EDINBURGH FRINGE: all the Jewish shows you need to know about

It’s summer, it’s Edinburgh, and that can only mean one thing – the Fringe. There is a wide range of Jewish talent appearing across comedy, music and acting, appealing to Jewish, Jew-ish and indeed non-Jewish audiences.

Rachel Creeger, aka Ultimate Jewish Mother, was awarded the Keep It Fringe Bursary 2024. She says that her show brings diverse people together through Jewish humour, helping to combat antisemitism and working towards community cohesion.

“I hope to use the Fringe to bring people together and remind the audiences that more unites us, than divides us,” she says. “We have all been a child, we have all been through some kind of education, we’ve all had trials and tribulations and longed for answers. The device of using my ‘Jewish mother hat’ to give advice and reassurance allows everyone to connect and feel a sense of belonging to each other.”

Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Philip Simon, who together with Aaron Levene has run Jewish compilation show Jew-O-Rama for the past eight years at the Edinburgh Fringe, says: “The show has always been warmly received from both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. “Given the current situation in Israel and Gaza, we weren’t sure if the show should go ahead this year, but after much consideration we decided it was more important than ever to not just hide away. We want to place Jews and Jewish comedy front and centre throughout this incredible city.”

 

Rachel Creeger: Ultimate Jewish Mother
Whether it’s a relationship problem, wording a sensitive work email or the best recipe for brisket, this Jewish mother has all the answers! Multi-award-winning comedian Rachel Creeger (BBC1, BBC Radio) presents her joyously funny, interactive stand-up show.

Jew-O-Rama
Created by Aaron Levene and hosted by Jewish Comedian of the Year Philip Simon, this is the return of the hit Fringe show where each day, different Jewish comedians give you the best in neurotic comedy.

Rules Schmules: How To Be Jew-ISH
Suzie Depreli’s passive-aggressive mission to educate the world about what it means to have an Orthodox family who ate sausages, an Asian Catholic husband that uses more Yiddish words than her Nana, and to celebrate Passover without believing in God.

 Leslie Gold: A Chip Off The Gold Block
(Also a recipient of the Keep It Fringe Bursary 2024). A transatlantic middle-aged Jewish atheist divorcee walks into a bar… Forced to choose between a show about identity and one about her dead dad, Leslie chose both.

Millwall Jew
Ivor Dembina, weary of being expected to support north London’s ‘Jewish’ football team Tottenham Hotspur, swears allegiance instead to his local south London club – Millwall FC.

Nineteen Ninety-Four
A compilation from Ivor Dembina to mark 30 years since his Edinburgh debut.

Ian Stone Is Keeping It Together
Ian Stone has all his own hair and teeth and keeps a tight control over his between-meal snacking but what does it matter when the country is a mess, there’s war in the Middle East, and Donald Trump could be allowed back into the White House?

Michael Shafar: Lots To Say
Jewish Australian cancer survivor with one testicle weighs into the culture wars and touch on the topics that most comedians are smart enough to avoid.

 

Michael Shafar: Well Worth The Chemo
Hilariously dark show explaining the benefits of losing a testicle, why cancer survivors have the most positive attitudes of anyone and how chemotherapy can really help people achieve their goal weight.

Al Lubel Talks About His Name for 57 Minutes and about Something Else for 3 Minutes
Comedy genius Al Lubel “attempts to be funny”. And he succeeds.

001 – Laughing Matters
Ori Halevy left Israel to live in Berlin, because it is ironically safer. His mother would disagree as she is a Holocaust survivor and therefore kind of needy, so he moved to the one country she would never visit him in.

Jamie Lerner: F*ck Tomorrow
A solo musical comedy hour about being a Jewish millennial woman from New York living in Barcelona.

 

 

Benjy Wilder and Alfie Dundas: Cold Brew Comedy
Comedy for the iced matcha latte generation from two of London’s sweetest sugars. Expect Gen Z optimistic nihilism, lots of iced coffee
and a good bit of gossip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimidating

Australian comedian Reuben Kaye takes us on an incredible journey dissecting being raised by a Jewish immigrant household, through to his latest media controversies and tackling politics at large. Impeccable comedic timing and performance ability.

Reuben Kaye: The Kaye Hole
Queer, messy and hilarious, with a different line-up every night, The Kaye Hole is a cult favourite that brings together the hottest comedy acts with the best and bravest that the festival’s circus and cabaret scene has to offer. All backed by a live band and intermixed with the hosting and musical prowess of Reuben himself.

Chutzpah Dance showcaseVibrance
A debut international showcase by a neurodiverse dance group from New York Erica Isakower is the artistic director and founder of Chutzpah Dance and has presented her work in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Salt Lake City. She is leading a group of 11 emerging and mid-career artists, with ticket sales split equally to create space and opportunities for artists from typically marginalised groups.

Dave Piontkowski: 3 Kidneys, No Colon
Dave shares humorous musings navigating his health issues while dealing with overbearing parents, a fast-food diet and modern-day bathrooms.

Lolyamorous – A Speed Dating Comedy Show
Fringe 2023’s sell-out, interactive dating chat show returns. Choose to put your name in the bucket for the chance to have a one-minute date on stage with a random audience member. When time’s up, two comedians interview you both about your love lives!

Daniel Cainer’s Jewish Chronicles
Cainer’s stories are about all our families and all our foibles, lovingly and intelligently depicted. Smart, funny, timely and deeply moving.

I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical
Musical comedy revue by Jewish composer and lyricist Alexander S Bermange.

Confessions of a Butterfly: An Evening with Janusz Korczak
August 1942, Warsaw. Janusz Korczak, world renowned paediatrician, educator and youth worker is in his room at the top of the building housing 200 Jewish orphans. The liquidation of the ghetto has begun. How can he prepare the children for the inevitable? Is there an easier way out?

REVENGE: After The Levoyah
Nick Cassenbaum’s two-hander comedy heist, directed by Emma Jude Harris, romps through 2018 Jewish Essex and blows the roof off what it means to be Jewish in the UK. Twins Dan and Lauren meet ex-gangster Malcolm Spivak at their grandfather’s funeral. Malcolm, who’s ‘had enough’, enlists the siblings in a ragtag Yiddishe plot to kidnap then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

David Ellis: The Worst Jew
David Ellis is a terrible Jew. Just the worst. He doesn’t keep kosher, he couldn’t tell you the last time he set foot inside a synagogue and he frequently forgets how to spell Chanukah. He’s played all over the world and in long running comedy shows NewsRevue, Sh!tfaced Shakespeare, Potted Potter and The
Reduced Shakespeare Company.

In Defiance Of Gravity
Ezra Montefiore, spirit medium, is master of the seance, levitation and telekinesis. When details of a clandestine affair with Prince Felix Yusupov reach the ears of Rasputin and Russia’s Imperial Court he must fight not only for his reputation but also his life. Based on real events.

Lost Girl
Birdy is 19 and unearths a family secret that has been buried since 1930s Cairo. An exploration of Jewish-Arab heritage, the expectations of womanhood and family.

Emily Markoe: My Little Phobia
Emily Markoe has emetophobia, the extreme and debilitating fear of throwing up. So she would never write a show about vomit… Watch Emily perform her show without any interruptions from anxiety-producing characters, obsessive-compulsive rituals or recovered memories getting in the way.

Via Dolorosa by David Hare
Gary Hay presents a must-see performance of David Hare’s compelling drama, which lays bare the history, complexities and tensions of Israel and Palestine.

Do This One Thing For Me
What does it mean to remember the Holocaust in 2024? Jane Elias’s father is a Greek Holocaust survivor. Realising she may not be able to grant his wish to one day dance together at her wedding, she instead honours him by taking part in March of the Living in Poland. A transcendental pas de deux between two generations and a daughter’s love letter to her dad.

Jamie Denbo: Beverley Live!
Jamie Denbo, writer/producer (Grey’s Anatomy), presents her alter ego Beverly
(meddling mother to all) as she takes audiences on a comedic ride through her golden years in California, exploring everything from sound baths to how not to get cancelled.

 

Gracie Overbeke: Swear To Todd (Crushes and Other Zealotry)
Judgment day approaches in the form of a high school reunion. This is a theatrical piece/focus group/social experiment with music, that asks the age-old question, “Do people worship one another because we miss God?”

They May Have Even Eaten Ham!
Naomi Paul’s (mostly) Jewish show from the Baltic to Birmingham, from shamash to shellfish, to Hendon and beyond. With original stories, humour and songs.

Danielle Solof: The Balls of Philadelphia
Danielle thinks she might be spiritually connected to an idiot she met on a dating app. Follow her through a chronically absurd year and a half of signs, symbols and synchronicities, and research on spirituality and the brain as she tries to figure out what on earth could possibly be going on.

Zoe Brownstone: A Bite Of Yours
Zoe Brownstone has been performing standup since before dating apps existed, and yet still does not know how love works! That’s not the whole truth.
In fact she is quite certain that she’s unlocked several mysteries of the heart along the way, including how to survive step-parenthood, deportation and bilingual visa break-ups.

Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers
As seen on Britain’s Got Talent, accordion player Ryan covers artists from all across the pop music spectrum.

Steve Goodie: AL! The Weird Tribute (and How Daniel Radcliffe Got Mixed Up in This Nonsense)
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic and Daniel ‘Harry Potter’ Radcliffe were destined to be together onstage, and now they are! (Sort of.) A tribute to two icons of entertainment.

Our Little Secret: The 23&Me Musical
Noam Tomaschoff did an ancestry test and it turned a whole family’s life upside down. With 38 half-siblings and counting, the show is woven with themes of optimism and radical empathy as Noam has had to look at what family means and how his own family have come together – and grown!

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe takes place from 2 to 26 August
edfringe.com