Steve gives his early tips for the top...
Officially day five of the Fringe, and I'm already 30 shows down. The programme is starting to feel like an I-Spy book, in which the game is simply to tick off as many as possible, regardless of merit.
No real consensus has yet emerged as the ones to watch, so it's still quite a lottery for punters facing the bewildering torrent of posters, flyers and four-star reviews from obscure Guatamalan websites.
It also means most comics haven't yet relaxed into knowing they've a hit on their hands or having to admit they have a miss. Either way, the serious drinking has yet to start.
The few that are gathering some sort of head of steam of press and word of mouth include Brendon Burns, Chris Addison and Will Smith.
They're all great shows. Burns's involving an internal debate between the wild stage character and the more restrained him (regardless of any lewd activity he might have got up to at late-night cabarets this week); Addison's is a manifesto for the rebuilding of civilisation, and Will Smith's 10 Arguments I Should Have Won is fairly self-explanatory.
Of less well-known names, Dutch Elm Conservatoire is a hugely impressive sketch troupe and Janey Godley a fascinating storyteller with hard-hitting tales of Glasgow crime gangs and the like.
It's compelling to hear from a life so different to your own. The most exciting thing that happened to me yesterday was putting a shot of hazelnut syrup in my latte. Which is obviously why this blog is about the shows, and not the shenanigans but I will find some, it's my duty to you.
Steve gives his early tips for the top...
