Fringe 2017: Top acts choose their comedy picks

Comedy stars pick their favourites.

Fringe: the best comedy shows to watch this year

The Edinburgh Fringe kicks off on August 4, with previews from August 2. Here's our pick of this year's comedy line-up. (For tickets, visit tickets.edfringe.com).

Meet Fringe innovators Berk's Nest

An interview with Katie Churchill, Owen Donovan and Phoebe Bourke, the producers and directors behind some of the Fringe's most imaginative shows

Does mainstream necessarily have to mean poor? As something like Miranda has shown us, absolutely not. However, Watson & Oliver, the sketch show from Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver, is the counter-argument. There are some original and amusing ideas here - the carnival dancer condemned to perform mundane non-carnival tasks, such as crossing the road or visiting the cashpoint, while imprisoned in her sequins and headdress - but it's hard to see how some of these skits (a spoof of The Killing? Really?) ever made it off the hard drive.

This week saw the return of the BBC sketch show starring (and primarily written by) Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver. Mostly filmed in front of a live audience, Watson & Oliver take on everyday life and familiar characters.

I enjoyed the series premiere, but felt a little like the show fell into the sketch trap of letting a scene go on too long after the strongest punch line. I can't help but think that if the editing was more brutal it would have tightened the whole thing up.

Watson & Oliver are obviously very talented comedy performers and writers, having three sell-out Edinburgh shows under their belts, and the supporting cast, though fairly sparse, also offer strong performances. It's not going to break any boundaries or change the way you think, but if you are looking for an entertaining and varied half hour then do give it a go.

Watson & Oliver interview

Best friends and comedy partners Ingrid Oliver and Lorna Watson are back with a second series of their sketch show Watson & Oliver. "We're really thrilled to be back, because you get to put in all the things you've learned."

Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver return with a new series, and on the evidence of this episode, it's more of the same gentle comedy that characterised their first outing last year. Mrs Busy Lady ("What are you doing, Susan?") returns, as well as new characters including makeup counter girls Emma and Nadia. The duo make full use of the Beeb's wig closet (Watson's turn as Angela Merkel is particularly convincing) as well as its programmes, which results in a well-observed play on the benevolent condescension of Call The Midwife.

Chances of a return series seemed slim after last year's underwhelming debut comedy sketch caper from Ingrid Oliver and Lorna Watson. But the BBC has faith and the pair are back with a fresh six-part offering. While sometimes the stereotypes they take a pop at simply reinforce cliché, there's a glimmer of a laugh when British PM (Oliver) gets an unexpected visit from German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Watson), for a spot of domestic subterfuge.

Their first series didn't exactly go down a storm with only 500,000 viewers staying to the bitter end. However, since then Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver have raised their comic profiles with appearances on Comic Relief's versions of Let's Dance and The Great British Bake Off and now they've been given a second series. Admittedly it's still patchy and it would be improved if they knew when to end a sketch - the Midwife spoof, for example. However, there are several moments that may make you chortle.

It was a surprise when, after a first series of declining ratings, Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver's sketch show got a second run. But whatever re-evaluations may have taken place behind the scenes, this is still daftness of a pretty conservative bent: Franglais; the perils of personalised ringtones; a Call the Midwife pisstake.

When a skit does brush the boundaries of good taste, it creates a genuine frisson of risk and invention missing from much of the rest of the show: a rough sleeper inviting a potential beau home, for example. And a stricter editor would have made for a pacier show, as potentially snappy ideas ('realistic cooking') are dulled by overlength. Accomplished performances once more, but the material lets them down.