Fest Best: Chat shows

Tim Vine

Edinburgh veteran and proud king of the pun, Tim Vine returns to the Fringe with a chat show featuring, well, you. With childlike enthusiasm, he plans to pluck guests from the audience and make them the focal point for his latest comedy offering. In the words of the man himself: “everybody has a story”. Unless they don’t, in which case it’ll be funny anyway. 

 

Marcel Lucont

Wine, bawdy chat and joie de vivre is the name of the game. Last year’s Encore cemented Alexis Dubus' seductive Frenchman as a Fringe fixture, and now he’s interrogating the lives of others for our entertainment. He's cagey about the stars featured, but promises “top ones” as well as little to no regard for guests and audience alike. Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen.

 

Arthur Smith

Arthur Smith famously used to like a drink. The audience still do. Beginning the evening with some swift breathalyser tests of randomly selected punters, this is set to be as unpredictable as a piss-up in a brewery. Considering the intoxication levels of those he interviews, one can only imagine the absurd conversations and bizarre revelations that will ensue. Sort of like a night in the pub if your friends were professional comics. [Stevie Martin]