Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.[1] The company has its origins in a venue known as The Gilded Balloon on Edinburgh's Cowgate, where artistic director Karen Koren first started promoting comedy events in 1986. When a fire in 2002 destroyed the original premises, Gilded Balloon shifted its Fringe operations to Teviot Row House in Bristo Square, which became the company's main venue.