The auditorium was packed; Ed Reardon certainly has a bit of a following. The audience were all older, wiser folk who got the jokes about Radio 4, The Archers, punctuation and Martin Amis. Everyone watched and listened eagerly. Thankfully I do dabble in Woman’s Hour so it didn’t all go over my head: Dame Jenni Murray got a mention, but he mocks young, enthusiastic and casual ‘writers’… like myself. Oh dear, he’s going to hate this.

It’s difficult to assess Mark Dolan as an unfunny man despite this largely unfunny performance.

If you have ever seen Ava Vidal, you know you will get jokes about celebrities, racism and her daughter. The Hardest Word does not disappoint.

Jeff Leach (Big Brother's Big Mouth/BBC Switch/BBC3/E4) invites you to peer into his world of perverse but unmistakably hilarious misadventures. Prepare to hear all about drug abuse, alcoholism, anal probing, heartbreak and a very unfortunate train journey where he cacked his daks. This is unabashed humour told by one of the UK’s emerging comic talents.

Tom is funny, that’s a good start. He tells his life story in a sort of pseudo blockbuster action movie, like he’s being the man he wishes he were and mocking the person he really is. That’s an overly complicated way of explaining it, and the style isn’t why you ought to go see his show.

Considering his credentials - he plays Jonny in C4’s Friday Night Dinner and is the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2011 - Tom Rosenthal and his show, Child of Privilege, were somewhat underwhelming. Despite the fact I was given a cushion and a chocolate upon arrival (sit on the right if you want the same treatment), Rosenthal’s debut proved less of a treat than I’d hoped.

Tattooligan was born when Radio Leicester’s most zealous listeners, a sweep of ladies aged between 50 and 85, were asked to describe in one line their impression of the tattooed bloke in the photograph before them. This bloke was Jim and none of their comments were nice - at all. This show is about discovering the man behind the ink.

DeAnne Smith just might be the sweetest girl at the Fringe this year, thus doubling the difficulty of writing her an unsavoury review. Still, as up for the ‘tough crowd’ defense as I am, an hour of Smith’s show convinced me that it need not apply tonight.

When you’re approaching the end of a fest-frenzied day of getting crammed into balmy little venues, when you’ve got big headaches and even bigger expectations, this is the man who will step up and bitch about the things that piss us off all the time. And we like it.

After an hour in Jason’s company, you are guaranteed to feel better than you did when you first took your seat. This is uplifting stand-up, well-crafted and beautifully presented by this more-than-affable Geordie.

Is Josh Howie a dick? You are invited to find out as he asks you to rate the “dick-ish” stories and to decide whether you think he is. Leading with, literally, a toilet joke then moving onto “rape and black guys,” Howie’s humour is not for everyone. This hard-hitting show may make certain viewers, like me, a little uncomfortable.

Henry Paker packs a lot of hearty punches into one hour of imagining what cabin fever would result to if stuck inside a cave full of strangers inside Kilimanjaro.

But first, he marvels at the beautiful city of Edinburgh - except for the rain - and likens living here to dating the most gorgeous woman in the world, who has a bit of a dribble.

Last year's surprise hit, Late Night Gimp Fight, returns to the Edinburgh stage with a suitably rousing version of Lady Gaga's ‘Born This Way,’ with lyrics adapted to introduce our team of Gimps. The mostly young crowd goes wild at the appearance of their heroes, and everything looks set for an hour of big laughs and naughty bits.

With a table set for tea and bunting tastefully draped along the wall, this is intended to be the most civilised hour of chat, stand-up and party pieces you could hope to see this Fringe. The host for the proceedings is the prim Tom Allen, dressed in a fetching Neapolitan ice-cream inspired ensemble. How charming. 

Taking its title ‘Principles and Deceptions’ from Arthur Buckley’s seminal text on practical manipulative magic, award-winning TV magician Ali Cook brings to the Fringe an impressive hour of magical illusions with a dash of comedy thrown in for good measure. Prepare for all manner of magic from the slight of hand to the sublime.

The content of Zeus’ Pamphlet is curious. The sketches are enacted by three women and two men, with the women as the butt of the joke in every sketch. It was quite smutty and silly, and it was a shame the large seating capacity of the venue was mostly unoccupied because, although I wasn’t laughing, the rest of the audience was.

Dana Alexander’s comedy is irreverent and outspoken. As the only black comedienne in Canada, she decided to swap Toronto for Tottenham and has been rolling in the material ever since. Bring on her Edinburgh Fringe debut: New Arrival.

This performance was painful: I knew it, the audience knew it, even Scott Capurro knew it – after all, he commented on it several times himself.

I wanted to enjoy this show: I love the concept, the Lady Garden girls are likeable, and there is some serious acting talent in there, with very occasional flashes of comedic genius. But, they are just not there yet.

Perhaps ending racism in an hour is a bit ambitious, but this ‘African-American’ certainly goes for it as he brings to light the shameless ways of the world; and it's funny, ‘cause it's true.