News Revue - Pleasance One Pleasance Courtyard - Review

A stalwart of the Edinburgh Fringe for many, many years, News Revue takes the hot topics of current affairs and turns them into comedy skits often including parody songs played out by a small cast who swap and change between characters. It’s a popular choice for fringe goers who, perhaps bogged down by the news (and let’s be honest, who isn’t at the moment), wish to see it turned on its head and to be given a chance to laugh at it.

News stories being covered and joked about in this year’s News Revue offering include the heatwave, yet another new Prime Minister, the story Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and SNP funds, the strange phenomena of wokeness and even a certain rather famous bear.

Having seen News Revue a few years ago in Udderbelly’s famous cow and loving it, I was excited to see it take on some new stories and songs in its 2026 home, Pleasance one of Pleasance Courtyard, and sadly I found myself feeling a little disappointed. I can’t discredit the cast, who work hard to switch characters and handle the songs very well, doing their best with what they are given, but something felt a little bit flat.

Don’t get me wrong, there was some great laugh out loud moments, looking at you Waverley Station bear,  a highly relatable number about it being too hot to sleep and a great Cilla Black impression. But sometimes it was hard to work out who was playing who in some sketches and some jokes felt either as if they went on too long or simply weren’t explained enough. A recurring appearance by some RNLI lifesavers felt odd as the joke they were meant to be making lacked both a set up and a punchline for example. Also, the musical interludes between each skit, as well played as they were, seemed lengthy at times meaning that the show lost some of its momentum when the previous production I saw seemed so slick and polished. The oversized dark headset microphones that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an early 2000s pop star also made the piece look a little dated in comparison to other productions using skin toned much smaller mics.

Like I said, the cast were great and most of the impressions on point, with the cast delighting in hitting the punchlines and playing a multitude of different characters. They take what they are given and find as much laughter in it as they can, and for the most part, the audience were laughing along. Some of the jokes did fall a little flat, and perhaps the biggest laughs of the night went to a misbehaving pair of oversized ears that simply wouldn’t stay on the head of the actor playing King Charles, but the cast certainly gives it their all.

I still had a good time, I laughed out loud at times, and I would probably see another News Revue show in the future, but this year’s offering just didn’t hit the same mark as before for me. Perhaps the news this year is so hard and miserable that even the great News Revue can lift it to comedy heights?