Trevor Eliott

Field Zoology 301: Myths & Monsters is a wonderfully ridiculous mock lecture that turns cryptozoology into an hour of sharp writing, handmade charm and committed character comedy. Shawn O’Hara’s Dr. Brad Gooseberry is hilariously self-assured, and the overhead slides, props, audience participation and escalating pseudo-science keep the show inventive from beginning to end. What impressed me most was how carefully the jokes are constructed, with seemingly throwaway ideas returning later in clever and increasingly absurd ways. Smart, strange and unmistakably Fringe, this was easily one of the best shows of the 2026 festival.

One of the best shows we saw at Fringe this year. Geoff Hughes turns a tribute to Randy “Macho Man” Savage into something much richer, blending hilarious wrestling nostalgia with a surprisingly moving exploration of childhood heroes, love, disappointment and the complicated people behind the legends. I grew up idolizing Savage, so the show hit me especially hard, but my wife, who has no attachment to wrestling at all, enjoyed it just as much. Funny, thoughtful and genuinely heartfelt, you absolutely do not need to be a wrestling fan to love Randy & Elizabeth: A Savage Love Story.

Neurohilarity is a wonderfully unpredictable variety show that turns neurodivergent experience into sharp, original comedy without ever feeling like every performer is telling the same joke. Carole Cunningham’s quick, relatable stand-up, Adam Schwartz’s dry and deliberately awkward delivery, and the freewheeling improv of Herding Cats gave the performance an energy that constantly shifted and kept us guessing. With stand-up, improv, music and burlesque sharing the stage, it is loose and chaotic by design, but that unpredictability is a huge part of its charm. Funny, welcoming and unmistakably Fringe, this is a terrific showcase for performers doing comedy entirely on their own terms.

Mirror Mirror may not be the strongest burlesque I’ve ever seen technically, but it is easily one of the funniest. The villain theme is wonderfully playful, and the performers throw themselves into the characters with terrific energy, confidence and a sense that they are having just as much fun as the audience. The mix of burlesque, cabaret, music and audience interaction keeps the show unpredictable and delightfully over-the-top. If you like your Fringe silly, sexy, campy and packed with laughs, this is an enormously fun experience.

A Hellmark Christmas Musical takes every familiar small-town Christmas-movie cliché and gleefully sends it somewhere much darker, stranger and funnier. The writing is sharp and current, with clever riffs on corporate culture, influencers, holiday-romance conventions and even a few winks that seasoned Edmonton Fringers may recognize. The cast commits completely to the absurdity, and the musical numbers help keep the increasingly outrageous premise moving at a terrific pace. A few jokes are stretched a little longer than necessary near the end, but this is still a wonderfully smart, inventive and very funny piece of Fringe theatre.

Adam Francis Proulx somehow turns one puppet into 12 completely distinct jurors, each with their own voice, personality and point of view, and the characterization is so strong that I genuinely stopped noticing his own mouth was moving. Beneath the wonderfully ridiculous murder mystery involving a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker is a sharp, surprisingly thoughtful look at bias, confirmation bias and reasonable doubt. I laughed constantly, but the show also gave me plenty to think about afterward. A hilarious, clever and technically impressive Fringe experience, and one of the strongest shows we've seen in 2026.

I went into Vampira: A Hollywood Horror Story knowing almost nothing about Maila Nurmi and came out fascinated by the woman behind television’s original horror host. Ingrid Garner commands the stage throughout this one-woman show, keeping the story moving with energy, humour and a captivating performance that makes the history genuinely entertaining. The dressing-room-style set and clever use of black-and-white video, photographs and vintage footage beautifully capture the atmosphere of 1950s Hollywood while revealing the person underneath the Vampira persona. Educational without ever feeling like a history lesson, this is exactly the kind of Fringe show I love: you walk in knowing very little and leave wondering how you never knew this remarkable story before.

Sarah Ivanco brings huge energy and total commitment to Colum, a city pigeon trying to win back humanity’s affection in this wonderfully strange mix of clown, dance, audience interaction and actual pigeon facts. Some jokes landed harder for me than others, but when they hit, they really hit, especially one perfectly timed Gorillaz gag that had me howling. What surprised me most was the heart underneath all the silliness, with the show touching on belonging, self-worth and the idea that you shouldn’t have to prove your usefulness to deserve kindness. Weird, playful, unexpectedly thoughtful and definitely memorable.

A clever and heartfelt reimagining of The Wizard of Oz set in a senior retirement community. The biggest standout is watching one performer seamlessly shift between 12 different characters, giving each one a distinct personality and making the one-man format feel surprisingly full. Fans of the original story will appreciate how familiar characters and ideas are reworked in a warm, funny new setting without losing the heart of the source material. A wholesome, charming Fringe palate cleanser that left me wanting to tell others to go support this performer.

CULTS packs an impressive amount of research, dark humour and truly bizarre cult history into an hour, with plenty here for true-crime fans to sink their teeth into. For me, though, the performance relied too heavily on the written script, which made parts of the show feel more like a lecture than live storytelling. I kept wishing for more eye contact, spontaneity and room for the performer’s personality to come through, because the material itself is fascinating. If cult psychology and strange history are already your thing, you may get much more out of this one than I did.