PHIL NICHOL: Aren't We Lucky! ★★★★⯨

Phil Nichol, a stalwart of the Edinburgh Fringe with four shows this year and awards stretching back to 1993 with Canadian trio Corky and the Juice Pigs, gives us a feelgood rush of a show.

Celebrating turning 60 and the joys of free and discounted travel, he launches into a rapid, richly entertaining stream of stories. There is his recent Bangkok engagement, when both bride and groom blubbed; his mother’s survival of WWII in Glasgow; Lou Reed as a great friend of a friend; and his father charming an official into allowing the family to become Canadian citizens.

We hear how Phil persuaded Ed Byrne to buy a guitar at auction – and then keep it for years until it became worth a fortune. The hilarious meeting with his future father-in-law is matched by his 92-year-old mother, now on happy pills, falling in love with his father again. Euphoric, joyful and overflowing with genuine laughter, it ends at speed, with a kiss and Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side.

Gilded Balloon, at Edinburgh Fringe: August 2026   ©RoxyReviews