The Gilded Balloon's Programme
for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008

WINNER OF SO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY? 2008
AND HEAT 6 WINNER

Daniel Simonsen

I moved to London from Norway to do stand up. I studied in Paris where I meet Stewart Lee who told me to move to London if I was serious about doing stand up. It sounded like a fairytale but the more I talk about it the more the urge grew inside of me and I decided to do it.

(see the other Heat 6 competitors here)

HEAT 1 WINNER

John Gavin

John, 29, makes his Fringe début giving insights on his Hugh Heffner style life with four women and learning to swear in front of his mum...

(see the other Heat 1 competitors here)

HEAT 1 WINNER

Sean Walsh

Sean is great... he won the first heat of So You Think You're Funny.

(see the other Heat 1 competitors here)

HEAT 2 WINNER

Ahir Shah

Ahir Shah is making his first trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the age of 17. His comedy revolves around topics such as politics, race, youth culture and religion. He lives in with his parents in Wembley and has several hobbies and interests.

(see the other Heat 2 competitors here)

HEAT 2 WINNER

Richard Perry

Richard Perry is 27. He has been hauling himself around London and his home town of Brighton for the last ten months trying to make strangers laugh. Often successfully, in the way he intended. Sometimes he has a beard, but not when his mum sees him. It looks scruffy, apparently.

(see the other Heat 2 competitors here)

HEAT 3 WINNER

Gearoid Farrelly

Gearóid loves telling jokes. He used to like serious acting but got sick of wearing black when nobody was even dead. He turned to standup for a while so he wouldn't have to learn lines or wear make-up and people would still clap... hurrah! His life ambitions are all easily attainable which means he is pretty content and has plenty of time on his hands to make up jokes. Gearoid lives in Dublin and has all episodes of "Cagney and Lacey" on video.

(see the other Heat 3 competitors here)

HEAT 4 WINNER

Josh Widdicombe

Since making his stand-up debut in January Josh Widdicombe has reached the semi-finals of the Laughing Horse new act competition and Amused Moose Laugh Off. He will be performing at Edinburgh as part of GSOH's South By South Wales at the Gilded Balloon, in the Edinburgh Harvest Festival and as part of the Amused Moose Hot Starlets.

(see the other Heat 4 competitors here)

HEAT 5 WINNER

Daniel Sloss

Remember when you were a gawky teenager, trying to avoid eye contact with your mum because last night she caught you doing the things that hormone-ridden teenagers do in the comfort of their own rooms? Daniel Sloss remembers it like it was yesterday because it WAS yesterday.

(see the other Heat 5 competitors here)

HEAT 7 WINNER

Doc Brown

Doc Brown became known as a rapper hosting the Friday Night sessions at London's Deal Real where he met Mark Ronson, with whom he toured from 2006-7. Younger brother of novelist Zadie Smith, Doc has contributed writing to numerous BBC comedies, which has sparked a new desire to attempt stand-up.

(see the other Heat 7 competitors here)

HEAT 7 WINNER

Sara Pascoe

Sara is an actor and writer who has been performing stand up for under a year. Sara recently came second in the Funny Women Competiton, and is up in Edinburgh for the entire festival appearing at the Pleasance in a new play called 'INVOLUTION'.

(see the other Heat 7 competitors here)