Success is infectious ... an audience in Edinburgh. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
So the Edinburgh comedians are in revolt against the venues and it's time to "loose stand-up from its chains", says Brian Logan in today's paper. But are the big venues really squeezing out the spirit of the Fringe"? And - most crucially - does it actually matter to us as audience members?
There's a suggestion that we'll pick up the big corporate brochure for the centralised Edinburgh Comedy Festival, and fail to notice that it doesn't include many of the comics performing this year.
Well, it's always been the case that bigger venues put out programmes and brochures. I've known people to spend their entire festival at the Pleasance, never venturing to another venue. But will we really overlook the comics that aren't part of the big bad commercial umbrella?
I suspect it depends what you're looking for. Some of us go hunting for the edgy, nascent stars, others stick to old favourites and the "safe" big names.
I've seen the delicious Adam Hills in successively larger venues over the years, and he attracts increasingly older and more prosperous audiences. Does it change his act? I suspect it has. Does it matter? Well, there's always someone edgier if you want it.
Successful things grow. There's a refrain doing the rounds this year. Are you going to Glastonbury? Nah, it's got too big. Are you going to Hay? Nah, it's got too mainstream. Are you going to Edinburgh? Nah, it's got too expensive.
But it doesn't matter. There will always be movement - whether that's seen as successful commercial progress, or a deadening corporate stranglehold. And there will always be room for young green things - on the fringe of the Fringe. Don't you think?
