Thanks Ellie - your email came in 1 minute after Hal finished his storming set!  After a couple of minutes missing at the start it was a great show. Nice to see he's still got comedy chops to spare.

Hope to see you next year then as it will be my 50th anniversary! Good list of faves, though I never saw Pappy's. If you like the Falsetto Socks you should see their bonkers adverts for Conservatory Insulation. No, really. Genuine adverts, with music by Dean Friedman! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7N98gASw2S2KGXM8ErCE55Zc7Lbv3DfE

Dan Wright 

My other top picks would be Olaf Falafel (silly fun), Stu Goldsmith (superb, as usual) a nd John Hastings (great energy). No chance of seeing him but Daniel Kitson's show "First Thing" was very innovative and non-stop hilarious.  He gave out the script for the show to the audience and most people had a few lines to speak. It worked very well and was the ultimate in audience participation.

I used to live in Glasgow and commuted through to the Fringe multiple times during August. But now I live in Derbyshire and have to plan travel and accommodation to see shows. This year we could only afford  4 days (Edinburgh is eye-wateringly expensive) and managed to cram 20 shows into that time. Next Up is brilliant for letting me see many more acts than that, and only 2 of their coverage are shows I saw in person. BTW my top pick from this year is Ahir Shah's show at Monkey Barrel - perfect stand-up.)

Hopefully if you continued watching comedy the failed gig could evolve into something better!

Thanks for the circus recommendation. One of the best things I ever saw at the fringe was "Candide" performed as circus in a tent on Leith Links.  I've looked  at the music listings this year and found them a bit disappointing - too many tribute bands, not enough original singer/songwriter types. However, the pubs of Edinburgh will provide some great music, no doubt!

I've been going to the Fringe every year since 1974 so will defo be there this year.  The problem is always that there are too many shows to choose from. So I have devised a rule: 1 in every 3 shows should be someone I've never seen before. Otherwise I'd keep seeing the same people year after year. Looking forward to NextUp revealing the shows they will be streaming/recording.