Celebrating its fortieth season at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Gilded Balloon, one of the Big Four venue operators, presented previews of a dozen acts – mostly comedians (including the MC, Caroline Rhea, who introduced each performance in a new dress and a couple of jokes), some performance artists including at least one shock artist (though also billed as comedians), several musicals, and a “modern mentalist,” all performing in front of two balloons (pink, but not gilded) that were supposed to say “40” but looked to me like “JO.”
Below are video excerpts, or still photographs from the presentation, with each name/title linked to their show or shows in this year’s festival.
Darby James presented an original song as a toast to the “unstoppable, improbable Gilded Balloon” (His first lyric, left out of the video below: “This one’s for the comic who bombs rather atomically, then tries another joke and gets a laugh.”)
Callum Grant (Blue Man Group)
