Firstly, here are today’s Picks of the Day: Randy Feltface: First Banana The Fringe’s favourite purple puppet is only here for three days this year, but who needs to do a full Edinburgh Festival Fringe run when you are a star of Netflix and NBC with a global fanbase? In this new show, Randy argues that things have gone downhill for the human race since 10,0000 years ago when the first bananas – which were the world’s first fruit, according to some experts – appeared on Earth around that time. At the time of writing this, the run was mostly sold out, so book fast. Assembly Rooms, tonight and tomorrow, 10pm; tomorrow and 11 August, 5.

10pm.​ Up Lates One of the joys of the Edinburgh festivals every August is showing up to something not knowing exactly what it is you’re going to get. It’s a rather more common experience in some of the slightly ramshackle corners of the Fringe, but tonight and next Friday the EIF is offering what it describes as “a surprise line-up for a night full of inspiration, as a variety of ideas, genres and performance styles come together in the sociable surroundings of the Hub”.

It sounds a lot like a more civilised Late ‘n’ Live event (though it is also more expensive, with tickets starting from £25). The Hub, tonight and 16 August, 10.30pm Songs of the Bulbul This is the new show by Aakash Odedra Company, whose Samsara was a 2022 EIF highlight.

Bulbuls are common songbird in Africa and Asia, and Odedra’s new show draws on a an.