Comedian Jerry Sadowitz returns to Edinburgh Fringe festival with Queens Hall show a year after cancellation

Controversial comedian Jerry Sadowitz will return to the Edinburgh Fringe this year, a year after his show was cancelled following complaints about offensive material.

The American-Scots stand-up has been booked to perform at The Queens Hall for three nights in August.

Last year, Sadowitz appeared at The Pleasance at Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Friday and was due to appear for two nights.

However, the Pleasance Theatre Trust said it had cancelled the second and final show at the venue “with immediate effect”, indicating that his material did “not align with our values”.

It came after what the Pleasance claimed was an “unprecedented number of complaints”.

The flyer for the August 2023 show carries a warning that it is “offensive to everyone”.

Last year, performed in front of 600 people at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on the first night of his 2022 Fringe run.

The Pleasance had said a “large number” of people walked out of the show as they “felt uncomfortable and unsafe to remain in the venue”.

It went on to claim that it did not censor its comedians’ material when explaining why it cancelled the performance, but said Sadowitz’s act was “extreme in its racism, sexism, homophobia and misogyny”.

In a statement following the 2022 show being cancelled, Sadowitz claimed that during the show on Friday he “left with no hint of anything going wrong”.

The comic added: “There’s a lot of silly, exaggerated irony and nonsense, real and exaggerated anger and bile, and even getting my d**k out is for the purpose of the funny line which follows it.

“I have never ONCE courted a mainstream audience to come to my shows because guess what??? In real life, I really DON’T don’t want to upset anyone.

“The show is what it is, for those who enjoy it. The rest of you…please stick to Carry On films.”