Edinburgh Fringe 2026
The Past
Fishing4Chips
Genre: character comedy, Historical, Immersive
Venue: Underbelly Bristo Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Arguably, they shine more with their longer set pieces, given that some sketches act more like a blink and you’ll miss it sight gag, but Wareing and Walker are strong character comedians, and can get a laugh out of anything.
Review
Fishing4Chips, the brains behind It’s Gonna Blow! and Burning Down the Horse, are back this Fringe with another historical comedy show, The Past, and it’s a treat to behold. An hour-long series of short vignettes covering a variety of absurd historical situations, with everything from an intervention for Genghis Khan to the trials and tribulations of Henry VIII’s marriage councillor, Sean Wareing and Freddie Walker have created a show something akin to Horrible Histories, and as such, is a lot of fun for all the family.
With some topics typical for a historical sketch show, such as the Tudors and some well-placed execution gags, to some perhaps more deeper cuts (a Larkin family Christmas, anyone?), they cover a wealth of different scenarios in a tightly packed hour of comedy. Arguably, they shine more with their longer set pieces, given that some sketches act more like a blink and you’ll miss it sight gag, but Wareing and Walker are strong character comedians, and can get a laugh out of anything. Some of their sketches tend towards the more bizarre, like an illuminati sketch that borders on absurd, but they’re clearly having a lot of fun throughout, and the sentiment is infectious.
As The Past is very immersion heavy, a common theme in the Fishing4Chips canon, it relies heavily on the audience at hand to carry the comedy. But even with a perhaps slightly unwilling audience at times, Wareing and Walker consistently flex their strong improv skills and are quick on their feet to react to whatever the audience throws at them, resulting in a playful hour of sketches covering everything from the 1914 Christmas football truce to a medieval jousting tournament (with Monty Python-isms included!)
Overall, this is a solid watch, with jokes flying thick and fast for any historical humour fan. With the trademark wit and audience immersion that marks any good Fishing4Chips production, it’s certainly an entertaining offering from Walker and Wareing, and I, for one, am excited to see what they bring to the Fringe next year.
