One wealthy visitor to the Edinburgh Fringe this August will enjoy a full day of exclusive and unique entertainment - but only for a record ticket price of £7,349.

That amount, which will be revealed in the official Fringe programme, will buy the ticketholder 24 hours in the company of the controversial American comedian Doug Stanhope. His show had been devised in protest at the planned Edinburgh Comedy Festival, which, Stanhope said, had been concocted by agents and promoters who have no discernible talent, other than making money for themselves.

“It's a middle finger to the whole stupid affair. You have a fantastic arts festival which is full of energy, but it's taken over by agents who are pariahs and leeches. Agents should be told to explain, 'What do you do? How do you earn your income? What is your product?',” said Stanhope, who in 2006 had a sell-out run at George Square Theatre.

The price of the day's entertainment is based on a calculation of the average sum that most comedians have lost after completing a three-week run in Edinburgh. Stanhope said that he envisaged a £10 deduction should a pensioner buy the ticket.

The move is the latest protest against the new Edinburgh Comedy Festival on the Fringe, which is which is being organised by the promoters of the “big four” venues - Assembly, the Gilded Balloon, the Pleasance and Underbelly. The Times disclosed two months ago that this organisation had circulated its own brochure seeking £1.8million in sponsorship and boasting that its festival would be “bigger than Glastonbury”.

The comedy festival's London-based PR company has revealed many acts - including Bill Bailey, Ruby Wax, Clive James and Ed Byrne - and has broken with convention by organising a media briefing before the Fringe programme is launched on Thursday, an event that has traditionally been used to publicise the line-up of the arts festival, now in its 62th year.

The comedy festival's credentials came under fire last week, when The Stand club revealed a bill of 36 productions, which, according to its backers, makes the club the biggest single comedy producer on this year's Fringe.

Tommy Sheppard, proprietor of The Stand, said that his would be one of the majority of venues that remain outside the new festival.

“That thing they've organised is not a festival at all. How can you have a festival when most of the comedians in the city are not part of it? It is an absurdity,” he said.

Stuart Lee, the stand-up comedian who wrote Jerry Springer: The Opera added his voice to the protests, saying that the comedy festival might make financial sense, but was “thoughtless and rude”. He added that comedians benefited from being part of a bigger event, rather than being pigeonholed.

“Everyone I know, and I know the best people, feels delighted to participate in a festival where you get to be alongside people from different performance backgrounds. There's a lot that a stand-up can learn, so it's daft to bracket it off,” said Lee.

Charlie Wood, a director of Underbelly, defended the comedy festival and said that the revenues it generated would help to support other artforms.

He was backed by the Australian comedian and If.com award winner, Brendon Burns, who commented on Times Online: “I'm a Fringe comic and will always proudly refer to myself as such, but Charlie's right. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is expensive. Very, very expensive. People should check the numbers before they go jumping up and down any time someone shows economical initiative.”

Stanhope remained unimpressed and said that, if someone were prepared to pay the asking price for his show, “I guarantee I will punch an agent in the face within the same 24-hour period.”

Brian Hennigan, Stanhope's agent in Edinburgh, did not seem alarmed, and added his voice to the protest. “The problem with the comedy festival is that it is all about those venues, and not about performers,” he said.