Dijitaliks News

Oasis’s tour gobbled up Edinburgh audiences while fringe comics put on shows about Britpop and Arctic Monkeys. The music industry and the funny business could be more entwined than ever

‘Comedy is the new rock’n’roll!” This line, variously attributed to a defunct listings mag, a member of the Comedy Store Players and Janet Street-Porter, became common currency in the 1990s, when comedy gatecrashed arenas with Newman and Baddiel’s maiden Wembley gig in 1993. Had the art of making people laugh eclipsed – in size, public enthusiasm, cultural cachet – the art of making people groove?

It feels like a quaint conversation in light of the arrival of Oasis’s mega-tour in Edinburgh this month, which triggered panic among standups at the gazumping of their fringe audience. But has comedy returned to playing second fiddle to its sexier, better-loved big brother? Or are such distinctions meaningless in a cultural landscape unrecognisable from the 1990s?