Award-winning Edinburgh comedy club Monkey Barrel have announced the formation of their brand new comedy record label. Titled Monkey Barrel Records, the label will produce exclusive comedy vinyl records, showcasing some of the best comedic talent from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and beyond. First up on their roster will be live recordings of two-time Edinburgh Comedy Award winner John Kearns' show Double Take and Fade Away, Olga Koch's sell-out show If/Then, and Icelandic comedian Ari Eldjárn's Eagle Fire Iron.

Each of these shows, now available for pre-order, were recorded live during 2019's Fringe at Monkey Barrel Comedy. This new initiative will help support the independent club's ability to keep the lights on throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to comedy venues across the country shuttering their doors for the foreseeable, as well as through the cancellation of the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which has dealt a huge blow to the live comedy industry.

The recordings will be available in exclusive gatefold coloured vinyl, and 250 limited edition signed and individually numbered copies will be up for grabs as part of Monkey Barrel's crowdfunding campaign. Every vinyl purchase will also come with a digital recording of the set, so that listeners can enjoy the show across a range of mediums. Comedy lovers can also choose to purchase a Monkey Barrel Records membership for £10, which will give them access to special offers on new records, priority ticketing for future show recordings, as well as the chance to be first in the queue for buying limited edition releases.

Kearns says, of taking part in the record label's first vinyl pressing: 'I don't own any vinyl so for the first record to be my own makes me feel absolutely fantastic. I've got plenty of digital downloads so that'll just go on the heap but imagine if you could only own anything by making one yourself? Hello? Anyway, it's a bloody good show that I'm chuffed was recorded at the superlative Monkey Barrel Comedy in the final throes of the Edinburgh Fringe and thankfully not in Corby, Wolverhampton or Darlington and Norwich. May it gather dust in your (500 to break even) collections and be played for my weeping great-great-great grandchildren on an episode of Repair Shop in 2110.'

Pre-order now on Kickstarter, with delivery expected August 2020.