Monday, August 14, 2017
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe trio play depressed, maladroit losers with absolutely straight faces, and give an object lesson in offbeat humourMaking a virtue out of necessity, I’d cal…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18AMSunday, August 13, 2017
Assembly Rooms, EdinburghThe former first minister of Scotland and ex-MP has been promising a political kiss and tell, but he fails to deliver the goodsWhen the former first minister of Scot…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:04PMHeroes @ The Hive, EdinburghRunning against the prevailing trend for sincerity in comedy, Mat Ewins’ Indiana Jones-inspired show is a paean to daftness, fabrication and windups, with a ter…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:33AMUnderbelly Cowgate, EdinburghNot every audience member press-ganged into taking part in the Australian’s sketches has the confidence to keep up with a stellar performerTricky business, thi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:04AMFriday, August 11, 2017
Pleasance CourtyardPritchard-McLean’s debut about sexism was good. Her new show, Appropriate Adult, which touches on millennial angst and her volunteer work, is even betterEven at a festiv…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AMThursday, August 10, 2017
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghJohns was ready to quit standup until Ken Loach came calling. His fringe return is full of humility and unpretentious good humourCinderella can’t touch this. Two y…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PMWednesday, August 9, 2017
Plan your viewing with our list of top shows, ordered by start time. This page will be updated throughout the festival Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AMUnderbelly Med Quad, EdinburghThe standup is strongest when she eviscerates cultural cliches in this nervy but promising fringe debutAditi Mittal’s recent Radio 4 show was called A Beginne…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMTuesday, August 8, 2017
Guildhall, Portsmouth"The most excruciating moment of my career," Frankie Boyle is said to have called it. But if he's embarrassed by his confrontation with a woman upset by his jokes about …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PMEICC, EdinburghThe cackling peddler of brutal jokes about the most sensitive subjects is not for the faint-hearted, but his new standup show is relentlessly funnyIf you thought Frankie Boyle…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh The outrageous standup turns a story of lifelong loneliness into an irresistible hymn to self-realisationElsewhere at the Edinburgh fringe, Rose Matafeo uses r…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48AMMonday, August 7, 2017
Underbelly Med Quad, Edinburgh The standup aims his moral disgust at targets including the Queen, Dominic Sandbrook and Jack Whitehall, in a hilariously mean but erudite setWatching late-per…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMSunday, August 6, 2017
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe comedian keeps things upbeat as she lightly interrogates Hollywood cliche and the role models on offer to young womenRose Matafeo has watched a lot of romco…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12PMPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Morpurgo’s ludicrous satire on the post-show chat is so full of invention you could watch it twice and not stop laughingJoseph Morpurgo made a name for himse…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AMSaturday, August 5, 2017
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe whipsmart standup overthinks, overshares and delivers a winningly funny show that finds the humour in heartbreakCall it reinvention, or call it back to basi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AMThursday, August 3, 2017
Since first picking up the mic at 15, the standup has tap-danced, done Aerosmith karaoke and starred in her own TV show. So why does she want to disappear offstage?Was there ever a greater d…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:12AMWednesday, August 2, 2017
Soho theatre, LondonBy his own standards, the 2015 Edinburgh Comedy award-winner plays it relatively straight in his new show – but there are satisfyingly daft moments‘There are pockets …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMThursday, July 20, 2017
The lad’s comic Daniel O’Reilly killed his on-stage persona after a sexism storm last year. But Dapper Laughs says he’s changed. So can he prove he’s a feminist – or even funny?Dap…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12PMSunday, July 16, 2017
Leicester Square theatreHer misanthropic nymphomaniac shtick may be purposefully provocative, but Pam Ann's lewd talk, Asian accents and airline industry stereotypes make for deadening humou…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33PMFriday, July 14, 2017
One act offers Badults-style sketches, the other does mindbending meta-gags. Both bring new shows to a station that specialises in self-satisfied comedyThe Pin and Daphne were part of a wave…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AMThursday, July 13, 2017
Roundhouse, LondonKitson’s observations on everything from rough sleeping to sheep farming are beautifully crafted in a set that – with some polish – should be extraordinaryAfter a str…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMFriday, July 7, 2017
Hammersmith Apollo, London There's too much talk and too few new tricks amid the fire-breathing, bottle-juggling virtuosity• That's not magic: Penn, Teller and Derren Brown reveal all (or …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AMThursday, July 6, 2017
Good Mourning Mrs Brown, the cross-dressing hit’s live show, is so full of horseplay, guffaws and in-jokes, I started to feel like a gooseberryOne surefire way to elicit sympathy from your…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AMThursday, June 29, 2017
UnderbellyAlfie Brown is opening himself up to ridicule – more even than the comedian's usual share. The 25-year-old has set himself up as a passionate critic of our cultural life, and of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:36PMWednesday, June 28, 2017
The American duo’s slick act shimmers with Vegas-style glitz, while the Scottish standup’s sleight of hand is as flabbergasting as his vicious jokes The classic magician image, we are to…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMMonday, June 26, 2017
The big-haired, sleepy-eyed standup is an Oscar-winner, one of America’s best-loved comedians and ‘a car that has no gears’. Now, his deadpan style has won him a perfect role in The Em…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:42AMThursday, June 22, 2017
When critics analyse a standup routine it's considered pedantic and joyless – what's wrong with being serious about comedy?Theatre critics are seldom called pedants for analysing how a sta…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:33AMIn a long-running tour, the supercilious standup brings back old gags, leaving a bad smell – and a loveless worldview – in his wake‘I’m jealous of bands,” Jimmy Carr told the NME w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AMTuesday, June 13, 2017
The star of Catastrophe brings carnality, the elusive Kitson attempts to ‘alter language’, Sara Pascoe goes dating, while Hannah Gadsby goes out with a bangPenn and TellerLas Vegas’s l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:33AMSunday, June 11, 2017
The black comedy circuit is booming, with packed crowds and a host of stars. So why aren't there more on TV or at mainstream venues? Brian Logan talks to performers about cowardly producers,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PMPleasance, EdinburghAt certain phrases, the heart sinks. "We all love that celebrity stuff, don't we?" says jolly Gina Yashere. Er, no, we don't. How rude Anne Robinson is, how great it woul…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PM 
