Free Fringe is a great place for comedy, from new shows taking their first steps to returning shows in a relaxed environment.
It’s Not Cluedo!
Chris Neville-Smith in association with the Rotunda Theatre
There’s been a murder! And we have one hour to solve it! Choose your own six suspects, six weapons and nine locations. The comedy game show with a panel of Fringe performers comes to Durham. Comedy nominee, 2024 Scarborough Fringe.
Market Tavern: 29th July, 6.45 p.m. (60 min)
Jimmy and John’s Sharing Platter
Johnson and Pease Productions
Working on the sound principle that two is almost always better than one, Jimmy and John, aka Johnson and Pease, bring you half an hour each of their choicest cuts.
Darlings of York’s burgeoning comedy scene, these two erudite manchildren will delight and amuse with a combination of –
- words
- facial expressions
- judicious silences
- 3D effects
- Circus animals
- Lies
Their only guarantee – you won’t leave the same as you came in…
Market Tavern: 29th & 30th July, 8.00 p.m. (60 min)
The Durham Improv Jam
Ben Bradley
The Durham Improv Jam is your chance to come and play some improv games, or watch other performers take to the stage, in a relaxed and unscripted interactive show. Join us for an hour jam-packed full of laughs!
Market Tavern: 30th July, 6.45 p.m. (60 min)
Erasmus Croc’s and Aaron Wright’s Guide To Life
Aaron Wright
Erasmus Croc is the world’s first poetry crocodile, performing alongside his young protégé, Aaron Wright. Together they present their guide to life, the universe and everything through spoken word, poetry, low-tech props and bubbles. Expect tales of possessed tumble dryers, blinged-up slugs and other surreal wonders. Soak in sumptuous visuals and audacious auditory skills as a crocodilian delivers rhythm and rhyme, aided and abetted by his star pupil.
A playful, poetic, and joyfully strange Fringe experience.
Miners’ Hall: 31st July, 7.10 p.m (60 min) & 1st August, 3.25 p.m. (45 min)
Tom Priestley performance poet
Tom Priestley
Comedic poetry aimed at celebrating and criticising the poetry scene. Filled with observations of mundane every day life whilst satirising social habits. Think John Cooper Clarke meets George Carlin
Miners’ Hall: 31st July, 8.15 p.m. (60 mins)

John Hobson: Funny Onion
John Hobson
A standup comedy performance poetry show featuring poems about vegetables as well as Rebecker the double decker, a useless football referee and a stovepipe hat. Funny Onion made its debut earlier this year in Sheffield to a sell-out audience and has played at multiple venues at the Buxton Festival Fringe during July.
Miners’ Hall: 1st August 4.15 p.m. (60 mins)




