Comedian tells Edinburgh crowd how he tracked down anti-Semitic trolls

A Jewish comedian from Boston has been telling Edinburgh audiences how he tracked down a group of his anti-Semitic Twitter trolls to a white nationalist meeting.

Alex Edelman, 29, an Orthodox Jew from Boston, had been experiencing abuse online when he decided to trace the abusers’ origins, setting off on a trail that finally ended with him attending a far-right meeting in New York City, where he now lives.

Edelman, who is performing at the Pleasance Courtyard until 26 August, uses the white nationalist meeting as the basis for his latest stand-up show, having previously enjoyed the idea that the life of a Jew hater in New York must be exhausting.

In his sketch, he explains how white nationalists appear to have a penchant for jigsaws, the kind of refreshments they prefer, and how they don’t like being called “Nazis”.

The young comic has links to the UK, having trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and spent a year in Israel, where he helped open a comedy venue in Jerusalem.