Yesterday we embarked on our first Magical Mystery Comedy Coach Tour at this year’s Adelaide Fringe and I can honestly say it was the most enjoyable thing we’ve done all year and not just as part of the festival. My partner and I are already preparing our lives and livers in anticipation for next year!

Most people aboard the bus were seasoned travellers, boasting their second or third year in a row on the Magical Mystery Comedy Coach. I can pretty much guarantee that once you’ve been “on tour” with these UK comedians you’ll be back again (and again) because it’s a complete day (six hours) of fun, drinking and laughing. Think: wine tour meets The Best of British on wheels. You’ll get to see a total of four different shows at four different (boozy) locations.

After meeting at the East Terrace Continental, we headed off to our first mystery location which turned out to be The Stirling Fringe Festival. The bus ride itself is half the fun as the crew actively encourages you (and joins you) to get drunk, unwind and make friends – all of which happens so naturally as everyone is in (and on) high spirits.

The Stirling Fringe Festival was not unlike our Garden of Unearthly Delights, only miniature and with more picturesque surroundings. Comedian Nick Page performed his set first and had the audience off to a great start with his combination of dry wit, sarcasm and self-deprecating humour. Nick deservedly won the 2017 English Comedian of The Year award. I’d recently seen the Best of British show at this year’s Fringe and Nick was one of the familiar faces however, he kept his stand up fresh with a longer set and some new material.

Across the next three stops we got to visit beautiful wineries and a nice little pub to sit and have lunch (which I’d like to mention was not a complete crisis like I’d been told last year’s was)!

All the comedians along the way such as Lauren Pattison and our absolute character of a host Alan Anderson produced some great belly laughs but admittedly the bus ride alone was becoming the real star of the show for me because it was so much fun mingling and drinking with new friends, that you almost forget (partially due to wine) that you are there to see the acts!

Audience participation can make even the best of us wince and have our internal monologue screaming “no” but not at this show. One of my favourite acts was a collaborative effort from the comedians to put together a pretend court room impersonating judges, plaintiffs and defendants while the rest of us had to accuse each other of committing a crime (backed with some hard-hitting evidence, obviously). A select few cases were brought to trial such as the case of the stolen Robbie William’s tickets. This stop in the tour was by far my favourite as you found yourself actually keen to participate (again, wine) but the entire court “proceedings” had the audience in stitches as we watched each get up and be accused of things such as outfit repeating and being a lushy wine-o (I plead the fifth).

Our last stop was back into the CBD where we all raced off the bus and continued into the night with all the new friends we had made! A truly fantastic day.

The Magical Mystery Comedy Coach Tour has been absolutely hands down my favourite part of Fringe this year and I cannot wait for next year’s although, please put it on a Saturday because today at work was horrendous!

I highly recommend this tour to anyone who enjoys big laughs, making new friends and having a belly full of wine. My only suggestion would be to make sure you buy your tickets early as it sells out quickly.

5 stars