大象传媒

In 2016, Scott Gibson won the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, making him the first Scottish comic in history to do so.

He's recently moved to Edinburgh to do his first fringe as a local resident, so who better to give us a comedian's guide to the festival...?

"When the Fringe is on, you start to hate umbrellas.

"You will just see an umbrella poking above the heads of people and you’ll think 'there’s a walking tour here' or, even worse, a silent disco.

"Silent disco walking tours have become the hatred of locals because they are anything other than silent, I think they could be done under trade descriptions.

"If you want to escape the dreaded tours, there are places you can escape such as Livingston, Glasgow or even south of the border!"

"If you're looking for a space in Edinburgh itself to escape the crowds, then go to The Meadows.

"It's a beautiful green space within the city where you can come sit and have a coffee or take a walk. You can even sunbathe here if you don't mind getting caught in the occasional downpour!

"Looking out onto The Meadows, knowing the madness of the Fringe is behind you, is a strange feeling."

"The sound of bagpipes is everywhere in Edinburgh during the Fringe.

"During the festival, the seagulls are fitted with small bagpipes so the sound of the pipes fill the city wherever you go. It's something the Scottish Government brought in in 2013.

"The seagulls are taken to Shetland and undertake a small training course, it’s six and a half weeks and it’s a special bagpipe fitted to its wing. Whenever it flies it squeezes the bag and the beautiful sound of the pipes rings out.*"

*May not be true

"I personally hate flyering, it steals a piece of my soul when I try and give someone a flyer.

"There seem to be two types of flyerers. The first kind stand still, say nothing and hold it out and people seen to take it and you have other ones who try and put on a display and a show, and that’s the most cringey thing I’ve seen.

"I’d love to know how much money and paper is used on flyers at this festival. I’ve often wondered if there’s something we can do where, instead of paying £100 for flyers, acts could contribute to something a central point where it says 'these acts have chosen not to have flyers, instead they’ve donated to an environmental cause' or something. But flyering posters is still very much a part of every festival in the world.

"You need to remember the flyers are here to try and promote the shows. One thing I do is take the flyers and if you don’t want them or don’t want to see the show, leave them on a bench or table where someone else might see them instead of just putting them in the bin - that's helping no one out."

"The Assembly Gardens is an amazing place to eat and have a drink, there’s a lot of different food stalls and independent market things in here.

"You will see the whole of the garden is covered in Astroturf. About two weeks before the festival starts, as part of the jazz festival which is on before the fringe, you will have a whole host of techs and stage hands come in and they actually attach Astroturf onto real grass.

"So we put fake grass on top of real grass."

"Each of the venues will have their own artists bar. It’s a nice space for acts to come if you are performing at the venue, it is quiet, you can get a bit of work done if you need to check emails and there is even an outdoor space to chill in.

"If you are performing at the Gilded Balloon venue you get a pass and you can come here and sit and have a drink – acts only in this space. Very exclusive.

"There have been a few famous people in this bar, Hugh Grant was up here one year. Sadiq Khan was here the other day with his bodyguards - all six of them wearing the exact same blue suit standing at the exact same height.

"You forget that punters or audiences don’t know you as normal people. It’s odd sometimes when people ask you for an autograph or a picture because you forget they just know you as a performer. The artist bars are nice because there’s no awkwardness of people wanting selfie, we just sit and chill get drunk and tell stories."

大象传媒 Radio 5 Live's Sarah Brett is live from the Edinburgh Fringe from 22:30 on Wednesday 14 August and Thursday 15 August.

Click here to listen on 大象传媒 Sounds.