A top comic has accused Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival of becoming a Scots version of Munich’s beer-swilling Oktoberfest.
German comedian Henning Wehn said performers and shows were becoming ‘superfluous’, with thousands of revellers flocking to the city to drink.
The Fringe, which started on Friday and runs until August 26, helped launch the career of scores of comedy stars such as Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly and Steve Coogan.
But Wehn, 50, who regularly appears on Radio 4, has told fans in his online newsletter: ‘The main difference to the Fringe of 20 years ago is that these days every bit of open space has been turned into a temporary gigantonormous beer garden with licensing until all hours and a small hut for performances somewhere in the corner as a box-ticking exercise.’
Former Fringe favourite Wehn, who bills himself as ‘The German Comedy Ambassador’, will not be appearing at this year’s festival.
German comedian Henning Wehn said performers and shows at Edinburgh Fringe were becoming ‘superfluous’, with thousands of revellers flocking to the city to drink
Life on the Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Festival with crowds of tourists and performers promoting their shows
Entertainers perform on the Royal Mile during the opening weekend of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on August 3
Oktoberfest: Waitresses carry beer steins in a beer tent on the opening day of the 2018 festival
Edinburgh: Performers ahead of their appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Pictured: The 188th Oktoberfest in Munich in October last year
Festival posters in the city centre ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Instead he started a nine-month British tour with a sell-out performance in Hastings on Sunday night.
Wehn said: ‘I will sit it out again after I thoroughly enjoyed last year not being there for the first time since 2004.
‘You can currently read loads of opinion pieces on how the festival has become too busy and unaffordable for up-and-coming performers who haven’t got a trust fund behind them.
‘I’m always cackling when I see yet another bursary scheme set up to level the playing field by handing out a few bob to performers from a working class background, especially when it involves any of the big Fringe venue such as Underbelly or the Assembly Rooms.
‘As far as I can make out it’s them who are at the forefront of the problem!
‘That performers are superfluous to the current version of the Fringe was never more obvious than during the Covid Fringe of 2021, when I was one of only a handful of performers in town but the beer gardens were the same size as always.
‘That those beer merchants managed to access generous emergency arts funding made the situation only more grotesque.
Performers pose for pictures as they return to the Edinburgh Fringe this year
A crowd moves through the venue on the last day of Oktoberfest in Munich last year
Head coach Thomas Tuchel with FC Bayern Munich President Jan-Christian Dreesen at Oktoberfest
Festival posters in the city centre ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Revelers drink beer out of traditional beer mugs inside the Hofbraeu tent on the opening day of the 2023 Munich Oktoberfest
Edinburgh: Ginger Johnson performs during the Pleasance Theatre opening gala on August 3
‘The local council could reduce overcrowding in a heartbeat if they stopped allowing the whole of Edinburgh to morph into Oktoberfest.
‘Hotel capacities won’t be taken up by stags and hens if they can’t go on a beer garden crawl.’
Wehn had earlier complained about the cost of accommodation in Edinburgh during the Fringe.
He claimed he had been quoted £9,000 for a ‘bog-standard two-bedroom flat’ for the month, and £7,000 to stay in ‘a camper van on someone’s drive’.
Almost 4,000 shows are expected to be performed at this year’s Fringe.
Acclaimed TV series such as Baby Reindeer and Fleabag originated at the festival.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been approached for comment.
