Power

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Power 〰️

The Edinburgh Fringe is back for 2026, and with it, our annual feature series! This year, we’re taking on POWER: Who’s got it? Where is it? Where should it be? How do you get it? Our comedians are the only ones with the answers.

By Marty Gleeson

My name is Marty Gleeson and I am running for Mayor of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026.

Some of you might say: “Marty, there has never been a Mayor of the Fringe before, we don’t think we need one.” And to that I will gently press my whole hand to your mouth and say “questions at the end”.

First things first, I’m no fool, I understand that ‘‘mayor’ is often misspelled and also means a woman horse. I am neither of those things, but is it not time for something different, something new?

Thinking like a major already, I’ve developed a solutions-based plan for positive change (not like those morons over at the Adelaide and Brighton Fringes) After extensive research I’ve surmised that there are four significant areas to target in order to see real change.

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The show must go on!

To tackle show cancellations due to lack of audience attendance, I can personally guarantee that every performer will be allocated one audience member per performance.

These audience members have been put through an intensive training programme in Laughter, Call and Response, and Words of Encouragement. While we strive to make sure each audience member is fully equipped to assist you on your journey, some are unpredictable and may get overly excited. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you must not allow your audience member to socialise with other audience members on the street. Otherwise they all end up in Stramash and when Mr Brightside comes on there’s no getting them out of there.

Keep it Clean

While me and my team (who I haven’t mentioned up until now because they’re shy) understand that every show needs flyering, we also empathise with the need to keep Edinburgh’s streets clean. That is why we’ve implemented a no swearing policy on flyers. We understand Irish and Scottish comics will be particularly affected by this so we will be holding Yell Hour every morning at the top of Arthur's seat. Here, comics are invited to shout and swear into the sky as the sun rises.

Time: 5 fucking AM.

Affordability

The fringe is expensive. I, alone, (my team left, they were just too shy. Also one of them kept doing a Gollum impression and it was driving me up the walls) have devised a strategy that reduces accommodation costs by 50%. Landlords have agreed that if tenants stand on just one side of the house they will only need to pay half rent. If at any point you cross into the other half you will have to pay double.

Weather

While we can’t control the weather (my team came back, they spent three weeks in South East Asia finding themselves and have become more confident. It’s gone too far the other way. They’ve all started doing Gollum impressions. It’s a bloody nightmare. I’m going to have to drive them into the woods and leave them there like that scene in The Fox & the Hound.)

As I was saying, we’ll be handing out umbrella hats and mini fans every Sunday following a sacrificing ritual to the BBC weather forecast which will be held after Yell Hour. We advise that once Yell Hour is finished you should probably run for your life. We’d hate to see you miss out on finishing your fringe run because you got sacrificed

Allow me to make one thing clear: Edinburgh, my record is clean. We all know that politics can be a breeding ground for corruption but let me say, hand on my ass, I do not sit within this distasteful cannon. To prove my integrity, I have hired a PI to do as much digging on me as possible and the results are in: I’m pure.

Did I once rob a Pirates of the Caribbean iPod cover from Claire’s Accessories when I was off my head on hedge shop drugs in the 2000s? Yes, but we all have a past and, hand on my ass again, I can say this is not an offence I intend on repeating. I have the battle scars to prove it (Claire’s pierced me 8 times in places you don’t generally get pierced as punishment).

So to you comedians, audience members, promoters, techs, reviewers, producers, directors, flyerers, Tattoo goers, stags, hens and other less important performers in theatre, I say this. Vote for me, Marty Papa Johns Gleeson. Take a chance. Just because the Adelaide and Brighton Fringe said they don’t need a mayor doesn’t mean it’s true.

I will not be taking questions at this time because I don’t want to and I have to go. I have a reservation in Mosque Kitchen in whichever one is the better one, with you, we’re having dinner together. Don’t be late or you’ll break my heart, hand on my ass, One. Last. Time.

Marty Gleeson: Dog Ear is running at Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker 1) from Aug 5-30th (except 17th), 19:15. Tickets here