A comedy civil war is breaking out in Edinburgh. The Festival Fringe has a well-deserved reputation for its ground-breaking humour – but for many, the latest attempt to exploit the event not just beyond the Fringe, it’s beyond a joke.

The organisers of a rival festival have been accused of endangering the future of the Fringe, after they issued a brochure inviting big business to pump £1.8 million into their event, which they claimed would be “five times bigger than Glastonbury”.

The new festival has been created by the promoters of the “big four” Fringe venues; Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance and Underbelly. Between them they already account for about 50 per cent of ticket sales on the Fringe, and are well established as the best-known comedy theatres in Edinburgh during August.

Organisers of the new festival said last night that their initiative was the natural extension of joint marketing, which some of the venues have used for more than a decade. However, their pitch for such a high level of sponsorship was criticised for bringing a new level of commercialism to the Fringe. Smaller venues fear that they may be left out in the cold as their rivals’ financial clout will steal the crowds.

The document drawn up for the group – which was produced by Idea Generation, a PR company – boasts that any potential sponsor can expect to reach a “live” audience of more than a million and exposure to 750 million worldwide”. This it says is “an unprecedented opportunity to benefit from an association with a world-class event”.

Over 24 glossy pages it uses photographs of some of the most famous comedians to have appeared at the Fringe over the past 20 years – including Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Lily Savage, Lenny Henry, David Baddiel, Rob Newman, Jerry Sadowitz and Eddie Izzard.

The document boasts: “Over four weeks in August the best of the world’s comedy, theatre and music talent descend on Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is established as the biggest. . . live event in the world. The new Edinburgh Comedy Festival will define the comedy element – and be bigger than all the summer music festivals put together.”

It is believed that the promoters hope to attract an international company as “title sponsor” of the event in a deal worth £650,00. They are also seeking support from four co-sponsors, who will each pay £150,000, three media sponsors and five official suppliers, in agreements worth £75,000 each. The total sponsorship package will realise £1.85 million.

Tommy Sheppard, the owner of the Stand Comedy Club, which remains outside the comedy festival umbrella, cautioned that its fundraising plans would damage other venues. “You can only spend the money once. If they get the money, somebody else won’t,” said Mr Sheppard. He added that there was “an underlying arrogance” in the notion that the four venues represented the entire Edinburgh comedy scene. Steve Cardownie, of Edinburgh City Council, which has reponsibility for the festival, said: “These people are in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”

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