The inaugural Edinburgh Comedy Festival gets under way kicking off the Scottish capital's annual arts bonanza.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe will flock to the city in the coming month for a massive array of entertainment.
This year sees the launch of the comedy festival, which organisers have billed as a "festival-within-a-festival" - a separate home for comedy within the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
It is the first of the city's festivals to get under way. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe begins on Sunday and the Edinburgh International Festival starts on August 8.
The comedy festival is the brainchild of four of the biggest Fringe venues, who hope the move will raise the profile of comedy and attract sponsorship in a competitive market.
More than 250 shows across 55 different stages are set to entertain comedy aficionados in what organisers say is the biggest comedy festival in the world.
It features acts across the spectrum of sketch, poetry, musical and comic theatre.
Comedians Mark Watson and Tim Minchin are among those performing as the festival is due to open
Other acts in the festival, which runs until August 25, include Fringe favourites Paul Merton, Ed Byrne and Bill Bailey and legends Barry Cryer and Clive James.
New talent will also be on show, including Sarah Millican, Tom Allen and Matt Green. The venues taking part in the festival are the Assembly, the Gilded Balloon, the Pleasance, and the Underbelly, and organisers expect over 875,000 visitors.
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