It is festival season and that means that in the next month there is so many great comedy festivals to look forward to! This month we are looking at some of the great shows that you can see at the Edinburgh Fringe. So take note because we are going to give you all the information you need for just a handful of some of the great shows happening this year!

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Jess Robinson: Elton Reimagined

Location: Assembly George Square Gardens – Piccolo Tent  (Venue 3)

Dates:  Aug 5th-16th, 18th-30th

Time: 19:15

Price: £16.50 Concessions £15.5-

Ticket Link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/jess-robinson-elton-reimagined

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Hello! Tell us all about your show!

Elton Reimagined is what happens when you take Elton John’s greatest hits, hand them over to a wildly eclectic group of iconic divas and somehow fit them all into one woman.

Think Amy Winehouse singing Tiny Dancer, Kate Bush floating through Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Britney Spears getting hold of Bennie and the Jets, Barbra Streisand belting something gloriously dramatic, and the occasional audience singalong because frankly, resistance is futile.

It’s camp, funny, musically nerdy in places, quite moving and, according to ITV – “like a mega concert with all your favourite stars”.

If you love musical mashups, comedy, impressions, cabaret, Elton, great singing, big laughs and the slightly bonkers joy of hearing familiar songs in completely unexpected ways, I think you’ll have a very good time.

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?

I’m very excited to see anything involving Elf Lyons. Her show The Woman on the Edge is a genre defying clown spectacular. And exactly the sort of thing I’ll emerge from thinking, “I don’t know what just happened, but I think I’ve been changed as a person.”

I’m also very excited for Rosie Holt’s The Illegal Aliens Have Landed! because I love Rosie, I love satire, and at this point her political comedy increasingly feels less like fiction and more like breaking news.

And I’m very lucky to be sharing a venue with the brilliant Sarah-Louise Young whose new show The Bob Ross Effect I cannot wait to see. Sarah is ridiculously talented and the idea of a joyous Bob Ross-inspired musical/theatre/comedy situation sounds exactly like the sort of show I’ll absolutely love.

I’m also hosting Comedians’ Stars in Their Eyes at Cold Town House on the Grassmarket, which is always ridiculous fun. Last year we had Katie Pritchard as Jack Black, Kieran Hodgson as David Bowie and Pippa Evans as Alanis Morissette, which tells you everything you need to know about the level of beautiful chaos involved.

Have you done the fringe before? What are the key pieces of advice you have been given or would give to new groups or people performing at the fringe. 

This is my tenth Fringe. Which feels faintly alarming because I’m now at the stage where I can say things like “well, back in 2013…” and nobody stops me.

My biggest pieces of advice? Eat vegetables. Get sleep. See as much as you can.

The Fringe has a way of convincing you that surviving entirely on crepes, cheese toasties, adrenaline and tequilla at 11.30pm is a good idea. It is not. I’ve done it. I don’t remember that August… or September. Have something green occasionally.

Also: don’t read reviews. Or at the very least, have someone sensible read them first and only pass on the nice bits. Edinburgh can send you soaring or spiralling depending on what one tired journalist wrote at midnight after their fourth show of the day.

And this is the one I genuinely swear by: Whether you’ve had a brilliant show or a dreadful one, agree a cut-off time with yourself to stop thinking about it. Mine is 11am the next day.

Until then, I’m allowed to celebrate, wallow, over-analyse, briefly believe I’m a genius, briefly believe I should retrain as a florist… whatever. But at 11am, it’s a new day and we move on. Because Edinburgh is a marathon and your nervous system (sorry to be a wanker) will thank you.

Talk us through your daily routine for a day at the Fringe

Well, now I’m in my forties (though I maintain that I can play 18 and I MUST play 18), I’ve become slightly more sensible about Edinburgh.

I get up, go to pilates, don’t hate me, have a coffee and catch up with friends from home because it’s important to remind myself that Edinburgh is a bubble and there are, in fact, other things happening in the world.

Then I’ll usually walk across the Meadows into town, which is one of my favourite bits of the Fringe, and see who’s around for a catch up before the day properly begins.

I’ll try to see a show, probably pop up somewhere to do a bit of promo for my own show, and inevitably bump into about fourteen people I know while trying to get somewhere quickly.

I also like getting to my venue ridiculously early because I love the backstage bit. The gossip. Seeing the acts before. Hanging out.

Then: showtime.

Afterwards there’ll usually be a drink, a chat, me regretting agreeing to do some sort of ill-advised late-night spot for “visibility”, doing it anyway, another drink, and eventually heading home and switching my phone off before my brain convinces me to read reviews or reinvent my career at 1am.

Ok, where is your favourite place to eat at the Fringe? 

Easy. Cold Town House

Not because I’m hosting Comedians’ Stars in Their Eyes there during the Fringe (although that certainly helps), but because the pizza is genuinely excellent. I spend most of August convincing myself I’ll “just just go one more time” and then mysteriously find my costumes don’t fit by end of the fringe.

It’s right on the Grassmarket with Edinburgh Castle practically looming over you, there’s a gorgeous roof terrace and also, cold beer and carbs. Essential Fringe food groups. 

Best thing about performing at the fringe?

Ooh – A few things.

This show genuinely gives me energy. People always ask if I’m exhausted afterwards and strangely… I’m not. I come off stage completely buzzing.

But also, one of the best things about the Fringe is catching up with mates who live weirdly close to you all year round but somehow it takes all of you travelling to Scotland to actually see each other.

It’s chaotic, exhausting, financially crippling, ridiculous and one of my favourite times of year – which I measure in Edinburghs rather than Christmases. 

Do you bring anything special from home to make it feel more special whilst you are away?

Slippers, blanket, supplements. Sometimes my husband.

What are your best hacks to save money whilst at the Fringe?

Live at my cousins. Have ‘brunch’ rather than breakfast and lunch. Plus it feels bougie to say. 

If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?

Just go to my website www.jessrobinson.co.uk – and you can find my insta / facebook / tik tok etc there. 

And Finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show? 

Divas Sing Elton

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