Edinburgh 2007: Funny business

The Fringe's reputation for comedy is second to none, and this year's lineup is a who's who of great stand-ups. As the queues outside the Pleasance Courtyard testify, humour is a hot ticket. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

The Heckle's Lucy Porter met Mark Watson just before his non-stop 24-hour comedy jamboree to save the planet. Mark was cheery about the prospect: "The worst that can happen is I can suffer a humiliating collapse and die." Photograph: PR

Ventriloquist Nina Conti has brought her puppet pal Monkey to this year's festival. The foul-mouthed critter steals the show with one-liners like "I can't tell my arse from your elbow." Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty

Phil Nichol, a former member of musical-comedy troupe Corky and the Juice Pigs, spoke to Brian Logan about starting his stand-up career: "What came out was the anxiety, pain and desperation. I was a blast of rage." Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian

Pregnant comic Shappi Khorsandi is presenting a show called Carry on Shappi: "It was going to be called 'Oh my god, the morning-after pill didn't work and now I'm going to be heavily pregnant at the Edinburgh festival but I have to go to build on last year's momentum - my career depends on it, god damn it.' But that wouldn't fit on the poster." Photograph: PR

Tommy Sheridan surveys the festival scene in his set: "There's a show on the Fringe about George Bush and Tony Blair. It's called Penis Puppetry, and it stars a couple of pricks." Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Simon Amstell opens his new show at the Pleasance like this: "One year ago, I went on a painful journey of self-discovery, and discovered that the self doesn't exist." Photograph: Adam Lawrence/PR

John Bishop's show has a catchy title: Stick Your Job Up Your Arse. The set includes reminiscences of his first comedy gig. "Not all of it was funny," he says, "especially the bits where I was crying." Photograph: PR

Birdwatcher Alex Horne shared a one-liner with us: "We had our wedding reception sponsored by T-Mobile. Shit service, no reception." Photograph: PR

Kirsten O'Brien talked to the Guardian about her show, Confessions of a Children's TV Presenter: "I'm going to be terrified sitting on my own backstage in a sausage suit - it's part of the act." Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian