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 Then, the scars of World War II were still healing. Now the
globe faces grave new threats in the form of climate change and
a divisive wave of political populism.
Scottish comic and fringe performer Mark Nelson is tackling
Britain's experience of polarized views in "Brexit Wounds", his
take on the island's chaotic departure from the European Union.
As a subject for comedy he considers Boris Johnson too good to
be true, labeling Britain's Prime Minister - along with U.S.
President Donald Trump - as "almost beyond satire."
"They make so many gaffes themselves, anything they do is almost
funnier than anything you can come up with," he said.
Nelson's solution so far has been to let his daughter Isla
deliver the killer lines in "News at Three," a reference to the
age she made her debut. It's an online sensation, scoring more
than 140 million views to date.
Now six, Isla has "retired" to go to school. Of Johnson, she
said: "He couldn't do one of my jigsaws".
While the festival's aim to boost morale through culture has
been a constant, its structure has radically changed over the
decades.
In 1947 only eight theater groups turned up uninvited, beginning
the original fringe.
Now fringe shows numerically dwarf the official festival and
comedy is the biggest category, accounting for 37% of well over
3,000 shows. Theater is second at 27%.
Shona McCarthy, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society chief
executive, said this year's events feature work from a record 63
countries and will "challenge perceptions, stimulate
conversation, entertain, make you laugh, make you cry and
inspire you".
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As British comics tour the globe and stand-ups from far-flung places
head to Edinburgh, the appeal is truly international, with the rise
of women comics helping to generate a more personal humor.
British opera singer-turned-cabaret-artist Melinda Hughes in "Off
the Scale" also sends up politics, as well as fretting about climate
change and exploring the deeply painful.
After her mother's death this year, she finds catharsis in a song
inspired by a difficult decision to block her mother from her
Twitter feed because she considered her views unpalatable.
Another artist who stretches the boundaries of when we're allowed to
laugh is Daniel Sloss.
Brought up in nearby Fife, he has shot to fame with Netflix shows
streamed in 190 countries.
He takes responsibility, he says, for 110 divorces and 40,000
break-ups because of a sketch that's high-risk for anyone in a
fragile relationship.
Finding laughter in dark places is a skill Sloss developed as a
child after the death of his younger sister.
"It was when I realized how important laughter was," he said.
(Reporting by Barbara Lewis; editing by John Stonestreet)
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