What stand-up comedy showed me about teaching the Bible

Three weeks, more than 2,000 shows and 2.6 million tickets sold last year. August is the month of the Edinburgh Fringe.

While the Fringe is on the list of things I aspire to experience, so far my engagement has been limited to reading the round-ups of top jokes each year. Best one-liners from 2025 included: “We named our children War and Peace – it’s a long story” (Olaf Falafel), “This spider has been in my house so long, it should pay half the wifi. As a web developer, it can afford to” (Sikisa), and “Everyone is worried about AI. I’m more concerned with what the other vowels are up to” (Rob Auton).

I’ll be reading this year’s list with even greater interest, because earlier in the summer I embarked on my latest in a long line of short-lived have-a-go-hobbies: a stand-up comedy course. A group of nine of us have been meeting in a suitably atmospherically dingy comedy club to learn from a veteran comedian, workshop material on one another, and receive feedback. Like most other people there, I’d booked the course having been egged on by a friend. I’m no stranger to a microphone, and when it comes to writing talks, I’ll often start with the jokes. So how hard could it be?