By Grace Hatchell.
Tom Short is bringing one of the Fringe’s most unpredictable concepts to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026, and if you like your comedy with a side of chaos, this one might just be right up your cobbled street (or slightly off it, depending on what the algorithm decides that night).
Tom Short is bringing one of the Fringe’s most unpredictable concepts to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026, and if you like your comedy with a side of chaos, this one might just be right up your cobbled street (or slightly off it, depending on what the algorithm decides that night).
In I Asked ChatGPT to Write My Edinburgh Show, award-winning comedian and comedy lecturer Tom Short hands over the creative reins to artificial intelligence, using it live on stage to generate material, shape the structure, and steer the direction of the performance. The twist? The audience gets a say too, meaning no two nights will ever be the same, and there’s always the delicious possibility that it could go gloriously wrong.
The show blends stand-up, live creation, and audience interaction, all while poking at some bigger questions bubbling under the surface. What actually makes something funny? Can AI understand humour, or is it just guessing its way through punchlines? And in a world chasing clicks, likes, and viral moments, are we accidentally engineering the soul out of comedy?
Now then, from my little corner of the village, sat with a cuppa and my satchel half-open on the table, I can’t help but be a bit tickled by this one. Imagine trusting a machine with your punchlines… I can barely trust the sorting office when someone writes the postcode wonky. There’s something quite thrilling about it though — that sense that anything could happen, and probably will. It’s a bit like the Fringe itself, really. Controlled chaos, with a spotlight on it.
If I had a go doing it, knowing my luck, it’d send me off reviewing a mime show and I’d have nothing to report except dramatic eyebrow work.
Tom Short isn’t new to inventive ideas. Alongside performing across the UK and at the Fringe, he lectures in Comedy Writing and Performance and runs Tom Short’s Comedy Train, helping new comedians find their voice. This show feels like a natural extension of that curiosity — pushing boundaries, testing formats, and seeing what happens when you loosen your grip on control.
Part stand-up, part experiment, part existential wobble, this is one of those Fringe shows where the risk is the whole point. The jokes might land, they might not, but you’ll definitely be part of something that only exists in that exact moment.
Show details for I Asked ChatGPT to Write My Edinburgh Show
Performer: Tom Short
Venue: Hoots at Nicolson Square (Nic 4)
Dates: 7th–31st August
Time: 22:15
Duration: 60 minutes
Tom Short (@tomshortcomic) • Instagram photos and videos
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