From the moment Frank Skinner walked into the Assembly George Square Gardens in Edinburgh, I knew I was in the presence of a comedy great as people of all ages flocked towards him to chat and have their photograph taken, something which he took in his stride and enjoyed as he soaked up the Fringe buzz.

It’s that buzz of the Fringe that has seen Frank return to Edinburgh year after year, after making his debut back in 1987 – a big leap of faith for the comedian, who, at the time was a lecturer.

He explained: “I do really love Edinburgh. I had been the year before (I started) and seen some comedy, including David Baddiel and obviously I thought ‘oh I could do better than that!’ No not at all. I was inspired by him. I had £408 in the post office and I phoned up and said ‘can I book for next year?’ so I paid with my life savings before I had actually done any comedy.

“I had some terrible deaths on stage and I think if I hadn’t put my life savings in I would have quit comedy but I wasn’t giving up on my life savings so I kept going.”

#edinburgh #entertainment #news #comedy #tvnews #culture