Comedian and content creator Courtney Büchner is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe this year with a new show One of the Girls. Exploring the ups and downs of friendships and part inspired by a recent experience choosing bridesmaids for her upcoming wedding, One of the Girls will be the performer’s third show at the festival and remarkably she will begin her run this year just 3 days after getting married. I recently had the opportunity to ask the creative some questions about the show, her comedy style and find out how it is going, planning for both the wedding and a full Fringe run.
How did you get into stand-up comedy and content creation?
I got into stand-up comedy at the perfect time – I was already going insane.
We’d come out of the last lockdown, I’d watched all 200 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, I was reeling from a noise complaint I received from throwing books at the wall and crying: “WILL I BE ALLOWED TO MAKE ART AND GET CAST IN A YOGHURT COMMERCIAL?!” and, most importantly, I had written and starred in a one woman show that I advertised as a Drama/Comedy because if people didn’t laugh I could say, “Well, it’s heavy on the drama.” After one of those shows, a comedian came up to me and told me I had essentially written a stand-up show and I should give stand-up a go.
But it still took me some time after that to build up the courage to properly try stand-up. I took some jokes I kept hidden in a word doc and signed up for bringers and 5 spots. However, two things about the lifestyle didn’t work for me: one, I like to be in bed by 10:30PM and two, as frequently the only woman at a gig, the moment I’d walk onto stage all the male comedians and their friends would leave the room. And I thought, you know, I do not need to watch three hours of these men doing sets about how their girlfriends are supposedly “the worst” when maybe they are…the worst?
But I still wanted to be a stand-up so I made a promise to myself that I’d take a show to the Fringe in…5 years? That seemed like enough time to hone my craft.
A month later I was at the Fringe with my first show. I didn’t have the lingo down at the time but apparently what I did was called a work-in-progress. I came back a shell of a human and I decided that was exactly what I wanted to be forever and ever and ever.
At the time, I had been posting social media content mostly about football while simultaneously working for a heatless hair curling company making their content. Yes, I filmed a lot of videos in cafes taking off heatless curlers and swooshing my hair around. But I hadn’t really ever posted any personal comedy content. My close friends find it hilarious that I now make content as I used to say using social media was like dancing with the devil. Once I came back from the Fringe (a shell) my fiancée pointed out I could do comedy… online.
AND LET PEOPLE SEE THE REAL ME?! What do you mean a girl from my Year 7 form class might see one of my reels? Okay. Yeah. I’ll do it and get over myself.
And so I posted my first reel and I started my salsa lessons in hell.
If you were to describe your comedy style in one word, what would it be and why?
Playful! I love playing with the form of stand-up, there are theatrical elements in all of my shows, but mostly playing with the audience. Since last year, I’ve become obsessed with this idea of becoming friends with the audience and that’s at the heart of One of the Girls.
Your new show One of the Girls explores friendships, specifically friendships lost, endured and still yet to make, and in part was derived from your experience choosing bridesmaids for your upcoming wedding. How do you hope audiences will resonate with the material?
I read an Oxford study about marriage, as it is my recent hyperfocus, and it said over the course of an average bride’s engagement they will lose 1-2 core friends. I was shocked but it made me reflect on my own friendships. What I’ve learnt from developing One of the Girls is just how common this experience is – and not just with weddings. Sometimes people from the audience will come up after the show and talk to me after about their own friendship grief and how the breakup came after major life changes.
So should we be expected not to change? Well, no.
It’s interesting: everyone has a former friend that causes a pang in their heart, a song they can’t listen to any more, or a memory that hurts to touch. And because of social media, we’re largely still connected with these friends.
I hope One of the Girls lets the audience poke those memories, remember the good in them, and grieve them for what they are: truly beautiful moments in our lives. One of the Girls isn’t about mourning a friendship, but celebrating one.
Through your comedy you love to play with the form of stand-up. What can you tell me about your creative process and how do you ensure you offer something new to audiences through your work?
Haha, you know what: a review about my first show, I Wrote This Show Last Night, said I was experimental etc and that was wild to me because I honestly don’t see anything I do as that crazy, until I’m sitting with my producer and she’s like: “Courtney, making a show where you just have a toastie with one audience member might be insane.” Which was the initial idea for One of the Girls.
I tend to go where the fun is. And usually I go to the absolute extreme of that idea and then dial it back. It’s always a mix of fun and risk. I always ask what is the show without limitations, i.e. tech, my own skill, budget, and then I go: “Right, maybe I do not have the core strength/stadium arena of P!nk to be able to bungee jump into a random black box room in Edinburgh, but what can I still do to get that feeling for an audience?”
I do believe each show pulls you in a different direction and it’s important to listen to the show itself and let it lead you. And while I always prioritise “play”, once I get to the decision making part of a show (what to keep, what to save for the next one) I always think there can’t be “play” without a point.
This summer marks your third time performing at the festival, following on from your Fringe debut I Wrote this Show Last Night and follow-up Big, If True. What have you learnt about the experience in previous years that you are taking into 2026?
I Wrote This Show Last Night was written in the four weeks before the Fringe. I had no team, I did not know what WIP was, I had no “debut fear” because I did not even know the concept of a debut. It was just me in a 30 seater hoping to make an audience laugh.
And all of that…was so incredibly freeing and I’ve tried to replicate that freedom every year.
So, the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is from that first year, really reminding myself: “What would I make if I wasn’t aware of all the outside noise?” There is some fear and regret for not having debuted at Fringe “the proper/industry way”, but I was so beautifully oblivious and that was such a gift.
With your wedding three days before the Fringe, how are you juggling wedding planning and festival preparations in the lead up?
Ha. Ha. Ha. Not well.
I will say planning a wedding is basically the same as planning a Fringe run. You have delusional optimism at the start as you’re flooded with fun ideas (both require a Pinterest board). Then you make a terrifying spreadsheet and you realise you’re about to spend thousands of pounds and all you can do is simply pray people actually turn up.
I’ve been very lucky with my producer, Laoise Holohan, who has done so much behind the scenes and also held my hand when decision fatigue set in (around the time I had to choose a napkin shape and also my poster). No, seriously. She has been my rock (my fiancée too but also Laoise).
Hilariously, my fiancée and Laoise, helped in similar ways with the two different things. My fiancee would say “Courtney, do we really need tarot reader at the wedding?” and Laoise would say “Courtney, do you need a tarot reader in your show?” (Sorry David x). The thing is, I trust both of their opinions and advice so ferociously and I think it’s the only reason I actually managed to do both.
Catch Courtney Büchner at the 2026 festival
Courtney has had such a fascinating journey into comedy. I think it’s so fun that the comedian wants to be friends with the audience and likes to experiment with format and style. Courtney Büchner: One of the Girls is based at Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard (venue 33) from 7th – 31st August. Performances start at 18:55 (1 hour), with the show on sale via the EdFringe website now.
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