Terribly ill-informed & lazy journalism on display at the Telegraph

I thought it was fairly plausible, but then I've never been to the Edinburgh festival (or Scotland for that matter) or found "alternative" comedy generally that amusing.

But I'm willing to accept that this is a minority view. ?

https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-entertainment/edinburgh-fringe-kicks-off-annual-tosspot-migration-200908061961

It was more the fact that he had mispelled several names, misrepresented some comedians' work and studiously ignored the shows of certain comedians that didn't fit with his small view of alternative comedy that wound me up! I've not been to the Fringe either and think I too would be irritated by all the poncing and overly earnest drama students.

I don't really consider blogs to be journalism to be honest, and I dislike the way that comment in newspapers is tending towards the blog format, which IMO are sloppier and more prone to ranting.

Good grief.

I love the comments afterwards.

I think there probably is an interesting article to be written about left wing bias in political comedy but this definitely isn't it. If you're going to say "why has there never been a good routine about islamic fundamentalism, the green movement etc" or whatever he says, you really need quite a good grasp of what's happening in comedy. I only rarely see stand up live and mainly get my comedy from radio 4, but I've heard excellent routines on pretty much all the subjects he lists. It's as if he's decided on his conclusion (that comedians are all biased lefties going after easy targets) then made up his examples to suit his point.

Fair enough. I noticed he'd missed the e off of Brigstocke, but hadn't actually heard of anybody else he mentions. Oh, except Frankie Boyle, who I think I've had the misfortune to see on Mock the Week (shouty ginger Scot ? or am I thinking of somebody else).

It was a pretty wishy-washy article though, I agree.

P&P, you're missing out on a massive, amazing arts festival. The Edinburgh Festival does not equal alternative comedy, that's just one part of the Fringe which, is in turn, one part of the EF.

I agree with OP - if they can't even spell the comedians' names correctly, the journalist clearly hasn't done much research....

I can't stand Mock the Week or Frankie Boyle. Just shouty and aggressive rubbish, no wit at all.

[crap excuse] yeah, but it's so far away [/crap excuse]

? Didn't you just have a holiday in Greece or Cyprus?

London to Edinburgh is 3-4 hours direct train from Euston or Kings X. It's quite a picturesque journey and you can get very cheap deals. You can also fly, it's less than hour. ?

The only people who hate the EF are people who live in Edinburgh ? And even outside of the festival, Edinburgh is a really cool place to visit; pretty, fab museums, great shopping, amazing history, good food...

(I don't know why I'm giving you the hard sale, I'm not from Edinburgh and only ever visit now as a stop off at my cousin's on way up to Abdn ?)

Much like Brian Logan appeared to have done in the recent Guardian article - although I don't think this will backfire in quite the same way.

That Brian Logan thing was mind-boggling. Did he think noone who'd seen the act would read it? ?

I'm struggling to get wound up tbh - a) it's a blog and b) it's the Telegraph - I wouldn't really expect anything else. It's like pointing out that the Daily Mail is full of ill-informed, right wing tosh - if I got worked up about every article I saw I'd have blood pressure through the roof.

Loving the 'thinktank committed to exposing the left-liberal stranglehold on the cultural arts' or whatever it is though. Oh dear. There is right-leaning comedy out there (and non-political comedy too, though rarer, certainly in anything other than sitcoms) but I can't say I've come across any I find funny. And as for anti-PC - has he tried listening to Mock the Week or even Have I Got News For You? I've started cringing so much at the level of offensiveness that I've given up watching both. MB, however, I want to marry.

I go from Edinburgh to London and back every week, it's not that far away [rofl]. That said, I wouldn't recommend visiting Edinburgh at the moment; the city centre looks like the aftermath of a Michael Bay film about giant tranforming robots thanks to the godforsaken tram works (although they did find skeletons from the old leper's hospital recently, woo hoo!). It's such a mess, I'm rapidly falling out of love with my home city. Also, it's chucked it down most of this week, so Greece or Cyprus frankly sounds more appealing to me! ?

Mind you, I rarely borrow with anything at the Festival other than the fireworks.

I don't like Frankie Boyle, but I love mock the week. Mainly for HUgh. I love hugh. And dara. And little russell howard. I want to take him home.