25 must-see Jewish shows at Edinburgh Fringe 2025

1-25 August, 19:10, Venue 409 - The Fallow at Alchemist Cocktail Bar and Restaurant

Eggs and Baskets

This coming-of-age comedy by Bethany Agaoglu and Nell Sternberg sees two 20-something Jewish women on a doomed mission to achieve feminist perfection. Naturally, a series of “man-shaped obstacles” lead to some complications. Agaoglu and Sternberg, who have been performing their show around London since last summer, were described in one review as “a pair of Bridget Jones prototypes, ten years younger and an awful lot messier,” which sounds like as good an advertisement for ‘Eggs and Baskets’ as any.

11-23 August, multiple times and venues

'The Daily Show' writer Lily Blumkin is bringing her new comedy 'Nice Try' to the Fringe stage. (Photo: Mindy Tucker)[Missing Credit]

Our Hebrew Friend

Australian comedian David Rose is carrying on a family legacy with this stand-up special, titled after the stage name of his world-famous comedian great-grandfather who performed at the Royal Variety Show and on the BBC over a hundred years ago. “A century later, here I am in the same job, asking the same questions,” Rose's show bio reads. “What does it mean to be a comedian, to be Jewish, and to be both at the same time?”

12-17 August, 13:15, Venue 151 – The Snug at Laughing Horse @ Bar 50

I Regret This Already

Bennett Arron, the writer and comedian once called a “Welsh Seinfeld”, is back at the Fringe with a new stand-up set sure to strike a chord among Jewish kvetches everywhere. “You know what it's like when everything's going well? Bennett doesn't,” reads the description of Arron’s upcoming show. The BAFTA-shortlisted writer advises queuing early “to enjoy disappointment.”

2-24 August, 16:15, Venue 276 – Liquid Room Studio at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Liquid Room

Briyah Paley will perform her comedy show 'Psych Ward Pyjamas' at this year's Fringe Festival. (Photo: Edinburgh Fringe Festival)[Missing Credit]

Psych Ward Pyjamas

Debut Fringe performer Briyah Paley is bringing a whirlwind personal journey through psychedelics and psych wards to the Edinburgh stage. Turning her “inherited trauma into comedy”, Paley’s show tells the story of a failed fresh start at an oceanside retreat and an international healing journey with the help of hallucinogenic drugs, all of which she documented on a podcast with her dad, a rabbi. There’s a lot to unpack there, so might as well just see the show.

11-24 August, 19:45, Venue 241a – The Speakeasy at the Royal Scots Club

Life Lessons from a Jewish Grandfather (Zaida)

Henry Churniavsky is an outspoken Jewish grandpa with plenty of opinions on how his daughter should be raising his grandson. The British comedian, who combines comedy with mental health awareness through his charity initiative Laugh for Life, offers up some top tips for youngsters in this Fringe stand-up set. And in true grandad fashion you will learn, whether you asked or not, how this sexagenarian deals with “eating out at restaurants, the world of social media, his daughter's pregnancy and his medical procedures.”

18-23 August, 19:00, Venue 53 – Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

Excel Comedy and Mathem-antics

David Benaim is that rare blend of comedian and Microsoft Excel consultant. Indulge a nerd's fantasy as Jewish “math addict” and “pun-loving Excel Youtuber” Benaim talks spreadsheet conferences, mathem-antics, and offers Microsoft some unsolicited advice on the future of his beloved Excel.

1- 24 August, 13:30, Venue 88 – Just the Wee One at Just the Tonic at The Caves

Daniel Benaim, the math-addicted, Excel-loving comedian, brings his nerdy set to Edinburgh. (Photo: Daniel Benaim/Edinburgh Fringe Festival)[Missing Credit]

Nice Try

Award-winning writer Lily Blumkin of The Daily Show is bringing her solo comedy about childhood nostalgia to the Fringe after sold out performances in New York. Come for the “nine zany characters like a well-meaning dad, a self-indulgent rabbi, and an inanimate clump of hair”, stay for the honest look at how we use the past to make sense of the present.

1- 25 August, 17:40, Venue 24 – Blether at Gilded Balloon Patter House

Everything is Embarrassing

“Neurotic, balding Jewish comedian” Josh Edelman sold out his 2023 Edinburgh Fringe show ‘The Jew Rogaine Experience’, and this year he’s returning for a brand-new hour of self-deprecating stand-up. 'Everything is Embarrassing’ sees Edelman deliver another batch of “hilariously humiliating true stories” which aim to prove that “even life's most mortifying moments can become comedy gold – if you're funny enough.”

2-24 August, 15:30, Venue 100 – Back Lounge at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Pilgrim

Josh Elton: Away with the Fairies

“A Welshman, a Jew and a damn fine comedian,” Cardiff-based Josh Elton – formerly a busker - is performing his first hour-long comedy special at this year’s Fringe, taking a ‘sidewise look at life, the universe and why Swansea is a bit rough.'

1-25 August, 20:00, Venue 108 – Hoot 4 at Hoots @ The Apex

Philip Simon is back with three shows to perform at the 2025 Fringe Festival. (Photo: Philip Simon/Edinburgh Fringe Festival)[Missing Credit]

Honourable mentions go to returning Fringe regulars Ian Stone with his latest stand-up set ‘Ian Stone is Looking for the Wow’ (1-24 August, 16:00 at Venue 170); Philip Simon’s ‘Jew-o-Rama' featuring a rolling lineup of Jewish comedians (2-24 August, 17:15 at Venue 158), his well-loved stand-up ‘Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way?’ (2-24 August, 20:55 at Venue 156) and the family friendly ‘School’s Out Comedy Club’ (1-17 August, 12:30 at Venue 47); and Rachel Creeger, who is back with her ‘Ultimate Jewish Mother’ stand-up set (3-24 August, 13:30 at Venue 158).

Theatre

Will You Be Praying the Entire Flight?

In writer Gili Malinksy’s exciting debut Fringe show, a secular Jewish woman who hates the Hasidic is seated beside a Hasidic woman who dismisses the secular for the length of a six-hour flight. In Economy. “They're forced to fight it out over what it means to be a woman, the existence of God and what kind of Jewish Steven Spielberg really is.”

11-16 August, 11:30, Venue 9 – Lower Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St

Gili Malinsky's play 'Will You Be Praying the Entire Flight?' is an exciting newcomer at this year's Fringe. (Photo: Gili Malinsky/Edinburgh Fringe Festival)[Missing Credit]

Picking Up Stones: An American Jew Wakes to a Nightmare

“A cri de coeur from author/performer Sandra Laub,” this many-voices solo show contends with forceful characters like Golda Meir and a Palestinian mother of martyrs to try to comprehend what happened on October 7. “Can a progressive Jewish woman reconcile her Zionist heart with her liberal conscience?”

1-16 August, 10:45, Venue 53 – Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

REBELLION: After the B'nei Mitzvahs

Acclaimed playwright Nick Cassenbaum’s nostalgia-soaked story of fun and romance at a teen summer sleepaway camp is coming to Edinburgh for just one night. Viewers will return to ten special days in July 2007, "as a group of Jewish teenagers experience new things: being away from their parents for more than 12 hours for the first time, snogging for the first time and reenacting the Raid of Entebbe… for the first time.” Don’t miss it.

10 August, 18:00, Venue 571 – Shedinburgh at Shedinburgh

The Marriage of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein

A New York Times Critic’s Pick, this play by Edward Einhorn sees four actors play over 30 characters to render the love story between iconic Jewish writers Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas, imagining the wedding they could not have in their lifetime. "Their famous salon, with celebrity guests such as Hemingway, Picasso and many others, is the setting for this comic fantasy with serious intent. The lesbian and Jewish subtext of their lives is made text, and the tragic implications of a relationship that existed in their hearts, but could never be fully acknowledged, are explored.”

1- 25 August, 13:00, Venue 24 – Dram at Gilded Balloon Patter House

The Lost Priest

This one-man show exploring the complexities of growing up Jewish in America, written and performed by Gabe Seplow, tells the deeply personal story of the performer’s relationship to Judaism at a time of great spiritual distance. Through poetic monologues and reenactments of rituals, “the performer grapples with identity within an ethnicity divorced from religion.”

1-23 August, multiple times, Venue 53 – Theatre 1 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

Gabe Seplow will perform 'The Lost Priest', a play about Jewish identity, at this year's Fringe. (Photo: Gabe Seplow/Edinburgh Fringe Festival)[Missing Credit]

Shiva for Anne Frank

Rachel McKay Steele is coming to Edinburgh with a big question: Can one Jewish comedian relate herself to Anne Frank? She gets into themes of girlhood, identity and mourning in this exploration of Frank’s frequently over-simplified legacy as a saintly beacon from that dark era in Jewish history. As we find ourselves in another dark chapter, ‘Shiva for Anne Frank’ invites viewers to both laugh and mourn as it delves into nose-jobs, a Bat Mitzvah, and a one-night stand with a German.

1-24 August, 14:20, Venue 186 – Playground 2 at ZOO Playground

Kaddish (How to be a Sanctuary)

Sam Sherman has a conversation with his late grandfather in this theatrical performance, discussing everything from “fighting fascism to growing up with mobsters – all with the help of a mystical creature from Yiddish folklore.” Sherman blends his own writing with anecdotes directly from the private journals of his grandpa Saul, a Jewish WWII veteran, in this intimate exploration of what our ancestors can teach us “about the messy path towards standing up for what is right.'

1-9 August, 22:30, Venue 38 – Studio at theSpaceTriplex

Edie

Film writer and award-winning actor Jessica Toltzis presents her one-woman show about Jewish LGBTQ rights activist Edith Windsor, whose fight with the United States Supreme Court to recognise her romantic relationship with Thea Spyer led to revolutionary changes in the definition of marriage. “In her ground-breaking, decades-long journey, Edie struggles with the pain and joy of being herself while proving, once and for all, that love is love.”

1-16 August, 21:10, Venue 29 – The Annexe at Paradise in the Vault

Music/Variety

Jeremy Sassoon’s MOJO (Unplugged)

This “foot-stomping, barn-storming" celebration of iconic Jewish musicians by renowned singer-pianist Jeremy Sassoon will take you on a journey through Jewish-made music, from Gershwin’s golden era to the sultry world of Amy Winehouse, from the melodies of Carole King to Paul Simon, Billy Joel to Randy Newman.

1-17 August, 18:35, Venue 20 – Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms

Daniel Cainer: Topical

Singer-songwriter and Fringe veteran Daniel Cainer returns to with a new collection of smart, funny and profound story-songs inspired by “current affairs, family affairs and affairs of the heart.”

1-25 August, 11:50, Venue 300 – The Wee Coo at Underbelly, George Square