Edinburgh comedy notebook
Comedy critics Stephanie Merritt and Paul MacInnes's dispatches from the festival circuit
Edinburgh comedy awards: 'record year' with 530 eligible shows so far
Director Nica Burns says awards' 32nd year attracting strong ticket sales and host of performers
Edinburgh comedy notebook: TV is making comedy better – and worse
Paul MacInnes: The lure of a TV show may have improved standards among young comics, but is careerism killing off the crazy and exceptional?
Edinburgh comedy notebook: It's official – Dave loves Nick
Sweat, swearing, singing – and Dave TV's best joke of the fringe. But I can't see Nick Helm on Live at the Apollo, says Paul MacInnes
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Is the political joke on its way back to power?
Paul MacInnes: Topical material is creeping back on the agenda. Even Tom Rosenthal is getting political – in a gentle sort of way
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Is an hour too long for a comedy set?
Can you stop yourself looking at your watch at a comedy gig – and can any of Edinburgh 2011's acts keep going long enough, asks Paul MacInnes
Edinburgh comedy notebook: What to see (or not to see)?
Paul MacInnes: With thousands of shows at the fringe it's hard to know where to start. Should you follow the recommendations of performers, your pals or just go it alone?
Edinburgh comedy notebook: spoof self-help gurus have pulling power
Stephanie Merritt: Comics cross the line into real life-coaching with tips for gents on undoing bra straps and advice for ladies on keeping their hats on
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Go on, make an interactive idiot of yourself
Stephanie Merritt: Whether it's stripping off or throwing bread, sometimes the only way to respond to an interactive show is to embrace the silliness
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Magicians pull out funny new tricks
Stephanie Merritt: Magic acts are reinventing the genre with show-and-tells, Facebook mind-reading and a 'young Jack Dee in a dragon suit'
Edinburgh comedy notebook: standup for kids is not actually child's play
More comedians should aim shows at kids: with the heckling, non-sequiturs and scatological glee, they're like late-night drunks, finds Stephanie Merritt
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Burlesque gets in on the joke
Stephanie Merritt: In Comic Strip, Asher Treleaven and Gypsy Wood mix standup with striptease to strike a blow against censorship
Edinburgh comedy notebook: What counts as comedy?
Stephanie Merritt: When it covers anything from standup to striptease, isn't it time the Edinburgh Comedy awards introduced some categories?
Edinburgh comedy notebook: When it's better to be funny-looking
We enjoy the comedy of failure and self-deprecation – so find it hard to believe attractive comics could share our insecurities
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Is this amateur night?
Stephanie Merritt: Spotlights crashing to the stage, unrehearsed comedians ... how much bungling can we bear when we're paying a tenner a ticket?
Edinburgh comedy notebook: why are chatshows so popular with audiences?
The Edinburgh fringe is renowned for craft and originality, so where's the allure of watching sofa surfers talk to each other?
Edinburgh comedy notebook: Why can't performers keep their clothes on?
In the first of our dispatches from the Edinburgh comedy frontline, Stephanie Merritt look at why standups are a lot like strippers
