“A Political Breakfast” – PBH’s Free Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe

This is part of a series of shorter reviews from Edinburgh Fringe, August 2024.

Hosted by comedian Harun Masho’d, this free, early morning show is a cross between “Have I Got News For You” and “Question Time”. In the basement of a burrito takeaway, Harun chairs a panel of other Fringe comedians as they discuss the news of the day, and take questions from the audience.

On the morning we visited, Harun was joined by US comedian Leslie Gold, Austrian comedian Hubert Mayr and British comedian Elliot Wengler, so all bases were covered for discussions about American politics, UK politics and the Brexit deal. It was surprising, then, that Harun decided to focus the first question on the relationship between UK and Ireland, given that there were no Irish comedians on the panel, and it is safe to say the show got off to a rocky start.

After that, however, things picked up as the comedians became more comfortable to share their views on the recent election. Much of the discussion was about past, rather than recent, events, with particular focus on the coalition government – although this may have been because a member of the audience had previously been part of this government, leading to an interesting debate between him and the comedians.

Towards the end, Harun turned to his tablet to pick a quirky news story of the day (a lack of gondoliers in Venice), before giving each of the comedians a chance to plug their shows. A good way to start the day, and a great opportunity to see some free comedy.

Tom Morley, August 2024

“A Political Breakfast” plays at Burrito ‘N’ Shake at 9:30am until 25th August.

Harun Masho’d’s show “Why I Don’t talk to people about terrorism” plays at Pilgrim Bar at 2:20pm until 25th August. His second show “Harun Masho’d reads bad political memoirs (so you don’t have to)” plays at Strathmore Bar at 5:20pm until 25th August.

Leslie Gold’s show “A Chip Off the Gold Block” plays at Bar 50 Upstairs at 4pm until 25th August. Hubert Mayr’s show “Mr Uniworse” plays at The Brass Monkey at 11am until 25th August. Elliot Wengler’s show “Jokémon” plays at City Cafe – Nineties at 3:40pm until 25th August.