"I don't have comedy or family connections on TV, my legs are my trip to a luxurious university where I have built this relationship with Edinburgh," said Nish Kumar, who joined the sketch group Durham Revue when he was a student and tasted the edge of the Edinburgh festival for the first time, as well as his future career - as part of Troupe. There is no such thing anywhere in the world. For all the questions, I still see it having the ability to change people’s lives and teach people the job of becoming comedians. ”

Now, as the cost of the show continues to rise, current members of Durham Revue and other student sketching teams say they are pricing at the Performing Arts Festival.

“We are looking at what might be the fact that we were last year,” said Alannah O'Hare, co-president of Durham Revue, which is also Kumar, Ambika Mod, Ed Gamble, Ed Gamble, BAFTA-nominated TV writer Tom Neenan and Stevie Martin of the missionist for Alumni. Since the mid-1970s, the group has been on the brink almost every year. “There is a huge legacy there,” O’Hare said. “But this is becoming increasingly impossible.”

Durham isn't the only university with a legacy of nurturing comedy talent. In addition to Cambridge Footlights and Oxford entertainment, there is Bristol Revunions, which was reignited in 2008 by Charlie Perkins, now the comedy director for Channel 4, who regarded Jamie Demetriou, Ellie White and Charlotte Ritchie as former members. In the North West, there are Manchester's Revue and Leeds' Tate, who have comedians Annie McGrath and Jack Barry, producer Phoebe Bourke and comedian Chris Quaile among their alumni.

Kumar experienced the effect of change on the edge for the first time in 2006. Every year, Revue members write sketches and perform in Durham every year with the goal of creating an hour of comedy gold for the festival. “That’s the whole purpose because we want to be professional comedians and there’s no obvious route,” Kumar said. He improves his writing every day, and in addition, he said, “You get a certain sense of comfort, which means you don’t have a full-blown physiological panic attack every time you stand on the stage. That confidence will never leave you.”

Students also have the opportunity to watch other shows that “teach you a lot about what you can do in comedy” and help Kumar understand that not all the funny comedians are TV stars, but there is a pipeline. "I had to see Russell Howard in a room with 100 people and then he showed up on TV six months later," Kumar said.

It is crucial that students can experience this without increasing their debt. “The opportunity to be a student does not bring risks to a large amount of personal finance, which is a very short-lived opportunity,” said O’Hare. If students have to fund their own experience: “You lose the voice of the working class, you lose the voice of the middle and lower levels.” “But we don’t lose the art of luxury because of having independent wealth.”

McGrath, who joined the Three Stripes with Tealights, agreed: "Edinburgh has become unfounded, and for so many behaviors and bettors, there is a lot to answer for landlords. It's sad. Because it can eliminate a new generation of talent. It also means that if the things created also lack diversity, then there are only the richest behaviors and the richest behaviors, and the biggest behaviors can also become competent.''

McGrath said her student experience was “completely magical” and “played a role in shaping the path I took after college.” “Edinburgh is where I met many comedy contemporarys, the agent I managed to graduate in the summer, which gave me the confidence to think that this might be a viable career.”

Durham Revue and other teams funded the profits of the previous year, with additional funds raised through the show throughout the year, and if lucky, they would receive grants from their college. Thais from Leeds said these are not guaranteed, as the university's finances are squeezed and therefore become even more difficult to ensure.

O'Hare said the biggest obstacle is the venue and accommodation costs. This year, Revue will spend about £9,000 on accommodation (60% of its overall cost), "that's the students who share beds, it's not a luxury to live". Cowan said the Tatet accommodation price is £6,500, a significant increase in the £4,000 spent in 2023.

To cover growth, Durham Revue started the first crowdfunding, to which Kumar and other alumni contributed. But that "no long-term solution is available," O'Hare said. Leeds Tealights, 20, hopes that the funds raised from the anniversary will pay for the holiday expenses. Both groups are worried about how they will bridge the gap in 2026.

"Its unacceptability has accelerated over the past few years, which affects young people and students and those who start," O'Hare said.

Is there a solution? Kumar said the lack of university investment is "short-sighted". “I definitely want to see more bursaries to help,” Kumar said. “They are talking about taxing on streaming services to reinvest to UK TV – I want to see more investments in grass-roots arts programs. We need to look at how we can slowly raise arts funds over the past 15 years.”

If students from all financial backgrounds can no longer attend the edge, Kumar said, “You are losing a very valuable training venue,” Kumar said. "Comedy is one of the things we still do well in this country. It's crazy not to fund it."