A huge house party, or a noisy shindig going on next door - Vladimir McTavish

Exactly a week from now I will be about to do my third show at the Fringe. For the next three-and-a-half weeks, I will be at the same place at the same time every single day. I reckon it won’t be long before I’m thinking “this is just like Groundhog Day” until I realise that I had the same thought the previous day, and the day before that.

The Fringe has always divided the city, says Vladimir McTavish (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Fringe has always divided the city between those who see it as a huge party happening in our home and those who look on it as a noisy shindig going on next door.

Granted, cross-town bus services can get caught up for hours on end in festival traffic, and even getting from A to B on foot can be a challenge on overcrowded pavements. Admittedly, it’s also true that the London media treat our city as a hub for networking for a month. But let’s not forget this our Fringe too. And we can reclaim it.

We can do this by supporting local-owned venues. The Stand, The Monkey Barrel, The Gilded Balloon and The Beehive operate here all year round, and much of their profits will be ploughed back into Edinburgh. On the other hand, Underbelly, Assembly and The Pleasance bleed the city dry for a month then take all of their profits back to London, or in some cases bank them offshore.

We can further help by supporting local performers. When I moved here just before the millennium, watching local comedians would have been a masochistic charitable deed. Fast forward 20 years and Edinburgh is home to more world class comics per head of population than any other city on Earth.

Jo Caulfield, Danny Bhoy, and Daniel Sloss are the biggest local names doing shows this year. Seeing previews over the past month, some of this Fringe’s highlights are going to come from acts such as Jay Lafferty, who learned to pole dance for her show, and Liam Withal who has a hilarious hour about his chronic bowel condition. Yes, that’s how far comedians will go to get a a few column inches in August. Talking of which, did I mention I’m also doing a show? I’m at The Stand’s New Town Theatre at 7.10pm each day from Thursday.