Edinburgh Fringe 2026
NewsRevue
Canal Cafe Theatre
Genre: Comedy, Satire, Sketch Comedy
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
NewsRevue pricks the bubbles of politicians and celebrities alike. It’s known by its legion of Fringe fans for skewering the more ridiculous elements of society with the unforgiving linguistic brilliance of its parodied songs and satirical sketches. This non-stop, fast-paced, show covers anything and everything that’s been in the news in recent memory. And, as usual, there’s a lot of material to choose from.
Review
Multi award-winning NewsRevue returns to Edinburgh in its 47th Guinness World record-breaking year to mock politicians and celebrities alike through parodied songs and satirical sketches. It’s known by its legion of Fringe fans for delivering observational sketches that skewer the more ridiculous elements of society with unforgiving linguistic brilliance.
The last twelve months (just like the twelve before that) has seen another avalanche of foot in mouth activity from almost anyone with claims to be a celebrity or who has featured on the world political stage, resulting in enough material for a show that could run longer than Wagner’s Ring Cycle (more than 16 hours, since you ask).
This year it’s the Pleasance Courtyard playing host to a very select “last day of Fringe” audience that was treated to sixty minutes of fast-paced comedy that hit the mark, hard and often.
The format remains as refreshingly simple as ever – take four hardworking singer/actors, a musical director and a large team of writers, throw them together for a short time and create thirty or more quick-fire pieces of topical humour and a bunch of one-liners based on literally anything that has been in the news over the last twelve months, or before if you can still get a cheap laugh out of it.
This year’s fresh, energetic and tightly choregraphed quartet hit the ground running with a medley of Queen hits, built around “Flash” but with nods in the direction of others such as “I Want To Break Free”, “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “We Will Rock You” as the fallout from Starmer’s rapid demise, Burnham’s coronation and the general disarray of what’s passes for political opposition in the UK these days got a full-on satirical excoriation.
The sketches that followed were a homage to the bad, the awful and the just plain egregious. That walking piece of satire, Nigel Farage kept popping up like the proverbial bad penny, normally when you least expected him. “The Donald” is well loved in these parts and got the full treatment as he hosted a Fringe open mike night in what was a creditable impersonation, with neat improv reaction to some gentle audience heckling. There was also a very amusing take using Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns” on Nicola Sturgeon’s failure when First Minister to notice a ruddy great motorhome parked in her in-laws’ driveway.
But it wasn’t all politics. The Ozempic revolution was hailed using the “Dentist!” song from Little Shop of Horrors and the insomnia resulting from the sizzling summer – well in England anyway – parodied as that My Fair Lady classic “I Could Have Danced All Night” morphed into “I Couldn’t Sleep At Night”. Clever and topical on both counts.
But they saved the best until last – a medley of classics from Oliver focusing on the travails of our dear royal family, featuring King Charles reviewing his situation, Camilla “Oom Pah Pah”ing about life in the palace, Meghan convinced that “As Long As Harry Needs Me” things will work out OK with their flit back to the UK and the former prince that is now Andrew telling us that “I’d Do Anything” – no guessing who that was aimed at. Funny but with a telling message.
It’s like watching an extended episode of Have I Got News For You set to music as the quartet bounced from sketch to sketch with breath-taking speed. Staging is tight, choreography crisp, lights go to black after each sketch and, no more than two or three seconds later, inch-perfect spotting comes up to reveal the actors changed and ready to go again. Using a black base for their costumes, they add simple effects like hats, ties, some ludicrous wigs and scarves.
Special credit, as ever, is due to the overworked pianist who got through an entire hour’s performance that must have involved around thirty sketches and any number of short segues with nothing much more than a running order for company – musical genius. Mind you, he was the musical director.
This slick and very professional show leaves no reputation unshredded. Recommended for all lovers of satire and high-energy entertainment.
