The Gilded Balloon

Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.

The company has its origins in a venue known as The Gilded Balloon on Edinburgh's Cowgate, where artistic director Karen Koren first started promoting comedy events in 1986. When a fire in 2002 destroyed the original premises, Gilded Balloon shifted its Fringe operations to Teviot Row House in Bristo Square, which became the company's main venue.

Gilded Balloon also operates outside the Fringe, including running monthly comedy nights in the studio of Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

The Gilded Balloon was established by Karen Koren in 1986, staging seven shows a day in a building on Cowgate that was formerly J. & R. Allan's department store. The building was built in 1823 by James Spittal, a draper and silk merchant, who used it as a warehouse for his shop "The Gilded Balloon".

In 1988, the Gilded Balloon devised the competition "So You Think You're Funny", which has been won by many notable comics including Rhona Cameron, Lee Mack, Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan and Peter Kay; other finalists have included Ed Byrne, Jason Byrne, Ardal O’Hanlon and Johnny Vegas. The competition was sponsored by Channel 4 from 1993 until 2004, with five and the Paramount Comedy Channel taking over in 2005. Karen Koren is one of the major supporters of Australian comedy talent, and has produced a number of notable Australian acts at the Gilded Balloon over the years, including Greg Fleet, and is particularly noted for being the springboard for the careers of Tim Minchin and Drags Aloud.

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