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The 10 weirdest shows at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe

With more than 3,000 shows on offer, the Edinburgh Fringe hosts some of the best, worst and strangest entertainment from around the world. From the enigmatic and intriguing to the downright silly, here are 10 of the oddest acts to catch this year.

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All across the country, performers are limbering up for Edinburgh's month-long comedy marathon, fine-tuning their best new material before the Fringe. But if you can't wait until August - or, indeed, if you can't make it to Edinburgh at all - you can catch these shows in London first. Dive in!

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The 10 weirdest shows at the Edinburgh Fringe

The world's largest arts festival always attracts its fare share of culturally-enriching oddness. For every run-of-the-mill stand-up show, there's also a 24-hour Czech mime disco. From a crash course in onanism to the joys of half-chewed bread, here are 10 of the strangest outings at the 2016 Fringe.

Radio Times review

Sue Limb's literary parody (sorry, "Rhapsody about Bohemians") is back for a third series. Hitler may be causing trouble in Europe, but for the self-obsessed Bloomsbury artistes life continues uninterrupted. Vita Sackcloth-Vest (Miriam Margolyes) is still hiding her steamy romance with Venus Traduces. Naturally, Venus's unexpected arrival at Sizzlinghurst leads to a sub-Wodehouse imbroglio of fake names and Marxist spies.

There's something charmingly disrespectful about Gloomsbury, particularly Alison Steadman's Ginny Fox character (a merciless send-up of Virginia Woolf). If you're misty-eyed about all things Bloomsbury, and calling DH Lawrence "Dave Lollipop" makes you smile, Gloomsbury is sure to raise a chuckle.

Radio Times review

Reader, I LOL-ed. This is brilliant. For the third and final part of Jon Canter's blisteringly funny sitcom, time-travelling biographer James Boswell (Miles Jupp) meets Harold Pinter.

Harry Enfield is spot-on as the master of comic menace. There are a couple of obvious gags ("Would The Caretaker be different without the pauses?" "It would be... shorter.") but Canter writes with originality and depth.

Bizarrely, this would make an excellent introduction to Pinter's work. It's almost -- though it pains me to say it -- edutainment. Essential listening.

Radio Times review

Families can be the toughest critics. As Can't Tell... returns for a third series, Grandma Caton is still waiting for award-winning comedian Nathan to get a proper job. This stand-up/sitcom is an odd beast. A hybrid of Seinfeld and Simon Amstell's Grandma's House, it cuts between the West Indian comic's stand-up routines and the domestic squabbles that inspire them.

It's more "endearing" than "laugh-out-loud funny", but Can't Tell... remains a refreshing counterpoint to the rest of Radio 4's comedy output: Caton wryly describes his presence on the station as "a bit like 50 Cent making an appearance on Midsomer Murders."