Claudia O'Doherty is hard to resist. Having burst on to the stage with a blast of 90s techno, the petite Australian dynamo doesn't let up, karate-chopping her way through an eccentric hour that is part-storytelling, part-stand-up and part performance art breakdown. If it's whimsy, it's whimsy of the most kick-ass kind.

A former cowshed beside Edinburgh Airport is transformed into a multi-level concrete bunker. Downstairs, the faithful obey the call to prayer. Upstairs, General Duncan watches an incident unfold on multiple TV screen. Captain Macbeth is refusing to obey the order to abort a mission. He leads his men into the mosque below where they shoot, stab and decapitate every worshipper in sight.

"How can I make my friends into feminists?" ran one of the more odd questions put to Amanda Palmer during a sit-down Q&A in the midst of this show. One answer, if you happen to be an internationally adored cabaret artist, is probably not to coo and gaze adoringly at your bestselling fantasy author husband for two hours in public. Palmer and Gaiman fit together, though, and this European debut for their refreshingly informal joint show was skilfully worked to appeal to both of their overlapping fanbases.

According to Newsweek, the appearance of the South African comedian, Trevor Noah on 'The Tonight Show' earlier this year had sub-Saharan newspapers reporting it "as if it were breaking news". MSNBC Africa meanwhile aired it across the continent.

Small on stature but big on heart, the lawyer-turned-comic Susan Calman has made great strides in her career since her debut Fringe hour in 2008, making an impression on Have I Got News for You and various Radio 4 shows including The News Quiz and The Now Show.

Much more than a walk with a torch, but perhaps a bit less than the spectacular promised or hoped for. Experienced on the final dress rehearsal, with less human pixels than will be the norm, it would be unfair to judge the Speed of Light, a joint Edinburgh International Festival and Cultural Olympiad commission, conclusively.

Peep has the dubious draw of being the only show on the Fringe where the audience can spy on the actors entirely unseen by them.

More than just Essex jokes from Davies

Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker is known for her work with huge and perilous sets.

I moved to Edinburgh in 1992 and lived there for two years. Looking back, it seems that I served a sort of apprenticeship there. The city defined me.

Most comics making their Edinburgh debut would be grateful for a packed house, but not David Trent.

He became an internet sensation as an unlikely rap-battle victor last year. Now he wants to win over Edinburgh

Worries that the Olympics would have a deleterious effect on the Fringe have sadly proved correct as preliminary box office figures for the first week show that ticket sales are noticeably down on previous years. But, as the Games end tonight, producers and promoters are hoping that arts fans will be fast out of the blocks for the remaining two weeks of the Fringe.

A former animal hospital turned exhibition space has an anatomical and visceral tendency, and there's plenty to see – if HMRC has let it all go yet

One lucky playwright is to have a play they haven't written yet performed at the Traverse this month. David Greig and the theatre's artistic director, Orla O'Loughlin, have already commissioned 10 playwrights – including Alan Wilkins and Janice Galloway – to submit their 45-minute "Dream Plays", or scenes from a play they never dreamed would be staged.