A review of Simon Amstell: I Love it Here, Fringe 2026

Simon Amstell is doing standup at Fringe. Yes, that Simon Amstell – off the telly! He does remind us that it’s been a while since he was on the telly, but the telly is the only place I only know him from, so my expectations are of vague familiarity and… well, curiosity. What’s he been up to? I immediate request a ticket.

What will this show bring? Well, some unfiltered honesty, for a start.

Vibe

The vibe is that Simon Amstell is out there in Hollywood, famous, gay, happy in a relationship of 14 years, having threesomes and crushes whilst going around rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. Like Laura Dern, Baz Luhrmann, Viola Davis and Charli XCX. Yes, there’s quite a lot of name dropping in this show.

He’s quite happy to tell us all about his adventures, such as wearing a Gucci suit to a fabulous party, and I’m happy to listen. After all, that’s why I’m here.

The show itself

Simon Amstell is unapologetically Simon Amstell; comfortable in his own skin, and happy to share some of the sauciest details of his life that you definitely don’t get to hear on the telly – and, it’s plenty funny, too. Plus, he’s even more likeable this way, despite the concerns about maintaining his household-name status: “How are you supposed to keep a career going when new people keep being born?”

There’s some absurdist humour as we hear about Amstell’s plight of getting a shag with the celebrity he has a crush on, who he interestingly refers to as simply ‘The Singer’ – who he seems to have had multiple chances with, but never quite wins the prize. I could ask Google to tell me who it thinks this is, but I’m not sure I care enough to find out and it’s more about the feeling than the reality of the situation at this point.

I know it must have been very important to Amstell at the time, but I just couldn’t get overly invested in this pursuit. It’s a former teenage crush who’s a celeb, and as someone who’s been in a similar situation and DID get what they wanted… I’d like to reassure Amstell it’s never as good as you think it’s going to be.

I also enjoyed Amstell’s references to Mel Robbins‘ book The Let Them Theory, and the overarching narrative of his low self-confidence, constant self-examinsation and the love of his larger bum: “I used to have two legs and a hole”. The piano finale is really worth sticking around for, and I left feeling in good spirits.

Overall

Unfiltered, unapologetic, commanding-the-stage-just-by-being-himself Simon Amstell feels like an hour well spent. We get a small glimpse into window of the life and neurosis of someone who’s very self-analytical and reflective, but also successful and living it up. It’s not exactly Fleabag energy – there could definitely be more struggle, more friction to give us a bit more of an edge in terms of relatability.

Still, I appreciated Amstell’s humour, enjoyed the show and laughed quite a lot. I have zero regrets about seeing this show.