THE STAND is bigger and better than ever. I have always thought of it as a venue for the comedy purists – Simon Munnery has his AGM there, a sort of Comedic First Communion. Arnold Brown is back and Phil Nichol never left. Then there is Stewart Lee,
here doing a "work in progress towards a television project". I can't think of another venue where you'll find someone at that level punting a work in progress and asking for it, therefore, not to be reviewed. I spent a couple of late hours at the Stand this Fringe watching a show I have been asked not to name. It was brilliant, like watching really good musicians jam, but according to the main man, a comment like that can set up expectations that the show might not fulfil the night you are there. Fair enough. The speccy one, the hairy one, the thin one and the ginger one could be pants the night you see it. But if you're a risk taker…
Of course, the old place has expanded, and this year boasts one of the few fully, properly air-conditioned rooms on the festival. Thus Limmy's Show is "fresh" in more ways than one. And if you want a taste of quintessential 21st-century 'Weegie' humour, this could be the show for you. He is an extraordinary mix: raw, but with great charm, technophilic and yet, in this show, lo-tech, appalling yet loveable. Limmy himself is deceptively clever. His natural habitat is online, blogging, but here, on the Fringe, he goes live. The opening contains, he is at pains to point out, "nothing natural". Every wee stutter is, he confides, "scripted tae f***". If only more comedians on the Fringe were so honest. A series of Limmy's trademark filmic gems are a delight, and Coronation Street fans will be fascinated to discover what Limmy garnered by typing "Betty Driver fake porn man gay sex" into Google.
Limmy is one of many Stand acts "grown" there, but its reputation regularly draws serious talent from the US. Jeff Kreisler is a heavy hitter – he has won the Bill Hicks Spirit Award and looks like George Clooney, but sweatier. His hour holds some of the smartest political material around. One of the things that makes Kreisler fascinating is his unashamed love for America; he just hates what has been done to it. The final section, involving Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Rohypnol may be the most powerful description of the past few years of US history you'll hear.
In contrast to Kreisler's slick, political sharp-shooting, Jason Cook is worried we are "losing our joy" and is here to remind us where to find it. There are moments of joy in his show – his recent marriage, and his family's reaction to it (his wife is Jewish, his grandma a bigot) is one source of warm chuckles. According to Jason, his family is "the bad luck family", and they have a list of top five disasters. They say comedy is tragedy plus time, and this is the operating mechanism of Cook's show. It is lovely, warm and honest, with laughs from the most unlikely of events.
• Jeff Kreisler 2008 until 24 August, today 6:10pm. Limmy's Show until 24 August, today 4:30pm. Jason Cook : Joy until 24 August, today 5:20pm.