speaks to me personally that one), and Micah Hall's 'The Two Meanings of Polyamory' ...and then watch all the rest too, they're only short.

Feel free to pop other recommendations in the comments too...all welcome!