Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023: Speed of sushi belt powered by laughter at special show

Special Fringe event comes to Edinburgh city centre restaurant

A mouth-watering, first-of-its-kind comedy experience will be running during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this week, with laughter being used to power the kaiten belt of food at Japanese restaurant YO!.

YO! – whose conveyor belt first arrived in the UK in 1997 – will welcome comedian, A&E Doctor, and TikTok sensation Maddy Lucy Dann to its Princes Street restaurant on Thursday evening to launch its week-long YO! Maki Me Laugh event, making sure the laughter continues off stage during this year’s Fringe.

The set-up features microphones that are able to respond to laughter, and subsequently alter the speed of the 87-metre-long belt. The louder the laughter that is detected, the faster the belt moves for diners. The laughter-detecting technology will stay in place until Thursday, August 17– where local comedians and would-be stand-ups can pick up the mic and help power the belt with their best jokes.

Comedian Maddy Lucy Dann will perform at Yo!'s Princes Street restaurant on Thursday evening as part of the Fringe, with the speed of the conveyor belt of food dictated by the amount of laughter from diners.

Jokes can be submitted by tweeting @yosushi and using the hashtag #YOMakiMeLaugh. Comedy and sushi-lovers alike can walk into the Princes Street restaurant throughout the week, so there’s no need to book.

Victoria Mathers, UK head of marketing at YO! said: “What’s better than having a laugh with your friends and family while sharing some super fresh and tasty sushi. We’re bringing the two together at YO! and upping the game of our iconic kaiten belt to bring diners their favourite meals in a way that’s never been done before. It’s one of the many comedy sets not to missed during this year’s Fringe!”

This special Fringe event comes after YO! research found that 49 per cent of Brits say they’ve laughed less in 2023 than any other year, with half of Brits (50 per cent) not getting their daily dose of laughter. In fact, 38 per cent laugh just a couple of times a week and around one in ten (nine per cent) only laugh a couple of times a month. And, almost a third (30 per cent) of Brits can’t remember the last time they laughed out loud.

You can receive a free portion of maki by quoting code YO!MAKIMELAUGH when ordering at all YO! restaurants from tomorrow (Thursday, August 10) until Sunday, August 20. Likewise, a free portion of maki will be available for all Deliveroo orders until Wednesday, August 16.