Fantastic friends help Gilded Balloon celebrate 40 years

Another year at the Fringe is coming to a close and this one was extra special as we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Gilded Balloon with family, friends and some fantastic artists.

We got the chance to share memories with many old friends and performers including Bill Bailey, Doon Mackichan, Jenny Eclair, Alan Davies, and more – many of whom started their careers on our stages. There are so many people who have played our venues over the years that have contributed to where we are today, so it’s been an absolute pleasure to reminisce with them all.

Gilded Balloon celebrated 'Pink Wednesday' earlier this month making £5 tickets available for thousands of shows in support of its official charity partner, Waverley Care. The 24-hour promotion, marking Gilded Balloon’s 40th year at the Fringe, saw a percentage of sales donated to the charity on what is traditionally nicknamed ‘Black Wednesday’ due to slow ticket sales (Picture: Steve Ullathorne)

placeholder image — Gilded Balloon celebrated 'Pink Wednesday' earlier this month making £5 tickets available for thousands of shows in support of its official charity partner, Waverley Care. The 24-hour promotion, marking Gilded Balloon’s 40th year at the Fringe, saw a percentage of sales donated to the charity on what is traditionally nicknamed ‘Black Wednesday’ due to slow ticket sales (Picture: Steve Ullathorne)

Our 40th year included big names like the legendary Rosie O’Donnell making her Fringe debut. My personal highlight was welcoming the iconic Smack the Pony trio for a reunion. Seeing them back onstage together reminded us all how groundbreaking the show was in the early 2000s and the fact that some 25 years later, those sketches are still making us laugh is credit to what Doon Mackichan, Fiona Allen and Sally Phillips created.

We had another very successful year of our So You Think You’re Funny? competition, with Madeleine Brettingham taking the top prize. As always, it was an incredibly tough choice but we’re excited to work with Madeleine in the coming year and thrilled by the calibre of new comics who competed.

It’s always a bittersweet feeling to be packing up our venues at the end of August but I’m proud of our small team and all we’ve accomplished this year. We’ve enjoyed taking over Appleton Tower for the first time, and are very much looking forward to returning to our wonderful Teviot in 2026.

The Gilded Balloon has been through lots of ups and downs over the past four decades but it’s been nice to take time to look back on what myself and my daughter, Katy, have been able to build, and to have so many fantastic people back to support us in this milestone year.

Thanks to all the staff, artists and customers who supported the talented artists who performed at the Fringe this month – it’s an incredibly unique and special event to have on our doorsteps and we should cherish and appreciate it as much as we can.