The Gilded Balloon Wows With 40th Anniversary Line-Up

For the 1986 Edinburgh Fringe, the Gilded Balloon was founded. Starting as a studio space in the 369 Gallery, Cowgate, it ran 7 shows a day – creating a home for comedians in a theatre-heavy Fringe. From this start, its founder and artistic director, the pioneering Karen Koren has not only transformed the Gilded Balloon, but has irrevocably altered the world’s biggest arts festival – for the better!

Always an innovator when other venues stuck to their same programming patterns, Koren created Late’n’Live – a freewheeling late night showcase where anything could happen at a time when no-one else was doing shows that went past midnight. It was a hub where comics would drink, rubs shoulders with the punters and also learned their trade. What was so remarkable, especially in these more staid, corporate years of the Fringe, was its sheer unpredictability. Late’n’Live would announce that evening’s line-up on the day creating a buzz each and every performance. It was joyously rough-round-the-edges. Sometimes it flew stratospherically, other nights it died on its proverbial. But that was the thrill and the boldness of the Gilded Balloon’s innovation. 

In 1988, Koren developed yet another transformative Fringe institution: So You Think You’re Funny? Forward thinking, the Gilded Balloon’s artistic director created the foremost comedy-talent competition in the country and in doing so, provided the launch pad for a bewildering roll call of household names: Peter Kay (The Recs’ editor was there the night he won), Lee Mack, Sarah  Millican, Jimmy Carr, Aisling Bea and the list goes on. 

The Gilded Balloon has been pivotal in bringing international talent to the UK – nowhere more than from Australia. Who spotted Tim Minchin at the 2005 Melbourne comedy festival and brought him to Edinburgh the following year – and backed his show – which won his show the Perrier Award? Gilded Balloon.