Have we got Festival Fringe treats for you - Karen Koren

Another 100 shows went on sale from Gilded Balloon at the end of last week. We will have over 180 shows onsale by June.

Jakko Jakszyk, the singer and lead guitarist of King Crimson

These are all part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which will be celebrating their 75th anniversary this year. It’s exciting to be able to present a full Fringe again, especially since we are celebrating such a significant year.

The Gilded Balloon itself is in our 37th year, which is overwhelming enough for me. The growth of the Gilded Balloon from the early days in the Cowgate in the mid-eighties to where we are now in the central hub of the University district is astonishing.

The amount of talent that's passed through our doors has been phenomenal. It’s safe to say that the majority of comedians on television today have performed at our venue at some point or another. It makes it worthwhile to be able to programme new talent and see them grow to great success.

This year we have a plethora of talent, comedians galore, Andrew Maxwell, Grace Campbell, Shazia Mirza, Paul Zerdin, Eleanor Tiernan and Dave Johns - star of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake.

Americans coming over are Janeane Garofalo, Tehran Von Ghasri, Chris Gethaard, JD Shapiro and more to come. Scottish comedians Jojo Sutherland, Leah McRae, Glaswegian sketch group Weegie Hink Ae That?

Also Judy Murray joins Chris Forbes in The Duncan and Judy Show – Duncan being Judy’s other son! Fred MacAulay make a welcome comeback with his In Conversation, with an array of guests from comedy and television.

From the world of theatre there is Jakko Jakszyk, the singer and lead guitarist of King Crimson, bringing his one-man play Road To Ballina, a story of self-discovery.

Triple Fringe First winner Henry Naylor is back with Afghanistan is Not Funny, his Fringe First winning play Angel will also be performed.

Comedy writer Jon Canter, who’s written for Lenny Henry and other leading comedians, brings Spoons a sharp, poignant comedy about couples counsellors’ revenge.

There are mind-blowing magicians Kevin Quantum, Pete Heat, Cameron Young and Tom Crosbie. There are children’s shows The Song of Fergus & Kate with Jay Lafferty and Marcel Lucont’s Les Enfants Terribles – A Gameshow for Awful Children.

This is just a small taste of what is on offer at the Gilded Balloon this coming August, look at our website for more details gildedballoon.co.uk. Can’t wait!