Rohan Sharma is an award winning stand up comedian who quickly made a name for himself making the finals of So You Think You’re Funny? and 2Northdown’s New Act competitions in 2022 before winning Leicester Square New Comedian in 2024. Rohan has also been shortlisted for the BBC New Comedy Award, was chosen to perform in the 2024 Pleasance Comedy Reserve and has written on BBC Radio 4’s Newsjack. 

He returns to the Fringe with his debut full-length show ‘Mad Dog’. We spoke to Rohan about the show, his experience on the Pleasance Comedy Reserve, and the prospect of limitless macaroni pies.

Can you tell us about ‘Mad Dog’?

‘Mad Dog’ is an hour combining stand-up, multimedia and general weird silly stuff. It’s about what it means to be a person of colour in the arts in 2025, and the pressures that come with that, and I guess sort of parodying those in a way. But it’s also just generally being quite surreal and daft. It’s full of lots of surprises and some of it is a bit about Colonel Gadaffi. Honestly you’ll have to come see it to get what I mean.

For those unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe your comedy style and approach to performance?

Sort of scatterbrained weirdness combined with actual jokes (I hope) and also a bunch of tech/music stuff, with a general vibe of trying to surprise the crowd as much as I can. It’s a bit meta but also very silly. And a lot of tryna make friends with big blokes in the crowd. 

It’s a densely packed hour covering all manner of topics like Britishness, identity, spirituality. How was the writing process for such an ambitious debut?

Honestly it has occasionally felt like trying to wrangle some sort of huge animal, but I think thanks to help from some really brilliant people (shoutout my director Will Rowland) and a lot of work it is coming together. In hindsight I probably should’ve done something about a break-up or whatever but here we are! 

You were part of the Pleasance Comedy Reserve last year. How was that as an experience?

Pretty life-changing. Very few people get the chance to do a full Fringe run to regular sold-out audiences entirely for free. I also could not have picked a more talented and lovely group to do it with – three of us are doing shows this year which is definitely gonna make the month a little easier.  

‘Mad Dog,’ is your debut full-length Edinburgh show. What are your hopes and expectations for the month?

Honestly I just want to write something I like that makes audiences laugh a lot and maybe think a little bit, but not that much. It’s all about the laughter. That’s what I crave. Also to not lose my voice, or get too ill, but I’m willing to sacrifice those two for a couple of big laughs you know what I’m mean. 

Apart from your show, is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to (or dreading) about the Fringe?

I’m looking forward to the abstract idea of spending a month in Edinburgh, especially with so many close friends. It’s such a beautiful city and obviously I love my friends. I’m dreading the reality which I think will be getting ill on the first night, eating 3000 macaroni pies, and getting so drunk I kiss Greyfriars Bobby on the lips. 

Beside ‘Mad Dog’, can we expect to see you performing elsewhere during August?

I think I’ll probably be performing all over the place but I haven’t got that many dates to give to you right now. Is 26 dates of my own show not enough?!! 

Are there any other acts at the Fringe that you would recommend audiences see?

Almost too many to count! But I’d 100000% recommend Bella Hull, Will Owen, Bobby Prezinsky, ‘Brainsluts‘ (by Daniel Bishop), Sam Williams, Sharon Wanjohi, Ayoade Bamgboye, Hasan Al-Habib, Jade Franks, and Roger O’Sullivan. 

‘Mad Dog‘ is at Pleasance Courtyard – Below from Wed 30 Jul to Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 19:10