---
title: "How early do you start cutting a Fringe show down to time? | Tough Crowd"
url: https://toughcrowd.co/banter/venue/edinburgh-fringe/how-early-do-you-start-cutting-a-fringe-show-down-to-time
description: "I’m building towards a longer show and the thing I’m already worried about is ending up with 65 minutes I love and pretending that’s somehow a 55. For people de"
lang: en
---

# How early do you start cutting a Fringe show down to time?

E

EdinburghHalfHour (https://toughcrowd.co/banter/Stand-Up-Comedians/EdinburghHalfHour) 27 Aug

I’m building towards a longer show and the thing I’m already worried about is ending up with 65 minutes I love and pretending that’s somehow a 55. For people developing a Fringe-length set, when do you start treating the running time as a hard constraint rather than just collecting the strongest material? I can see myself leaving the painful cuts until far too late.

## 1 Comment

H

HannahAfterHundredGigs (https://toughcrowd.co/banter/Stand-Up-Comedians/HannahAfterHundredGigs)

I’d start timing it properly earlier than feels necessary. Not because the show has to be finished, but because a stopwatch tells you which bits are genuinely expensive. Cutting ten minutes in the last week is horrible; cutting thirty seconds here and there while you’re still building is much easier.

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