This is the first of two special editions of The Cultural Crunch from Edinburgh Festival.
There really is no better place to be in August, when the city become a vibrant beating hub of creativity.
The Fringe has more than three thousand shows across hundreds of venues, including for the first time this year - a sauna.
Before the madness commenced, I caught up with six writers, directors and performers as they prepared to take their shows to Edinburgh.
And what a talented bunch they are! Will Usherwood-Bliss of NewsReview, the topical sketch comedy show celebrating almost half a century at Fringe; Kitty Falcon whose moving tribute to her late father
Sitting (In Silence) is set in a silent retreat; Conor Dye writer of Tap Out (or I'll hit you again), a comic play about a man who starts picking fights with strangers- just to feel something; James Watterson who plays a library inspector in The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy!; Electra Kolb, a Fringe veteran at just eighteen, who is returning to Edinburgh with her one woman show Father, Away She Goes and finally one half circus duo Ockam's Razor Alex Harvey, who is taking to the trapeze with his wife in a new show called Collaborator.
Photo:Tim Allen and Kitty Falcon
","author_name":"Tim Allen"}