The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is to the UK what Mardi Gras is to Rio de Janeiro: the biggest not-to-be-missed summer event on the calendar. It mixes up-and-coming talent with some serious Hollywood players and helped to kick-start the careers of the likes of Ricky Gervais, Dudley Moore, Jude Law and John Cleese (okay, and Stomp). While the festival is on, the population of Edinburgh doubles in size – last year saw 31,000 performers of 2,050 shows in 250 venues -and more than 1.5 million tickets sold. You will never be short of something spectacular to see. From high art to puerile laughs and street entertainment to inebriated schmoozing in late-night bars, Edinburgh is the place to be in August.

Scottish comedian Phil Kay has performed at the festival for the past 20 years, scooping the newcomer s competition award in 1989, which led to his own series on Channel 4. He says the festival is his 'harvest time. 'It s where I make over half my money for the year, he says. 'What you are as a comic is enough – people are there soaking up the atmosphere.

So what are some of the best moments? A great 2007 moment was Johnny Vegas randomly reciting the lyrics to American Pie on a late-night Edinburgh stage and the audience just accepting it as an act.

It s a nod to how anything goes at the Edinburgh Festival and how live acts, in all their varying and original forms, are accepted as part of the 'show . But how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? Especially while Joe Schmo and all his mates are shoving enough flyers emblazoned with 'best act this year your way to start a small recycling centre…

'I think the comedy wears people down, there s so much of it, says Kay. 'My advice is to risk everything. Do exactly what you most want to do. Go to a random show, then one that got the best review that day and one that got the worst. Experiment. Keep falling out of shows and fuelling up on food and drink. And if you want a real pick-me-up, go and see an American: Reggie Watts was great last year.

With the thousands of people flocking into Edinburgh within the weeks of the festival, one of the best ways to land in the middle of the action is train travel. Edinburgh can be reached by train from other major cities such as Manchester, Blackpool and Liverpool.

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