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The Fringe
2026, in
numbers.

Fringe Show Explorer watched the Edinburgh Fringe ticketing API 1,372 times, roughly every three hours, from 17 February to the last night of the festival.

The record covers 4,316 shows, 65,101 performances and 29,087 moments of a ticket going on or off sale. Every figure below is counted from it.

4,316
Shows
65,101
Performances
321
Venues
78
Countries

Scale

The size of the programme

The scheduled running time of everything programmed in 2026, added together.

7.6 years

of stage time was programmed into three weeks of August.

66,403 hours across 65,101 performances. Uses each performance's listed running time, falling back to the show's.

2,450

different shows played on 14 August, the busiest day of the festival.

2,795 performances in one day, or one starting roughly every 21 seconds across the 16 hours a day the festival runs.

Performances per day

Cancelled performances excluded. The dashed line marks the busiest day.

View as table
DatePerformances
24 Jul1
25 Jul1
26 Jul1
27 Jul1
28 Jul1
29 Jul1
30 Jul1
31 Jul1
1 Aug1
2 Aug40
3 Aug128
4 Aug148
5 Aug804
6 Aug1,435
7 Aug2,358
8 Aug2,610
9 Aug2,582
10 Aug2,515
11 Aug2,598
12 Aug2,487
13 Aug2,718
14 Aug2,795
15 Aug2,789
16 Aug2,291
17 Aug2,100
18 Aug2,241
19 Aug2,481
20 Aug2,621
21 Aug2,739
22 Aug2,711
23 Aug2,263
24 Aug2,163
25 Aug2,364
26 Aug2,463
27 Aug2,552
28 Aug2,603
29 Aug2,557
30 Aug2,021
31 Aug624
1 Sept2
First performance
24 JulyAn exhibition, over a week before the rest of the programme started.
Last performance
1 September
Watched since
17 February1,372 scrapes, the last on 31 August.

The daily shape

When shows happen

The programme uses 195 distinct start times. Each genre sits in a different part of the day.

49.7%

of shows starting after midnight sold out, the highest rate of any hour.

Against 27.1% for the best evening hour. Only 175 performances started that late. Cancelled and free non-ticketed nights are excluded.

When shows started

Performances by hour of curtain-up. Hover for that hour's sell-out rate.

View as table
HourPerformancesSold out
00:0017549.7%
01:003284.4%
07:00450%
08:0060%
09:0031311.2%
10:002,03219.6%
11:003,30521.8%
12:004,52818.9%
13:004,53520.7%
14:005,02422.8%
15:004,88825.3%
16:004,56123.6%
17:004,45026.3%
18:004,55825.7%
19:004,81625.1%
20:004,20227.1%
21:004,09323.7%
22:002,70122.3%
23:001,45122.3%
Most common slot
12:001,245 performances began at exactly this time.
Latest curtain-up
01:30In the Doghouse with Frankie Monroe, The Passion of Mr Cardboard
Earliest curtain-up
07:007am Oboe Rave

Each genre by time of day

Each genre's performances split across the day, normalised to 100% so that genre size does not affect the comparison.

  • Morning (to 1pm)
  • Afternoon (1-6pm)
  • Evening (6-10pm)
  • Late night (10pm+)
View as table
GenreMorningAfternoonEveningLate
Cabaret9%32%43%16%
Comedy10%39%38%13%
Music7%50%35%8%
Spoken Word28%52%14%6%
Theatre23%47%25%5%
Events36%35%25%4%
Opera15%49%33%3%
Circus19%46%35%0%
Children's Shows74%25%1%0%
Exhibitions59%41%0%0%

Cabaret runs 16% of its performances after ten at night. Circus, Children's Shows and Exhibitions staged none at all.

Getting in

Sell-outs and lead times

A night counts as sold out when its allocation leaves sale before curtain-up. Cancelled nights are excluded, because a cancellation passes through the same status on its way out of the listings.

24%

of ticketed nights went off sale before the show started.

13,108 of 55,674 nights. 1,184 of them went more than a month ahead.

167 days

was the head start on the earliest sell-out of the festival: Connor Burns: FLOW.

The Saturday 7 August, 18:00 performance at Just The Tonic Nucleus left sale in March, five months before the festival opened.

How far ahead things went

Days between a night leaving sale and the night itself.

View as table
Sold outNights
On the day1,048
1-2 days ahead783
3-6 days ahead819
1-2 weeks ahead604
2-4 weeks ahead627
Over a month ahead1,184

Sell-outs cluster at both ends. 1,184 nights went more than a month ahead and 1,048 went on the day itself, with fewer nights in each of the ranges between.

3,199

nights sold out and then came back on sale.

Returns, releases and held seats going on sale. Refreshing a sold-out listing was worth doing.

Sell-out rate by genre

Share of each genre's nights.

  • Comedy
    32.8%
  • Events
    29.9%
  • Children's Shows
    24.4%
  • Spoken Word
    21.3%
  • Cabaret
    21.2%
  • Music
    16.9%
  • Theatre
    16.7%
  • Opera
    13.5%
  • Circus
    10.8%
  • Exhibitions
    4.2%

Comedy is 8 times likelier to sell out than exhibitions, which admit visitors through the day rather than to a fixed seat count.

Sell-out rate by day

Which nights were hardest to get.

  • Saturday
    31%
  • Tuesday
    25.3%
  • Monday
    22.9%
  • Sunday
    22%
  • Friday
    21.8%
  • Thursday
    20.9%
  • Wednesday
    19.8%

Saturday leads. Tuesday comes second, ahead of Friday and every other night of the week.

How early you had to book, by venue

Median days between a night selling out and the night happening.

  • Underbelly, Cowgate
    24.2 days
  • Traverse Theatre
    11.8 days
  • Monkey Barrel Comedy
    8.7 days
  • Summerhall
    6 days
  • Pleasance Courtyard
    3.8 days
  • Underbelly, Bristo Square
    3.4 days
  • theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
    2.8 days

Venues with fewer than 100 sold-out nights are excluded, as are the free-at-the-door rooms described below.

Every show that sold out, on two axes

How far ahead a show's nights went, against how much of its run went at all. Dot size is the length of the run. 375 shows with at least five ticketed nights and three sell-outs.

  • Last Laugh23% of 22 nights, 107 days ahead
  • Connor Burns: FLOW100% of 26 nights, 92.2 days ahead
  • Ania Magliano: Peach Fuzz94% of 17 nights, 73.1 days ahead
  • Newscast100% of 5 nights, 72.1 days ahead
  • Concerts of the Future23% of 380 nights, 13.2 days ahead
View as table
ShowNightsSold outShareMedian days ahead
Last Laugh22523%107
Les Misérables School Edition20315%101.4
Connor Burns: FLOW2626100%92.2
Ania Magliano: Peach Fuzz171694%73.1
Newscast55100%72.1
Transmission: Into the Dark5252100%71.8
Nish Kumar: Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy (Work in Progress)2424100%69.3
Paddy Young: Will Sir Be Laughing Alone?191789%63.8
Tim Vine: Sillypun Valley77100%61.9
Phil Wang: UH OH1212100%59.6
Rose Matafeo: Work in Progress Morning Hour1414100%57.2
In Her Hand66100%52.1
Frank Skinner: Work in Progress1212100%48.9
Deirdre O’Kane – Work in Progress99100%48.9
Stuart Mitchell – Solo Show2525100%48.6
Dancing Queen: An ABBA Tribute24313%48.2
Jack Dee: Jack's Joke Show77100%46.3
Toby Tarrant: Utter Bloke Nonsense10660%45.8
Mayflies2020100%44.5
Fin Taylor: Work in Progress55100%43.9
Phil Ellis: Bath Mat343191%42.7
ROLEPLAY2323100%41.9
Adam Riches: The Captain2828100%41.8
The Incomer6350%40.8
Bron Lewis: Chaos10550%39.2
Mario Adrion: Live a Little332885%38.2
Fatiha El-Ghorri: Cockney Stacking Doll161594%35.6
Vittorio Angelone: Off the Cuff99100%35.4
The Rise of The Eagles24313%34.4
Cathy2121100%34.2
Hot Dub Time Machine Presents House Party7343%33.6
Kristen Schaal: The Legend of Crystal Shell66100%32.7
DeepFake24822992%32
Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It2222100%31.4
Mark Watson Tries to Impress Children, for Some Reason141286%29.4
The Over 50s Dating Comedy Game Show66100%28.3
Brrr10770%27.9
Simon & Garfunkel and Beyond22314%27.9
James Gardner: Good Afternoon1717100%27.8
Sarah Keyworth: Work in Progress9889%27.7
Come From Away66100%27.3
Handle with Care77100%25.9
Harriet Kemsley: Floozy (Work in Progress)99100%25.7
1 King, 2 Princes and Shakespeare's Lie2121100%25.2
Henry Paker – Pencil Case Preview77100%24.6
Material Girl: Madonna The Icon23313%24.2
Daniel Kitson: Thrum55100%24
An Afternoon With Clinton Baptiste6350%23.5
Gyles Brandreth: Up Memory Lane!26312%23.1
Mike Rice: A Work in Progress Show (Testing New Horrible Material)2424100%22.8
Ayoade Bamgboye: Small Talk (WIP + Q&A)6583%22
A Silent Disco Dance Tour by Silent Adventures5935%21
Gianmarco Soresi: Theater Adult (WIP)1313100%20.8
An Unbiased Afternoon with Allaster McKallaster9333%20.7
Tom Read Wilson: A-Z of Me1212100%19.1
Jack Whitehall: Work in Progress11764%19
Mrs Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library2222100%19
An American Love Letter to Edinburgh5360%18.8
Glenn Moore: Work in Progress141071%18.7
The Listies: 110% Ready11327%18.5
Emma Doran: Emmaculate292793%17.3
Prophets2424100%17.1
Daniel Foxx: How Lovely.14857%16.9
Guru Dudu's Silent Disco Walking Tours40923%16.9
The Jolly Fisherman272696%16.7
After Party211048%16.5
Little Shop of Horrors241042%16.3
Mark Watson: Sometimes People Are Being Over-Cautious When They Say Work-In-Progress, But This Truly Is Rough10880%16.3
Kim Blythe: Puzzle341750%16.1
Adam Riches: The Critic's Way262596%15.6
Next to Normal99100%15.2
Amanda Knox: Cartwheel1111100%15.1
The Hobbit6350%15
Ed Gamble: Work in Progress66100%14.7
Stuart Mitchell and Festival Friends251872%14
Ian Smith: Talking and Shouting at Eleven Thirty-Five in the Morning (WIP)55100%13.9
Ahir Shah: Golden292379%13.8
Edinburgh – A Tale of Two Towns21314%13.6
Frankie Mack: Wired Differently – Scotland’s ADHD Showman15853%13.3
Rob Duncan: Printer of the Year251560%13.3
Concerts of the Future3808723%13.2
Saving Britney241563%13.2
A Forgotten Woman: Mrs Oscar Wilde1111100%13.2
Aderyn / Bird5360%13
Rip Her to Shreds251664%13
Traditional Tales231774%12.8
Disney's The Jungle Book Kids5480%12.6
For Dolores2222100%12.4
Crybabies: The Scaring2424100%11.9
Aboot Time: Moulin-Esque the Scottish Moulin Rouge15427%11.8
1 Astonishment 2 Many: Chris Dugdale3239%11.8
MC Hammersmith: Ice Ice Nepo Baby232296%11.7
Raves R Us241250%11.4
Supposing:2222100%11.4
Troubled Waters201470%11.4
Harriet Richardson: Creep302687%11.2
Explosive Science Show!24417%11.2
Russell Howard: Work in Progress88100%11
In Pour Taste: A Comedy Wine Tasting Experience242292%11
Paul Black: Cash Cow77100%10.8
Rhys James: Chop Logic151493%10.6
CAI – Cadence of Altered Illusions492857%10.4
Little Animals2020100%10.4
Cluedo141393%10
Sarah Hester Ross: Serving C*nt151493%9.9
Ari Eldjárn: The Icelander's Guide to Europe5480%9.6
CODE36719%9.4
The Singer201890%9.3
The Billy Joel Story1111100%9.2
Jack Docherty: Butterfly21314%8.8
Tatty Macleod: Things My Mother Did (WIP)10330%8.8
SeedHeart24625%8.5
Turn Your F*cking Phones Off291345%8.2
CADEL: Lungs on Legs22314%8.2
Mark Thomas: 40 in Stand-Up Years25416%8.1
Monski Mouse's Baby Disco Dance Hall9889%8
Badgers221882%7.8
American Idiot24313%7.8
Alex Edelman: What Are You Going to Do161381%7.8
Not Another Whisky Tasting!42410%7.7
The Spencer Jones Experimental Kids Show10330%7.6
Best of Edinburgh Showcase25416%7.5
The Speakeasy Experience521631%7.4
199 Jokes Before Lunchtime: Danny Matinee!19421%7.3
Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour281864%7.3
John Kearns: Tilting at Windmills1313100%7.2
Trans People Are Awful271763%7.1
Thunderstruck121192%7.1
Ayo Adenekan: Homeland Insecurity292069%6.9
Paul Foot: The Future25520%6.8
The Elves and the Shoemaker12758%6.7
Abandoman: Afterglow221464%6.7
Hello Birds19316%6.7
Freddie Meredith: Need a Light?281761%6.7
CAMPITALISM: Three Gays Try to Fix The Economy241771%6.5
Sam Eley is Basil Crumbwick: Soul Sewage321650%6.4
Kirsty Mann: Corpse241458%6.4
Bog Witch201260%6.4
Brassed Off13646%6.3
Susie McCabe: Coming of Rage25312%6.2
Tam Cowan: A Pee With Pele (And Lots More P*sh)221255%6
The Second Best School Shooting241354%5.9
Tom Stade Rules24313%5.8
Your Choice Amanda Royce16638%5.8
Water Colour221359%5.6
Circus The Show26312%5.5
Always, Sometimes, Maybe221464%5.5
Bad Mums CANCELLED12650%5.5
Bebe Cave: Swoon281761%5.3
Ted Hill Teaches You Science, Most of Which Is True18422%5.3
The Dolly Parton Story5480%5.3
Ali Woods: Working on it Part Two: The Revenge10660%5.2
Pink Rabbit261454%5.2
Harry Jun: Inside Jokes, Outside Voice262077%5.1
A Play of Two Halves12758%5
Frankie McNair: Huge Ass Mindset261350%5
Robot Vacuum Fight Club9778%4.9
Tom Waits War Songs28829%4.9
Joseph Morpurgo: Highlander 7019632%4.8
QFWFQ271556%4.8
Bella Hull: Mad Cow Disease291759%4.8
Best of the West End Musicals221568%4.7
Aja! A Steely Dan Tribute5480%4.7
James Phelan: Showman20420%4.7
ALONE281761%4.7
Gregor Fisher: An (Early) Evening With Gregor Fisher15960%4.6
Giraffe271763%4.6
Pierre Novellie: Okay, One More Then Bedtime251664%4.5
Tim Key: Loganberry10550%4.5
Float12758%4.5
Elf Lyons is The Woman on the Edge281657%4.5
ArounD the WorlD in 80 ToyS241667%4.5
David O'Doherty: At This Stage27933%4.4
In the Doghouse with Frankie Monroe8338%4.4
Rosco McClelland: The Bones26312%4.3
HAM231252%4.3
Hannah Gadsby is Getting Ready (WIP)10550%4.2
Build a Fort5480%4.2
Sophie Duker: Hot Beef Injection24417%4.1
Chris Cantrill: Rewilding281450%4
Boys Don't Dance15427%3.9
Larry Dean: Hellbent272385%3.9
Julian Clary: Fully Dilated10550%3.8
Andrew Ryan: Honest Capacity17318%3.8
Penelope241250%3.8
Tick, Tick... Boom!6583%3.7
Coco's Art History Comedy Highlights Tour362672%3.7
Rachel Fairburn: Vexy Beasts25416%3.6
Playback24313%3.6
Blackbox25520%3.5
90s Magic Throwback with Chris Fleming29310%3.4
Stamptown22732%3.4
When We Were Young211362%3.3
Demi Adejuyigbe Sells Out251664%3.3
Amazing Bubble Man23417%3.3
Back to Black: The Story of Amy Winehouse22732%3.3
Barry Potter and the Magic of Wizardry22836%3.2
Mistakes on Maps24625%3.2
Room 121966100%3.2
Dane Buckley: Darling272178%3.1
Spin Cycle26727%3.1
Charlene Kaye: Diversity Shredder23313%3.1
TO BE FRANK231252%3.1
Trainspotting Live4337%3.1
Killian Sundermann: Killian Dollar Baby25728%3.1
Frankie Thompson: Horrible Things251352%3
The Bowie Story241250%3
The Mystery of Pleasance Two17318%2.9
A Highly Suspect Murder Mystery: ABBAsolute Murder211571%2.9
Parasocial Activity251248%2.9
Scottish Food and Drink Walking Tour30413%2.9
The Fleetwood Mac Story241563%2.9
Through the Shortbread Tin221673%2.8
Jill's Tupperware Party24938%2.7
A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola272281%2.7
Jitters15427%2.7
Baby Wants Candy261038%2.7
Amanda Dwyer: Better Than Revenge251248%2.7
Tom Sainsbury: Lessons Not Learnt7343%2.7
Amy Matthews: Definitions of Toast251144%2.7
Matt Forde: Project Holy Moly301653%2.6
Seann Walsh: This Is Torture8675%2.6
Abi Clarke – Revenge in Progress10550%2.6
Eva Peroni: Jungled26623%2.6
Patti Harrison: Just Ironing Some Things Out!6467%2.6
Dan Tiernan: Quartz and All291759%2.5
Lizzy Hoo – Says Hoo?25416%2.5
David Elms Describes a Room281968%2.4
Piano Dismantling Action5360%2.4
Swamplesque23626%2.3
Nuns!261454%2.3
2026 Pick of the Fringe9366%2.3
Marc Jennings: If & When271659%2.2
Hasan Al-Habib: Stuck in the Middle (East) With You301137%2.2
Madeleine Brettingham: Legend271244%2.2
Buggers251352%2.1
Milo Edwards: Catamaran4237%2.1
Dom McGovern: Prize Hog271452%2.1
Rob Auton: JUPITER26312%2.1
Sofie Hagen – I Think Some of This Is My Fault24729%2.1
The Passion of Mr Cardboard271452%2.1
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins231252%2
A Gay Masseur's Guide to Happy Endings15640%2
Whisky Wanderer: The Whisky Trail9333%2
Gareth Waugh: Is Pepsi OK?281243%2
44 Minutes23730%1.9
Frogs in Bogs26519%1.9
Lara Ricote: INKLING261558%1.9
Witches Corner6350%1.9
Shamilton! The Improvised Hip-Hop Musical291448%1.9
A Murder Mystery Musical – The Detective's Demise241354%1.8
As Far As We Know26727%1.8
Bull / Fight241354%1.8
Reuben Solo: Someone in This Crowd Will Betray Me [Revenge Edition]14536%1.8
Catherine Bohart: Work in Progress15427%1.8
Amnesia251456%1.7
0% British – Afternoons: An Irish Stand-Up Comedy Show40615%1.7
Youth in Flames – Winner: Scotsman Fringe First Award29517%1.7
Hugo's Rainbow Show17318%1.7
2ShoulderPads: Galaxy Train27415%1.6
Common Tongue221045%1.5
Sophie's Surprise 29th21419%1.5
John Achkar: His country is collapsing. He's having a baby. So obviously, this is the right year for a Lebanese comedian you've never heard of to try English stand-up for the first time.25624%1.5
Book Club66100%1.5
00:45:0011545%1.5
Lou Wall: Where Are All The Tall Grandmas?261558%1.5
Evaldas Karosas: A Very Capable Man27311%1.4
Finlay Christie: Champagne Casanova281036%1.3
Tom Cashman: NPC (Nearly Proficient Comedian)271244%1.3
Cult17529%1.3
The Kate Bush Story5480%1.3
Overtone23313%1.2
The Distance241146%1.2
Will Adamsdale: AI, AI, Oh... (Or How I Wrote a Hit Sitcom with ChatGPT But We're Not Talking Now)22523%1.2
Marty Gleeson: Dog Ear281864%1.2
Li Jin Hao: Falling From a Moon26727%1.2
Alan Bissett: The Red Hourglass21629%1.2
Book of Shadows251248%1.1
Ed Night: We'll Be Alright, Darling27622%1.1
John Robertson's The Dark Room351543%1.1
Alfie Dundas: First Class Panic281761%1.1
A Microscopic Odyssey12542%1.1
Keeley Hazell: Everyone's Seen My Tits24417%1.1
The Palestinian Circus: Step and a Half20315%1.1
Rockpools241250%1.1
Crowd Work with Frank Skinner14857%1.1
UNDERGROUND MONK SHOW251248%1
Britney: Holy Mackerel!17529%1
Distillery After Hours14536%1
Creepy Boys: SLUGS18317%1
Eric Rushton: Could Well Be In25312%1
THIS IS NOT AMERICA: A Razor-Edge New Play To Start Your Day!29724%1
Jack Brookmyre: Impressionable24313%1
Is This Your First Crime?6350%1
Transmission55100%0.9
Celya AB: We Must Stop Meeting Like This24417%0.9
E-bike Cycle Tour of Arthur's Seat221673%0.9
Jess Fuchs: Feral25312%0.9
Hole!24938%0.9
Ashley Gavin: Work In Progress5360%0.9
Sean Morley: Backchannel26935%0.9
Tether231148%0.9
Dylan Thomas: Return Journey – Bob Kingdom, Original Direction by Anthony Hopkins28311%0.8
A Little Green Leaf17424%0.8
1933 – Fats Waller, Harlem and the Blues Belters5480%0.8
Sashi Perera – Pear Tree7343%0.8
California Dreams24729%0.8
Goodbye Dandelion25832%0.7
Susan Morrison: Swearing, Shit and Shagging – Scotland's Filthy History10440%0.7
Stay A Little Longer26312%0.7
Fly, You Fools!25312%0.7
Bliss23939%0.7
Mason King – The Mind Spy10660%0.7
Amazing Bangkok Thai Cookery Workshop151067%0.7
BATSU!24417%0.7
In the Black26312%0.7
Magic Spectacular24417%0.7
Tom Towelling Teaches You to Knit25520%0.6
Legendary26727%0.6
Lil Wenker: BOYKING25728%0.6
Planetarium Lates: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon32413%0.6
Don Toberman: Ping-Pong Champ13431%0.6
Derek Mitchell: Work in Progress11655%0.6
David Correos: Noise Zealand14750%0.6
Burke and Hare: Body Snatchers, Serial Killers, Ulstermen21629%0.6
The Pitch241250%0.6
Amazing Two Curries – Red Curry and Panang Masterclass10660%0.6
Amazing Chicken Pad Thai Masterclass13969%0.6
Amazing Bangkok Thai Street Food Masterclass221255%0.6
Amazing Bangkok Thai Cookery – King Prawn Masterclass7571%0.6
Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life24625%0.6
Agent November's Indoor Escape Game: Murder Mr E24742%0.6
30 and F*cked: Alessandra Ford26312%0.6
°Up: Violin vs Football – France Showcase9889%0.6
Darryl J Carrington: Out of the Box26415%0.5
Chris Grace: 88%27311%0.5
Max Fulham: Memory Foam26935%0.5
Lady Bolognese: Class War251040%0.5
Kate Butch: A Kate in the Hand is Worth Two in the Butch25624%0.5
The Plot24729%0.5
Chris Turner: In The Moment31310%0.4
Truthmachine16043%0.4
DUST23626%0.4
Heart Beats Strong24417%0.4
Olga Koch: Fat Tom Cruise26519%0.4
EVITA TOO21524%0.4
Tale of the Firebird – Concerto for Violin, Fire & Acrobatic Orchestra231252%0.4
Did You Charge Your Phone for the End of the World?12433%0.3
Witch? Women on Trial16319%0.3
The Subplot: A Hyperfixation on the Titan Submersible23313%0.3
Big Stuff25728%0.3
Colin Steele Quintet play Miles Davis55100%0.3
Rob Preston: Amazing Global Solutions25520%0.3
Aidan Jones: Chopin's Nocturne28311%0.3
CADET KELLY IS THE BEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY FRIGGIN LIFE23313%0.3
Police Cops in Space25416%0.3
Jonno: Here Comes Mr Funny25312%0.2
Jenny Gorelick: SORRY26312%0.2
MAN!FEST: The Drag Boyband Musical24313%0.2
Alice Fraser: Oh Man!25416%0.2
Jonathan Oldfield: Exquisite Corpse25728%0.2
Kate Dolan: Trout28414%0.2
Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody!24521%0.1
Remember, Remember!24417%0.1
5 Headliners for £1010366%0.1
Colin Cloud: Hoax25312%0.1
Andrew Frost: Just Let Me Have This25312%0.1
The Lady Boys of Bangkok – Full Moon Tour521631%0.1
The Ghost Bus Tours Edinburgh834655%0.1
A Simply Beastly Murder24313%0.1
Tell Me20420%0.1
Those People25312%0.1
Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story26415%0.1
0.1% Accurate: Magdalena the Fortune Teller Show26312%0.1
Fun-Size Wine Tasting471634%0

The shaded corner holds the 49 shows that sold at least 80% of their run, a fortnight or more ahead. The points up the left-hand side are the reason the leaderboard above needs a rule about selling most of the run: 8 shows post a long lead time on a handful of early nights, which usually means dates pulled rather than a hot ticket.

Venues

321 venues

A small number of large operators, and a long tail of rooms above pubs and in church halls.

114

venues, 36% of the total, staged exactly one show.

A further 18 appeared in the listings and staged nothing at all.

17

separate rooms ran inside Pleasance Courtyard.

One address running up to 17 shows at once.

Most shows

Distinct productions programmed.

  • theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
    200
  • Pleasance Courtyard
    194
  • Greenside @ George Street
    130
  • Monkey Barrel Comedy
    105
  • Just The Tonic at The Caves
    97
  • Gilded Balloon Patter House
    93
  • Gilded Balloon Teviot
    93
  • Underbelly, Bristo Square
    92
  • theSpace @ Niddry St
    90
  • Summerhall
    83

Most performances

Times a curtain went up.

  • Pleasance Courtyard
    3,705
  • Summerhall
    2,183
  • Gilded Balloon Patter House
    2,010
  • theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
    1,946
  • Gilded Balloon Teviot
    1,797
  • Hoots @ Nicolson Square
    1,649
  • Underbelly, Bristo Square
    1,631
  • Greenside @ George Street
    1,613
  • Assembly George Square
    1,610
  • Just The Tonic at The Caves
    1,536

The two lists rank differently. Programming many shows and staging many performances are separate things: short runs at volume against long runs.

Who runs the Fringe

Every performance of 2026, grouped by the operator behind the room. Tile area is the share of the festival.

View as table
OperatorPerformancesShowsVenues
Everywhere else10,136966203
Laughing Horse6,95333920
Pleasance5,4382745
Assembly5,3392468
theSpace4,6714916
Hoots4,5202166
Gilded Balloon4,1722245
Underbelly4,0241964
PBH's Free Fringe3,83022528
Just The Tonic3,3902318
Greenside2,4782012
Summerhall2,183831
Monkey Barrel1,9651624
C ARTS1,3631244
Braw Venues1,149582
ZOO967522
Scottish Comedy Festival853272
Paradise Green733742
The Stand6601156
Traverse277123

The largest block is not an operator. 203 venues belong to nobody in particular, and between them they staged 16% of the festival. The five biggest named operators account for 41% between them.

Concentration by postcode

Shows by postcode district.

  • EH1
    1,882
  • EH8
    1,313
  • EH2
    444
  • EH3
    328
  • EH9
    110
  • EH7
    63
  • EH11
    31
  • EH6
    26

EH1 holds 120 venues and 1,882 shows, 44% of the festival, in one postcode district.

Venues with a single dominant genre

Share of a venue's own listings in one genre, 20 shows or more.

  • Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire)100% comedy · 38 shows
  • EIFF @ Cineworld100% events · 27 shows
  • EIFF @ Filmhouse100% events · 26 shows
  • Fringe Central100% events · 26 shows
  • Monkey Barrel Comedy97% comedy · 105 shows
  • Hoots @ The Apex96% comedy · 57 shows
  • Ukrainian Community Centre96% music · 26 shows
  • Assembly @ Dance Base96% circus · 23 shows
Longest venue name
Meeting Point at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre (Next to the Festival Theatre Café side door)91 characters.

Free-at-the-door venues

77% of nights at the 22 free-at-the-door rooms end with no tickets on sale. These shows are free at the door and carry no online allocation, so the status records how they are sold rather than how well they sold.

They are excluded from every sell-out chart on this page, because they would otherwise top all of them. The rooms are Laughing Horse, PBH's Free Fringe, Scottish Comedy Festival and The Scottish Parliament, about 5,970 nights in all.

The programme

Titles, runs and running times

39.6% of shows were comedy, and 44.7% of all performances.

190 characters

was the longest show title of the festival.

Kate Smurthwaite Writes and Performs a Brand-New Full-Length Stand-Up Show Every Single Day for the Entire Edinburgh Fringe Based on Audience Suggestions from the Previous Day (Not Tuesdays), at PBH's Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth. The shortest titles managed three letters: 113, A&E, Bel, CUT, Cyn, HAM, MIR, Pyg.

Title patterns

1,442
Contain a colon
903
Name: Title
the performer-led format
167
Works in progress
251
Exclamation marks
93
Ask a question
73
Shout CANCELLED
in the title itself

33% of titles contain a colon, and 903 of them follow the performer name format.

750

bookable slots for Gwen John: Strange Beauties, the longest run of anything.

An exhibition, bookable by the hour. The longest staged run was FLIGHT, at 506 performances.

477

shows played exactly one night.

11% of the programme.

Typical show
1 hourThe median running time across the programme.
Shortest
5 minutes, Vines, the Golden Dome and the DuckChildren's Shows at C ARTS | C venues | C digital.
Longest
7 hours, Festival CD and Record FairExhibitions and all-day events excluded.

Shows by genre

The programme, as filed.

  • Comedy
    1,707
  • Theatre
    1,138
  • Music
    420
  • Cabaret
    199
  • Opera
    189
  • Events
    181
  • Spoken Word
    167
  • Circus
    138
  • Children's Shows
    137
  • Exhibitions
    40

Age restriction by genre

Share restricted to 18 and over.

  • Cabaret
    43.2%
  • Comedy
    32.9%
  • Events
    23.8%
  • Music
    15%
  • Theatre
    9.9%
  • Spoken Word
    7.2%
  • Circus
    2.9%
  • Opera
    2.6%
  • Children's Shows
    0%
  • Exhibitions
    0%

Search enrichment

The comparisons the model reached for

Building the search engine meant asking a language model to describe all 4,315 shows in the form "X meets Y", three comparisons each. Counting the names it used maps its reference points.

18%

of shows were compared to Fleabag by the model.

765 of 4,315 shows. Only TED Talk came up more often, at 800, and that names a format rather than a programme.

Cultural reference points

Shows whose AI-written comparisons name each one. A fixed watchlist, counted once per show.

  • TED Talk
    800
  • Fleabag
    765
  • Whose Line
    324
  • Black Mirror
    224
  • Bo Burnham
    179
  • Monty Python
    104
  • Cirque du Soleil
    97
  • Taskmaster
    83
  • David Lynch
    75
  • Shakespeare
    67
  • Succession
    58
  • Stewart Lee
    57
  • Pixar
    56
  • Hannah Gadsby
    54
  • Rocky Horror
    49
  • The Office
    46
  • Horrible Histories
    46
  • Wes Anderson
    38
  • Derry Girls
    31
  • Beckett
    30
  • Studio Ghibli
    28
  • Peep Show
    24
  • Tarantino
    24
  • Armando Iannucci
    18
  • Eurovision
    11
  • Attenborough
    10
  • Alan Bennett
    2
  • Mark Kermode
    1

The tail is short: Mark Kermode once and Alan Bennett twice. The model works from a narrow set of references and repeats them.

Most-assigned vibe tags

Across the programme, as written by the same model.

  • Interactive
    1,161
  • High-Energy
    1,024
  • Witty
    967
  • Intimate
    944
  • Thought-Provoking
    586
  • Observational
    543
  • Engaging
    531
  • Musical
    494
  • Relatable
    464
  • Intense
    461
  • Storytelling
    444
  • Dark-Comedy
    440

Who turned up

78 countries brought a show

Most sent a single show.

  • United Kingdom, England
    1,824
  • United Kingdom, Scotland
    1,116
  • United States
    573
  • Australia
    190
  • Ireland
    104
  • Canada
    56
  • China
    44
  • United Kingdom, Wales
    39
  • New Zealand
    36
  • Germany
    27
31

countries sent exactly one show.

Argentina, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Guinea, Holy See (Vatican City State), Hungary, Israel, Jersey, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Panama, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Cancellations

Shows that came off the programme

Shows and nights that were listed, went on sale, and were then withdrawn.

2,289

performances were cancelled.

Along with 65 shows pulled outright. The worst single day was 30 August, with 154 cancellations.

40

nights lost by one show, AI Campfire [Return].

At Venue 13. 73 shows ended up with the word CANCELLED in their own title.

Cancellation rate by venue

Share of a venue's scheduled nights that were pulled. Venues with at least 200 nights.

  • Hoots @ Hilton (Bread Street)
    18.5%
  • The Gilded Saloon
    13.7%
  • Modern
    13.3%
  • National
    12.8%
  • Just The Tonic Nucleus
    10.9%
  • Braw Venues @ Grand Lodge
    10.6%
  • Laughing Horse @ The Brass Monkey (Drummond Street)
    10%
  • Hoots @ Potterrow
    8.8%

A thought experiment

The longest possible day

The longest chain of different shows one person could have sat through on the busiest day of the festival, allowing 15 minutes between each to cross town.

18

different shows, back to back, on 14 August.

08:00 to 01:15. No show twice, exhibitions excluded, 15 minutes between each.

  1. 108:00-08:505k Edinburgh Running TourMeeting Point at Charlotte Square
  2. 209:10-09:50A Star and a PearltheSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
  3. 310:10-10:55The Best Ever Creation Story Contest (& Eurekas)Paradise in The Vault
  4. 411:15-11:45Bubba-LiciousLaughing Horse @ The Pear Tree
  5. 512:00-12:30ARCADEPleasance Dome
  6. 612:45-13:15COMAAssembly George Square
  7. 713:30-14:00Concerts of the FutureSummerhall
  8. 814:15-15:00The Battle of Frogs and MiceZOO Southside
  9. 915:15-16:00Prateek Kohli: DenialPBH's Free Fringe @ Southsider
  10. 1016:20-17:00The ProposalParadise in The Vault
  11. 1117:25-17:55AdmittedC ARTS | C venues | C aquila
  12. 1218:15-18:50Film Noir FrogtheSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
  13. 1319:20-19:50TruthmachineC ARTS | C venues | C alto
  14. 1420:05-20:50Dr LouLou's WIPAlchemist | St James Quarter
  15. 1521:05-21:55The ReunionC ARTS | C venues | C aurora
  16. 1622:10-22:55ESPÉCIEBraw Venues @ Hill Street
  17. 1723:10-00:00The Darren Podcast Show Live!Greenside @ George Street
  18. 1800:15-01:15The Agony and Ecstasy of Bingo JoeLaughing Horse @ The Counting House
View as table
#TimeShowVenue
108:00-08:505k Edinburgh Running TourMeeting Point at Charlotte Square
209:10-09:50A Star and a PearltheSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
310:10-10:55The Best Ever Creation Story Contest (& Eurekas)Paradise in The Vault
411:15-11:45Bubba-LiciousLaughing Horse @ The Pear Tree
512:00-12:30ARCADEPleasance Dome
612:45-13:15COMAAssembly George Square
713:30-14:00Concerts of the FutureSummerhall
814:15-15:00The Battle of Frogs and MiceZOO Southside
915:15-16:00Prateek Kohli: DenialPBH's Free Fringe @ Southsider
1016:20-17:00The ProposalParadise in The Vault
1117:25-17:55AdmittedC ARTS | C venues | C aquila
1218:15-18:50Film Noir FrogtheSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
1319:20-19:50TruthmachineC ARTS | C venues | C alto
1420:05-20:50Dr LouLou's WIPAlchemist | St James Quarter
1521:05-21:55The ReunionC ARTS | C venues | C aurora
1622:10-22:55ESPÉCIEBraw Venues @ Hill Street
1723:10-00:00The Darren Podcast Show Live!Greenside @ George Street
1800:15-01:15The Agony and Ecstasy of Bingo JoeLaughing Horse @ The Counting House

Odds and ends

From the change log

Records left behind by six months of checking the listings.

23

status changes on a single performance: Connor Burns: FLOW, 8 August, 18:00.

On sale, off sale and back again, for a single performance.

The busiest show in the database

One Hundred Voices at The Scottish Parliament logged 3,410 ticket-status changes across 415 nights, an average of 8 a night.

The show that started early

11 performances sat outside August entirely. The first, Exhibition: Craigmillar Tapestry at Scottish Storytelling Centre, opened on 24 July, over a week before the festival officially began.