After a tumbleweed-inducing debut solo show last year, the 27-year-old Kettering boy has returned to the Fringe and imposed an effective rule of three on his whimsical stylings: judicious repetition, reinforcement and joined-up thinking.

Alfie Brown isn’t the only comedian at the Fringe berating his industry for catering to the lowest common denominator, but he may well be the one doing it with the least amount of grace.

The Edinburgh Fringe is the best arts festival in the  world.  Performers from all over the  globe stage over 2,000 shows every day for a month. But my favourite thing to do is to eat four pickled eggs in a row and some chips on a bench on The Royal Mile.  Not when the fourth one has gone  off though, like last year. 

The Assembly Rooms on George Street has reopened after a £9.3m refurbishment and experienced Fringe hands are delighted to welcome the old lady back.

For most of Theatreland, it's business as usual as the Olympics kick off. Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi has gone dark for the duration, but the majority of stages, used to a summer slump, have not noticed the dreaded Games effect.

Tommy Sheppard, director of the new Assembly Rooms Edinburgh Fringe programme, proudly opens the door to a large ballroom decorated with an imposing crystal chandelier and some stunning, freshly painted cornices.

It's not quite Homer's Odyssey but last year, inspired by the epic tale, the writer Iain Sinclair and video artist Andrew Kötting pedalled a plastic swan pedalo 160 miles from Sussex to Stratford.

Fruit loop

Books Of The Year: It's the book of the DVD of the show...and it's great

Ricky Gervais reminded us recently, as if we'd forgotten, that language can still offend en masse if its use is misjudged.

In a spider-ridden Los Angeles garage, surrounded by half-read self-help books and the whiff of stale cat's-pee, a stand-up comedian called Marc Maron has for the past two years been taking listeners on a twice-weekly journey behind the red velvet curtains of his profession.

One of the more unusual snippets of information from the Leveson Inquiry has been that NOTW whistleblower Paul McMullan and Michael Gove were at college together...

Have you heard the one about the oh-so-clever comedian who sends up, er, comedy?