It may only be a matter of time until someone tries to reward a comedian with, say, a kitten. The pay-what-you-want ticketing model has grown increasingly popular at the Edinburgh Fringe in recent years, and with so many shows now doing it every August, you do wonder if certain punters will take that phrase literally. A lot of random stuff from handbags must end up in those buckets, over the course of a Fringe.

Indeed, you can imagine that big fans of an act might find boring old cash a bit lazy. What's to stop people paying with home-baked goods, or unwanted Christmas presents? Or a new pet? It'd be hard for even the most hard-hearted comic to turn down a big old cake that a fan had spent ages making. At least you don't have to go to the bank that way - a no-deposit bonus (not to be confused with a no deposit casino bonus which you can find on Casinoportal.co.uk, which is slightly different). Although if that idea really took off, they'd have to start bringing a much bigger bucket.

It hasn't gone that far just yet, but PWYW did cause a bit of confusion at this year's Fringe, on occasion. Many shows combined the free/ticketed models, offering tickets in advance then pay-what-you-want on the day. We sat in a couple of shows where the comic stood at the back afterwards and no-one put in any money in at all - because that day's audience had all bought tickets already. So acts with a total sell-out show could look slightly sadder afterwards - standing there with an empty bucket, everyone just thanking them - than someone in a free venue that was a third full. Curious.

Now, either the message didn't get through from the box office to the stage on those occasions, or the comic was hoping for a bit extra on top. Which is fair enough. Most tickets in those bit-of-both venues cost a fiver, whereas you often hear comics in non-ticketed venues asking for a tenner afterwards: so again, acts who sell all of their tickets in advance may end up with less. And it's tricky, asking ticket-holders to pay extra. A lot of comics find it difficult doing a bucket speech at all: so the pay-even-though-you've-already-paid speech might be a step too far.

The other issue with the tickets-and-free model is that it makes it easier to sneak out without paying anything. At non-ticketed shows it's a bit awkward walking past the act with just a thank-you (even though those shows are often advertised as 'free.') Whereas if the comic says 'I know a lot of you bought a ticket already' in his bucket speech, well, it's a lot easier to just saunter past as if you're one of them. Perhaps we need a different phrase, if 'pay what you want' isn't quite cutting it - 'pay something,' perhaps. A cake is better than nothing.

It's interesting how the bucket speech has quickly become a big part of the live experience for a hefty cross-section of comics in recent years. For acts who have experience of street performance - the likes of Stuart Goldsmith and Paul Currie - those appeals for cash are nothing new. Indeed, a nice example of comedy's healthy camaraderie - even though performers at the Fringe are really trying to steal each others' audiences - has been those street-savvy acts helping bucket virgins (ok, that phrase sounds bad) to do it better.

There are definite techniques: for maximum impact you want to do your begging-for-money bit before the big finale, for example, rather than after the show when people are distracted by putting on coats, picking up bags, or already running for the exit, as certain reviewers are famed for doing. Working out and sticking to a Fringe review schedule does involve the sort of precision timings you'd usually see in a Mission Impossible movie, in fairness.

Those speeches can be off-putting if misjudged. We've all seen acts who demand a certain amount of money, slightly aggressively: insisting on no coins, for example, probably because they can't be bothered counting it out and lugging it to the bank. Now no doubt that works, and audiences are persuaded to give a bucketful of notes, but they may never turn up to watch that act again. Indeed, for Fringe newcomers, it may put them off seeing 'free' shows altogether. Describing a show as free, or 'pay what you want,' then demanding a certain amount is a bit rich. But those acts may be too, if they make similar demands in all of their business transactions.

Ideally, good comics turn the bucket speech into a fun part of the act, and it is becoming something of an artform. In fact, one comic - Rory O'Keeffe - came up with a novel idea for charity on the Fringe's middle Tuesday this year: a one-off show entirely made up of one long bucket speech. Which sounds an effort, but he was due to get a helping hand from some well-known names on the day, including Theresa May's old election pal, Lord Buckethead, appropriately enough.

We don't know how much he raised, after all that, but surely everyone put their hands in their pockets afterwards. Even reviewers.