Confessions of a Fringeoholic: 'I’ve already seen a Sex Clown shove a sparkler up her bum'

This will be my tenth year in a row at the Edinburgh Fringe. Each year I leave the festival battered, bruised and with an empty bank account. So, why do I keep coming back?

Because it's the best place on the planet! The Fringe has only been open a week and already the city is totally buzzing. Flyers and posters are plastered across every available space (it’s really weird going for a wee and finding yourself staring at a giant poster of your own face), the first flurry of reviews are out and approximately ten billion pints have already been poured.

So far this week, I’ve seen a Sex Clown* shove a sparkler up her bum, light it and dance around, an improvised rap about Pokémon Go, and a comedy show by a woman dressed as a life-size sperm. I've sung a '90s medley at a 2am cabaret gig, broken two umbrellas and become emotionally involved in a story about one man’s love affair with Sally Strawberry from the Munch Bunch. I’ve also eaten deep fried haggis and appeared on Sky News. And we’re only six days in. Better restock the Berocca.

Exciting as it may be, the fast pace of the Fringe can take its toll. A show that my pal is in had a ‘difficult’ performance earlier this week when all of the lighting and sound cues failed. They battled on to the end of the show, bless them, and afterwards they discovered the reason for such a disastrous show – the technician was so utterly exhausted he had fallen asleep at the lighting desk. Talk about Fringe Fatigue.

So, it’s important to stay well-rested and healthy during the festival. Though granted, the only exercise I’ve done thus far is lifting gin to my mouth, and legging it back to our flat ten minutes before our show to get the sheet music and power supply we'd forgotten. That’s one way to amp up your adrenalin, I tell ya.

But we're having a blast; we’ve had lovely audiences and five star reviews for our own show, and my Fringe app is already bulging with shows I am desperate to see.

Here’s to the rest of the month!

*No, I don’t know what a Sex Clown is either.

Katie Brennan’s Quarter-Life Crisis is on at Underbelly Wee Coo at 22.50 until 29 August (not 15)

For all our festival coverage, click here to head to our Edinburgh page