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Gilded Balloon

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The Gilded Balloon at Teviot Row House, during the 2004 festival

The Gilded Balloon is one of the Edinburgh Fringe's best-known venues, established by Karen Koren in 1986 in Edinburgh's Cowgate.[1] It is currently located at Teviot Row House in Bristo Square (owned by the Edinburgh University Students' Association).

History

In 1988, it devised the competition "'So You Think You're Funny",[2] which has been won by many notable comics including Rhona Cameron, Lee Mack, Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan and Peter Kay; other finalists have included Ed Byrne, Dominic Holland, Ardal O’Hanlon and Johnny Vegas. The competition was sponsored by Channel 4 from 1993 until 2004,[3] with five and the Paramount Comedy Channel taking over in 2005. Karen Koren is one of the major supporters of Australian comedy talent, and has produced a number of notable Australian acts at the Gilded Balloon over the years, including Greg Fleet, and is particularly noted for being the springboard for the careers of Tim Minchin and Drags Aloud.

In 2001, the Gilded Balloon expanded to include Teviot Row House and, on 7 December 2002, a fire devastated its original Cowgate base.[1] The Gilded Balloon continues at Teviot Row House which, in 2005, contained nine performance spaces[4]. The Debating Hall being the Biggest seating 360 and The Turret being the smallest at 50 seats, Other venues include The Dining room, The Wine Bar, The Wee room, The nightclub, the Sportsmans, The Balcony and the Billiard room.

The Gilded Balloon is based in Offices at 25 Greenside Place in edinburgh [5] and is run by a small team of full time staff [6]

Karen Koren (Artistic Director) Sharon Burgess (General Manager) Gary Staerck (Production Manager) Phil O'Halloran (Production Manager) Alex McDonald (Finance) Rowan Campbell (Administrator)

Controversy

During his early career, Russell Brand was forcefully ejected from the Gilded Balloon.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "BBC News, 31st July 2003". 31 July 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  2. ^ "Chortle, UK comedy industry website".
  3. ^ "Channel 4 'So You think You're Funny' page".
  4. ^ {{cite web |url=http://www.gildedballoon.co.uk/edinburgh_festival_fringe_performers_information.html%7C
  5. ^ Template:Cithttp://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=The Gilded Balloon&action=edit&section=1e web
  6. ^ "GB staff list".
  7. ^ Russell Brand, Pleasance, Edinburgh | | Guardian Unlimited Arts
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