Friday, July 25, 2014
No point in denying it, it’s upon us: the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with all the irresistible draw of its 3,000-plus shows. A raincoat will be the first thing I pack, despite the curr…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:25AMFriday, July 18, 2014
Comedians and politicians may seem like strange bedfellows – often the most they might have in common is the likelihood they will wear suits – but comedy has received a parliamentary se…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:00AMFriday, July 11, 2014
It may not be a consistently scorchio summer, but the comedy climate is hot with lots of events where you can get your giggles either in an al fresco setting or as near as damn…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:29AMFriday, July 4, 2014
So this was the week that was; the Python comeback. The O2 was awash with amateur knights who said ‘yay’, toy parrots and Life of Brian leftover extras; it was comedy’s clo…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:55AMWednesday, July 2, 2014
O2 Arena, London: The cheese shop is open again, the dead parrot reanimated, and countless other metaphors come to mind like a horde of scuttling Terry Gilliam animations. Yes, the long-awai…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:25AMFriday, June 20, 2014
There’s a certain irony in writing about the alleged similarity between Alan Davies’ new show on Dave – As Yet Untitled, and Paul Provenza’s The Green Room that aired on …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:00AMMonday, June 16, 2014
Soho Theatre, London: John Lennon once said to deliver political messages "with a little milk and honey"; if that's a test for how the arts can effectively commentate, then it…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:05AMFriday, June 13, 2014
It’s a feast of entertainment brought to us from a far off land. No, not the World Cup – the Edinburgh Festival Fringe preview season. Now is the time when a wealth of free showsR…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:02AMFriday, June 6, 2014
It’s odd thing to be concerned about what one might write about in a comedy review of the year when it is only June, but 2014 hasn’t been a bumper year. At least not yet….
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:08AMFriday, May 30, 2014
The magnetic pull of Edinburgh has already been felt by most of us involved. Acts, PRs, promoters, all are busy sweating over how to make the big break north of the border. It would be…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMFriday, May 16, 2014
With the reprise of Whose a Line Is It Anyway? at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival the spotlight will fall – or should anyway – on the burgeoning improv scene. Whose Line̷…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:37AMFriday, May 9, 2014
In a world where artistic genres are constantly morphing and crossing-over, the issue of how to describe and categorise shows for the benefit of an audience becomes ever thornier. This is ce…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:05AMFriday, May 2, 2014
Sketch, sketch, sketch… where’s the finished article? Only joking. As everyone (ie some people) knows, I was cured of my fear of the sketch genre by facing it like a real phobia,…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:16AMFriday, April 25, 2014
Springtime in Brighton has an extra allure for the comedy fan, with the cornucopia of talent on offer at the Brighton Fringe. Now in its eighth year as an independent entity from the Brighto…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:31AMFriday, April 18, 2014
How to end a comedy show? When you have taken your audience on what you hope is a roller-coaster ride of giggles and belly laughs, where do you stop? I doff my cap to those…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:37AMWednesday, April 16, 2014
Royal Albert Hall, London: The boyish charms of telly-friendly comic Russell Howard are stretched by his latest show, Wonderbox, the contents of which feel more arbitrary as it progresses.
R…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:44AMFriday, April 11, 2014
Creativity is like a sausage machine. Half-formed ideas go in at one end and come out in a presentable, digestible form at the other. However, some of us will comment on the shape, the size&…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:45AMFriday, April 4, 2014
Last July I wrote a piece titled ‘We must take a serious approach to comedy archives‘ which described the efforts of comedian-turned-academic Dr Oliver Double to set up a comedy …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:36PMFriday, March 28, 2014
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that I am currently touting my wares as a PR and director for comedians going to the Edinburgh Fringe, and anywhere else where one hour shows lurk. …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:12AMFriday, March 21, 2014
For two weeks this month comedy and science have been getting along famously, with the Cambridge Science Festival diversifying their ‘curriculum’ to include funny men and women w…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:09AMFriday, March 7, 2014
Apart from ‘are you funny when you are not in stage?’, ‘do you ever switch off?’ and ‘do you get lots of groupies?’, the question stand ups often get aske…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:40AMFriday, February 28, 2014
When I wrote about Bill Hicks last week, in advance of the 20th anniversary of his death, I indicated that he was probably the best comedian I had ever seen and that I wasn’t sure...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMFriday, February 21, 2014
Alexei Sayle on the state of British comedy Sadly, I wasn’t able to get to the Leicester Comedy Festival this week to hear Alexei Sayle talk about the state of the industry. Though I m…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMTuesday, February 18, 2014
I went to see a show in recent months that I was disappointed by. I would like to say which show, but since the promoter keeps giving me a wide berth, I had best not...
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:47AMSoho Theatre, London: Around the corner from the Soho Theatre tonight, a queue for Prince's surprise gig at Ronnie Scott's was forming. Any flicker of jealousy from those of us abo…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:58AMMonday, February 10, 2014
Leicester Square Theatre, London: "J-A-N-E; you know how the story goes." As Pass Notes, the randomly generated introduction by tonight's visiting Jane Austen 'expert…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:10AMWednesday, February 5, 2014
Soho Theatre, London: Wearing masks fashioned out of plastic bags, young Irish duo Dave Chambers and Bob McGlynn - aka Blindboy Boatclub and Mr Chrome - carry plenty in their heads in terms …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:43AMLast year, I was doing a couple of Q&A interviews for the British Comedy Awards magazine and a few of the comedians I was talking to mentioned that they no longer played the comedy club.…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMMonday, February 3, 2014
Bloomsbury Theatre, London: A double whammy of boyish North Eastern wit was on offer tonight with the pairing of Carl Hutchinson and Chris Ramsey. Aside from geography, the two are also link…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:58AMMonday, January 27, 2014
Ah, the double-edged sword of being on a comedy awards panel. The cut-and-thrust of passionate, involved debate and the disappointment when none of your favourites win. Well, sometimes they …
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:32AMFriday, January 17, 2014
We’re probably past the point at which it is still socially acceptable to say ‘happy new year’, and looks ahead to 2014 are so last week. However, the comedy world doesn…
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:47AM 
