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Paddy Young is an undeniable star now. “I used to dream of playing rooms like this,” he says during one late-night set this month at Pleasance Grand.
And yet he still has to deal with rejection, whether it’s the couple who got up to leave 15 minutes into his set, or the women in his life and in his flat. To the couple at Fringe, at least he could crack on about how Amanda Knox might be a more compelling draw than him.
Or he could tell us about how TV stardom has meant new audience members who only know him from the jokes he reads on the prompter during Weekend Update on SNL UK. It must feel akin to someone who first saw Ozzy Osbourne on Sesame Street, only to then purchase concert tickets for Black Sabbath. In contemporary comedy terms, it’s more like how some fans of Full House used to react when they attended the late Bob Saget’s deviously dirty stand-up performances.
Young is more saucy than naughty, though.
While being an original SNL star and Weekend Update anchor portraying the country’s political leader might put him on a parallel path to Chevy Chase, Paddy Young, with his white suit and smooth attitude, is clearly going for more of a Steve Martin vibe right now. Which is a wise choice, indeed.
Paddy Young: Will Sir Be Laughing Alone played various venues during the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe.
