I have to agree with the other comments here.

None of the comedians I know with shows in Edinburgh (or any other international festival for that matter) make any money from doing a festival show - the norm is thousands of pounds as a LOSS. Perhaps the only performers who make money are those who are already making it from the tv/ film work they do - eg Ricky Gervais (who has been lambasted for daring to charge what the public will pay!)

The real profits from festivals goes to the venues, the ticket agencies, promoters, the sound and music hire companies, restaurants and accommodation providers.

Which is why I support the Free Festival and Free Fringe. At least performers lose minimal money for advertising and living expenses. And punters have far less to lose by going to a free show. The reviewers and journalists should support these artists for their commitment to the real spirit of the fringe. The almighty dollar has taken over, but it isn't comedians who are greedy

Dianne, London, UK

Why are you going on about money? The only people making money these days are the Fringe, the Pleasance and the other great cabals that run Edinburgh in August. Most one-man acts will lose only £5,000 if they sell out every night, £6,000 if nobody comes, so the money is a non-starter from the day they book a venue. It's a triumph of optimism over common sense, but ego has nothing to do with it, believe me. Everyone here has left their ego in storage and their soul at home.

Liam Mullone, Edinburgh, UK

All those people doing solo shows are losing money not making it. The average comic in a big venue will lose £8,000.
If your rather condescending critic would like another counting exercise for the train home from Edinburgh, try going through the national press and see how many journalists review shows featuring two or three comedians. They never do. It is a well known fact that not doing a full hour equates to no reviews.

a large part of why Edinburgh is so unhealthy expensive for all concerned is that to get journalists in acts have to spend £2000 plus on PR. Here's how you improve Edinburgh right now - get every journalist to sign a pledge saying they won't talk to any PR people for the whole of August and will go to shows purely on the basis of interest and not self-interest. Do you think all your journalist friends will sign up to that? It'll save performers several thousand pounds which can be passed on to the public, or do you think you would miss all the free booze?

Caimh McDonnell, Edinburgh,

The worst thing about this piece is the total lack of any understanding of how comedy shows in Edinburgh actually work. Doing an hour show has NOTHING to do with financial greed. Almost every comedian in Edinburgh pays for his or her own show from their own pockets and usually lose money - so the argument that having one person in a show rather than two is cheaper is total nonsense.

Also one of the key reasons for doing an hour slot is obvious - the Perrier (now if.comedy) Award. It's rules state that it can only be given to a performer doing at least 45 minutes in their own show, and as venues only tend to programme in hour slots then performers have to do them. Please stop talking rubbish and do just a tiny bit of research next time!

Bob, London,

Whats the point in having all comics doing twenty minutes at Edinburgh? They do twenty minutes everywhere else.

An hout gives space, room, for development and with less pressure to create laughs every few seconds.

Rich, Birmingham,

Jesus, what an incredibly poor piece. It starts badly; with the admission that the author ("The Thunderer?" Hubris here?) can't count past 29.
Then it upbraids ALL comedians, while not being able to name any more recent than Craig Ferguson and Harry Enfield, who must have last done the Edinburgh Fringe in the late 80's.
Not to mention the assertion that the ONLY comic who can do an hour is Robin Williams, who last did stand-up, again, some time in the 80's.
There are many examples of top quality comedy shows every year, theatre tours, say, at the level above Edinburgh, that comfortably stretch past the hour mark, and audiences would be quite let-down by an act that couldn't give them a proper show.
The point of Edinburgh is to grow to do this, letting comics learn to write and perform past the 20 minutes they get on the circuit.
That effort deserves better than this; some woefully out-of-touch, half-arsed think-piece banged out on the train to fill a bit of space.

Comedy fan, London,

Some of the one-hour shows at Edinburgh will be brilliant, some will undoubtedly be pants of the lowest order and many will be somewhere in between.

At the risk of sounding like an old grumpypants, why not go and see some of these shows instead of lumping them all into a single homogenous lump and then writing it off?

That way you could form an informed, valid opinion, instead of just an opinion.

Geoff Taylor, Lancashire,