Reporter-turned-comedian Matt Chorley has made his debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The former Taunton Times news editor appeared at the festival for the first time on Wednesday as one third of Big Day Out, and will now be entertaining the crowds every evening until August 29.

Appearing at The Hut, Pleasance Courtyard, the group’s show is a mix of sketches, songs and comic characters, and has so far met with approval.

Matt told HoldtheFrontPage: “It seems weird to be here now after spending months counting down to ‘bringing a show to Edinburgh’ and now we are actually doing it.

“Nervous doesn’t come close to describing how I felt on Wednesday doing our first show.

“Because of the number of shows in our venue we hadn’t had a full rehearsal in the space and it was all a bit down to fate to see how it went.

“But we had a good response from the audience and Thursday’s show was even better – a crowd of 35, our first reviewer and a great atmosphere.

“The hardest thing is having to remind myself we have got to do the show every day. And because our marketing budget is all-too finite we’ve got flyering to do as well.

“Although working in the newsroom often meant some anti-social hours, I’m already getting in to the swing of festival time – get up hungover just before lunch, cook breakfast, flyering, pub lunch, do the show then sample Edinburgh’s infamous late-night licensing policy until the small hours!”

Big Day Out also includes Lewis Georgeson and William Kenning, and the trio are updating their very own blog at www.bigdayout.net.