Highs and Lows

Another year over, here are the highs and lows of my Edinburgh 2004. See you back here in 11 months time, then.

BOUQUETS

Will Adamsdale: As if he needed our bouquet after winning the £7,500 Perrier, but his was the sort of fairytale story that lures people to the Fringe year on year, desperate for a bite at fame. From initially modest plans, his remarkable life coach show Jackson's Way caught the imagination of audiences, critics and fellow comics, firmly establishing himself as a creative force to be reckoned with.

Epitaph: The other Perrier nominee no one had heard of, American duo Adrian Wenner and Ethan Sandler produced a wonderfully layered sketch show with a narrative and a heart, expertly performed and warmly funny.

The Underbelly and Pod Deco: For widening the Big Three of the Assembly Rooms, Pleasance and Gilded Balloon into the Big Five. For a venue that almost never happened until council safety fears were resolved, the Underbelly built on the reputation it started last year as a cool place to hang out somewhat expanded and with better air conditioning, if offered a space for some of the more experimental offerings, including the Perrier winner. At the other end of the scale the new Pod Deco, a converted old cinema, offered a more upmarket setting; whether the building is usable as an arts space next year or whether it's flats, we'll have to see.

Christian Slater: For bringing Hollywood glamour and buzz to the Fringe, but not being too starry not to hang out in the same bars as everyone else, at least some of the time.

Will Smith, Brendon Burns and Alex Horne: Because they all could so easily have been nominated for the Perrier for creating wonderful well-conceived hour-long shows moving stand-up into a different league. Smith's 10 Arguments I Should Have Won effortlessly merged video with live performance; Burns had a showdown between his shouty former persona and a more relaxed natural one in a strangely moving piece; while Horne's disconcerting body language seminar Every Body Knows used deliberately cheap computer effects and numerous performance tricks to keep his audience on their toes.

Daniel Kitson, Adam Hills, Flight of the Conchords and Christian Reilly

The Black Medicine Coffee Co: Whose fine products kept me going through more than one sleep-deprived day. Same goes for the Metro promotional people who handed out free water at the Gilded Balloon on certain days.

BRICKBATS

Rain: The wettest Fringe for years washed the fun out of the Pleasance Courtyard and the Royal Mile and hit audiences at plenty of shows, and on the worst days made the Edinburgh experience something of an ordeal.

Christopher Richardson: The director of the Pleasance, and one of the men who made the Fringe what it is today, made an uncharacteristic error of judgment after acquiring a sports hall and converting it into the 700-seater Pleasance Grand. Needing a show to go in it, he chose to run a Pick Of The Best showcase of top stand-ups, thus luring audiences away from lesser-known comedians' solo offerings, hitting their audiences and their pockets and striking a blow against artistic adventure.

Helen Lederer: For her abysmal Finger Food show, a poorly-conceived, poorly-executed fiasco of a show that should have shamed a student revue troupe, let alone a comedy actress with 20 years experience behind her.

Chas Early: For hijacking the memory of Bill Hicks to launch his own stand-up career with an ill-conceived tribute show called Slight Return that offered nothing for fans of the much-missed comic, or indeed for comedy itself.