Review: Best of Burton, Fringe 2025

Birdy and Girdy made it back to Gilded Balloon @ Appleton Tower to see Best of Burton – something they’d both been looking forward to! Birdy reviews.

I’m not going to lie, I’ve just come out of the shittiest month I could have ever imagined as a newlywed. But now it’s Fringe, and Juliette Burton is on stage in front of me – she’s funny, and sparkly (with glittery cheeks!), and still relatable as f*ck! So, there’s that at least. Bring it on!

Vibe

Award-winning comedian Juliette Burton is a celebrated gem of the Fringe and Gilded Balloon regular. As the name suggests, this show warmly takes you through some of her ‘best of’ moments over her past 10 years in comedy.

It’s actually been around 10 years since I last saw one of her shows at Gilded Balloon (not through lack of trying sometimes!), so I’m excited to finally be able to catch up with the world of Juliette and find out what she’s been up to.

The show itself

In this show, we’re treated to some of the quintessential moments of Burton. We learn a little about her upbringing, lived experiences, 15 different mental health diagnoses (including eating disorders – me too, Juliette!), as well as her sexuality, general outlook on life, and various key (sometimes viral) moments in her comedy career – and personal life (she almost got married once).

Juliette is a wonderfully warm, friendly stage presence who brings genuine belly laughs to a full room – but she’s also down-to-earth and tells you where some jokes have previously landed or not landed as she goes along, which is surprisingly charming. Not many shows where you get that kind of insight! As a fellow geek, I get the feeling Juliette is constantly gathering data from different audiences – what’s going down well and why.

One of the lovelier parts of the show was watching a video of Juliette doing ‘dares of kindness’ from a 2017 audience (I think). Watching the reaction they got from unsuspecting members of the public – and the awkwardness (and ‘what was I thinking’ looks from on-stage Juliette) that came with it got plenty of laughs.

As an aside, I got to take a slip of paper at the end, apparently written by that same audience, and carry out a dare of kindness of my own. Sadly, mine was to help someone who looked lost, and on my way home in the maze of an estate I live in, I attempted to help a lost Deliveroo driver – and failed. Oh well. Main thing is, I tried!

I felt in safe hands with Juliette – I laughed a lot, and came away from Best of Burton feeling like I knew her much better than than I did previously (which, to be honest wasn’t much – but I’d seen Look At Me and had related to it a lot at the time). She’s got nothing to hide, and it feels like she bears her heart on her sleeve – which I love.

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed Best of Burton (Girdy did, too!) – and what a great introductory show for new fans! There’s a lot to admire from the unfiltered, unflinching comedian, and it’s genuinely made me want to go and see some of Juliette’s other shows this Fringe. I think I will! Thanks, Juliette.