This hour-long documentary follows 6 comedians (including Amy Gledhill, Josh Jones and Sikisa) bringing their debut shows to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022.

Directed by stand-up and filmmaker Stuart Laws (a prolific producer of comedians’ specials), The Debuts offers a peak behind the curtain at the world’s largest arts festival. There is nothing particularly revelatory for the comedy devotee audience (comics are generally candid about their experiences), but the film benefits from intimate access to the newcomers as they enter this industry pressure cooker and heightened emotional bubble that you don’t see from sitting in the audience.

The doc is buoyed by its likeable performers (knowing Gledhill won the main award this year adds an extra layer of catharsis) undergoing an intensive month-long therapy session. The film reveals the physical, emotional and financial toll (they have each spent over £8000 on their Fringe runs) the ordeal takes on performers, coinciding with a bin strike that has made the streets of Edinburgh even smellier than usual. The pressure of reviews, awards and TV producers attending their shows unlocks competitive feelings that surprise the comics themselves, sending them genuinely loopy while also having to do their shows every day.

The Debuts divulges the insecurities of the people brave and funny enough to get on stage to make strangers laugh for an hour, and the emotional labour that goes into some of the silliest shows in the business. That juxtaposition is summed up in a single shot where Gledhill is talking about processing her feelings while a drunk woman falls over in the road behind her. Where’s her comedy special?

The Debuts is available free on YouTube.