Julian Clary Returns to Edinburgh Fringe After 17 Years
julian clary is back in the Assembly Fringe lineup for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe after a 17-year absence. The booking adds a familiar name to a programme that had already reached almost 3,500 announced shows before the festival launch.
Assembly Fringe Adds 18 Winners
The lineup places Clary alongside Frank Skinner, Jordan Brookes, Phil Nichol and Sam Nicoresti, all of whom have won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in different years. Assembly is building this part of the bill around past winners, a move that gives the programme a sharper commercial hook while the rest of the Fringe is still filling out.
Skinner won the Perrier Award in 1991 and is bringing a work in progress show to Assembly George Square from August 5 to August 16. Brookes won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2019 and is bringing The Part of You That's Always Screaming, which comes with the description: "The award-winning Elvis of comedy continues his residency at the gates of Hell, with a new show inspired by an absolutely shocking incident on a train. Have you ever felt seen and unseen at the same time? Have you ever wondered what's lurking just in the corner of your vision? Yeah me too, what is that? What IS that??"
Phil Nichol’s Busy August
Nichol won the main award in 2006 for The Naked Racist and is returning with that show at the Gilded Balloon from August 5 to August 18. He also has a new show called Aren't We Lucky at the same venue from August 5 to August 30, then hosts the mixed bill show Cray Cray Cabaret at the Voodoo Rooms from August 18 to August 30.
Nicoresti won last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show and became the first trans comedian to lift the Oscar of comedy. That gives this year’s Fringe a line of credentialled names rather than a single nostalgia booking, which is why Clary’s 17-year gap reads as more than a return date: he arrives inside a stronger, award-heavy section of the programme.
Edinburgh Before Launch Day
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme had not been officially launched when almost 3,500 shows had already been announced. That left early ticket buyers and industry watchers with enough information to spot the shape of the season: a packed August, a heavy concentration of former award winners, and Clary back in Edinburgh after years away.
For readers deciding what to book, this is the kind of announcement that narrows the field fast. A return after 17 years is the headline, but the practical takeaway is simpler: Assembly has put Clary in a bill built to sell on recognition, and the rest of the August dates around him are already being filled by names with proven Fringe credentials.
