Marcel Lucont’s Whine List Returns To Fringe With Three Unique Performances Of The Acclaimed Improv Comedy Show
(Rochester, NY) August 7, 2026—The ESL Rochester Fringe Festival today announced that flâneur, raconteur, bon-viveur, and easily the greatest French comedian around, Marcel Lucont of Comedy Central at The Comedy Store, Set List (Sky Atlantic), and Live At The Electric (BBC), will return to Rochester this September with limited performances of the acclaimed, interactive, improvised show Marcel Lucont’s Whine List. There will be three unique, live performances at Fringe on Friday, September 18 at 9pm, Saturday, September 19 at 9pm, and Sunday, September 20 at 5pm, in the festival’s Spiegeltent, located at One Fringe Place, at the corner of Main and Gibbs Streets, in downtown Rochester.
Marcel Lucont’s Whine List is a kind of group therapy session, but one where everybody will probably leave more depressed! Eager to cash in on humanity’s obsession with self-help, Marcel Lucont offers audiences the chance to air their grievances, complaints, and whines in front of a man who has plenty of his own. The Daily Telegraph previously named the show one its Top Ten Comedy Picks at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The French, deadpan comedian Marcel Lucont is played by the award-winning, wildly-talented, London-based actor Alexis Dubus, who is a British stand-up comedian, sketch comedy artist and poet.
In addition to the Edinburgh Fringe, Dubus has starred in Paul Hollywood’s Big Continental Road Trip (Netflix) and the television comedy specials Marcel Lucont: Numero Dix, Alexis Dubus: A Ruddy Brief History of Swearing and End of the Road.
He has also toured the world for the past 17 years as Marcel Lucont, performing worldwide at festivals, including the Melbourne Comedy Festival, New Zealand Comedy Festival, Cape Town Fringe, and La Jolla Playhouse’s WOW Festival in San Diego. In addition to Rochester, upcoming appearances include the Lund Comedy Festival in Sweden. Awards have included the Fringe World Award for Best Comedy Show in 2013, the Amused Moose Award for Best Comedy Show at Edinburgh Fringe in 2012, and the new Marcel Lucont’s Whine List podcast just won the Golden Lobes Podcast Award in London in May.
People all over the world have been entertained (and also a little stunned!) by Marcel Lucont’s Whine List. Dubus says that the show offers a cathartic release, offering an outlet for people to unabashedly air their woes in life, but also experience the revelation that other people’s woes are arguably worse. Once, a man in the audience shared about his attempt at fixing his home toilet that ended with disastrous results, while another time a woman told a story about how her child latched onto another woman’s breasts at the beach. Still, perhaps the “winner” was the man who fell into the grave he had been digging and had to shout for help for hours.
“Audiences go crazy for ‘Marcel Lucont’ and his distinct brand of comedy,” said Erica Fee, CEO and Festival Producer. “I can’t wait to hear the stories they’ll share and watch the mischief unfold!”
Standard tickets for Marcel Lucont’s Whine List begin at $33 and VIP Booths seating six are available starting at $199. As with other shows in the Spiegeltent, prices rise on September 12 at 12 noon. The show duration is 90 minutes. Doors open 30 minutes before showtime. A cash bar is available. Content is recommended for ages 18+. The Spiegeltent is wheelchair accessible.
Also, on Saturday, September 19 at 2:30 p.m., Dubus will present a single matinee performance of the international Fringe family-favorite, Marcel Lucont: Les Enfants Terribles—a Gameshow for Awful Children. This is a wild family gameshow, in which kids get to be pests, politicians—and worse—to compete to be crowned the most awful child of the day. The show is as entertaining for adults as it is for kids! It is 60 minutes in duration and tickets start at $23.
The Fringe takes place September 15 – 26. Tickets to all shows are available online at rochesterfringe.com, via phone at (585) 957-9837 (additional phone fees apply) or via the Rochester Fringe Festival App, which is available for download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the festival’s main box office at One Fringe Place at the corner of Main & Gibbs Streets starting September 13.
Rochester’s not-for-profit Fringe has become one of the largest, most successful, and most prominent fringe festivals in the nation, the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festivals in New York State, and one of the region’s most anticipated festivals each year. The 2026 Fringe will feature 715 performances of 297 productions at 45 venue locations in just 12 days, including Comedy, Theatre, Dance, Music, Kids’ Shows, Multidisciplinary & Circus, Spoken Word, and Visual Arts & Film.
ABOUT THE ESL ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL:
The 12-day ESL Rochester Fringe Festival is one of the nation’s largest fringe festivals and has been recognized by the New York Times as “one of the country’s more prominent multidisciplinary events.” It is also New York State’s largest performing arts festival and the current winner, three years running, of CITY Magazine’s Best of Rochester Award for Best Arts Event. This year, the Fringe celebrates its 15th season. Nearly a million people have attended more than 7,000 performances and events at the Fringe since its inception in 2012. The non-profit organization’s mission is to offer platforms for artists, new audiences for venues, and unparalleled public access to incredible art. It strives to be diverse and inclusive, as well as to stimulate downtown Rochester culturally and economically. The Fringe showcases the work of regional, national, and international artists from emerging to superstar. Audiences at Fringe also have the rare opportunity to attend a performance at the Spiegeltent, which is one of the most unique performing arts venues in the world.
ABOUT ESL:
With more than 100 years of locally owned history, ESL Federal Credit Union serves as a full-service financial institution to more than 465,000 members and 18,800 businesses. Founded in 1920, the company provides personal banking, business banking, mortgage services and wealth management services through its locally based 33-branch network; telephone, mobile and online banking; and live chat center. The Rochester-based financial institution employs more than 1,000 people in the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes region and holds more than $10.8 billion in assets. Since 1996, ESL has paid out 30 consecutive years of Owners’ Dividends to its members totaling more than $350 million. Since the creation of its Community Impact initiative in 2018, ESL has reinvested more than $182 million in grants throughout the community. The company has appeared on Great Place to Work® lists since 2010. ESL Federal Credit Union is headquartered at 225 Chestnut Street, in Rochester, and can be found online at www.esl.org.
ESL ROCHESTER FRINGE SPONSORS:
ESL; Rochester Area Community Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts; Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust; Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation; 7Crest Financial Partners; Dr. Dawn F. Lipson; Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; City of Rochester; Monroe County; University of Rochester; RIT; Mary Mulligan Trust; Elaine P. and Richard U. Wilson Foundation; Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Foundation; Konar Enterprises; Golisano Foundation; The Rubens Family Foundation; Lake Beverage; The Inn on Broadway; Hyatt Regency Rochester; Nazareth University; St. John Fisher University; Monroe Community College; The Pike Company; Hamilton A/V; Wilkins RV; McCarthy Tents & Events; Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care; Liccardi Radio Services; Finger Lakes Distilling; Aspire Transformation Services; Visit Rochester; The Spindler Family Foundation; The Harley School; Wegmans; City Blue Imaging; Canandaigua National Bank; Yelp!; AdHouse Productions; Walk Up Advertising; Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC; and House of Guitars.
ABOUT FRINGE FESTIVALS:
In 1947, eight theatre groups showed up - uninvited - to perform at the newly established Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. Although not listed in the official program, the groups performed anyway, at venues they found for themselves. The following year, a Scottish journalist coined the term “festival fringe” to describe these non-curated shows that began turning up annually. The Edinburgh Fringe is now the world’s largest arts festival and the third largest event after the Olympics and the World Cup. Today, there are more than 250 Fringe Festivals worldwide, with nearly 50 in the United States. The ESL Rochester Fringe Festival was the first in Upstate New York.