Thursday, November 19, 2015
Palace theatre, LondonThe nation’s favourite mentalist explores faith healing in a show that leaves sceptics’ and believers’ minds jitterbuggingDerren Brown doesn’t have a good word …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AMFriday, November 13, 2015
Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse are touring their 90s characters around the UK, and trying to update them for the era of #piggate. But can they ever really work when comedy relies on the h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AMVaudeville, LondonFrench draws on memories of her beloved father and her relationship with her body to tackle the biggest subject of all: how do you be a person?Dawn French has been alive 30…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:20AMMonday, November 9, 2015
Banned in 1907, but still sharply topical, a new production of Harley Granville Barker’s play Waste is opening at the National Theatre. Its star talks sex, idealism and backstage briefings…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48PMSunday, November 8, 2015
Museum of Comedy, LondonIn this luridly populated show – her first after becoming a trans woman – Franken gives an intermittently persuasive vision of a culture in meltdownIf you’ve co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:46AMThursday, November 5, 2015
Soho theatre, LondonBrown gives us a show of two halves, with endearing routines about early fatherhood leading to social commentaryWhat a change in Alfie Brown! Three years ago, he announce…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:09AMWednesday, November 4, 2015
Ellen DeGeneres writer Greg Fitzsimmons is using Cosby’s material in his own routines. It’s unclear if the aim is to punish the performer or just celebrate good jokes Given the allegatio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:31AMMonday, October 26, 2015
Soho theatre, LondonIt's not assured that a standup who is huge on Twitter will translate to the stage. Good to report, then, that US comic Rob Delaney – 619,000 followers and counting –…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18PMPleasance Above, Edinburgh"This show," runs the warning at the start of Richard Herring's new set, Talking Cock, "may contain knob gags." Oh, just a few. The knob gag is …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:19PMThe US comedian is frustrated at having been labelled, but she should be pleased with the responses to her frank and challenging HBO specialIs Amy Schumer a “sex comic”? That’s the deb…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:27PMSunday, October 25, 2015
Brighton CentreA familiar cast of indelible comic characters and pithy catchphrases imbue the veteran duo’s live show with a comforting glowTo open their first live show, commemorating 25 …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:07AMBrighton CentreDespite joking that they might expire before the Legends tour finishes, their classic characters keep us smiling even when the jokes fall shortTo open their first live show, c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AMFriday, October 23, 2015
Boyle sues the Mirror for libel, Silverman learns not to cross a rabbi, and Stephen K Amos gets the last – and longest – laughWe've been arguing about "offensive" comedy for ye…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:32AMCliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-SeaBoyle delivers his vicious one-liners as palate cleansers between heartfelt routines beating us for our bovine acquiescence to political authority“It’s no…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:16AMTuesday, October 20, 2015
Little Angel, London"I know what you're thinking," says Rob Newman, introducing another riff on genetics, social Darwinism and the high-water mark of free-market capitalism: "…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:21AMMonday, October 19, 2015
Two new TV series – Together and The Almost Impossible Gameshow – demonstrate how live acts as unique as Jonny Sweet and the Rubberbandits can find the funny to suit different formatsI w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AMSunday, October 18, 2015
Richard Gadd carved a cult reputation for himself with schlocky shows full of drugs, sex and gore. Now, in Waiting for Gaddot, he’s pushing his audience even further – by threatening not…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:38PMFriday, October 16, 2015
Bloomsbury theatre, London Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:58PMWednesday, October 14, 2015
The Forum, LondonWith nothing more to prove, the self-assured US comic who exposed Bill Cosby is able to take seemingly innocuous material to unexpected places“Well, that situation got out…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:31AMMonday, October 12, 2015
Brixton Academy, LondonThe US standup likes to shock, but not just for the sake of it: he does it because conventional wisdom needs questioningAt one point in his new touring set, the Arizon…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AMWhen his first solo show flopped, Kieran Hodgson feared he wasn’t interesting enough to be a comic. Then the disgraced cyclist gave his career a shot in the armYou’d have a job imagining…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:12AMFriday, October 9, 2015
Novelty singles gave this art form a bad rap but acts such as Flight of the Conchords and Frisky and Mannish have brought it countercultural cachetIt was like taking a step back in time, wat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AMThursday, October 8, 2015
G-Live, GuildfordWiddicombe’s tone of plaintive adenoidal consternation is as funny as his best gagsThere are words, of course: about contactless debit cards, about secret Santa, about an …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:22AMMonday, October 5, 2015
A New York Times article suggests that ‘public truth-telling has become the responsibility of comedians’. For evidence, look to Tig Notaro, Bridget Christie and Shazia MirzaUnfunny jokes…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:50AMHammersmith Apollo, LondonTwo hours of machine-tooled musical parody cover every big chart hit since the early 80sThe artwork for Weird Al Yankovic’s album and tour posits the “white and…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:39AMFriday, October 2, 2015
O2 Arena, London The comedian delivers a decidedly unadventurous set, but manages to fashion unpromising raw material into killer lines and vivid comic images Related: Michael McIntyre spy-c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:19AMMonday, September 28, 2015
In a recent glossary of theatre terminology, our own Michael Billington translated the term 'devised play' as 'a total mess'. Let's clear it up: that's nonsense.Prism of success... Devised t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:28AMSunday, September 27, 2015
Leicester Square Theatre, London"It doesn't interest me," said Jerry Sadowitz in a recent interview, when asked about his now notorious 1980s routine that branded Jimmy Savile a pa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:20PMLeicester Square theatre, LondonTonight sees bilious US comic Doug Stanhope at his best and worst. When his scorn and loathing is intelligently applied, he tears away the veil of socialised …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:28PMTricycle, LondonThere are laughs to be had in Mirza’s passionate, taboo-busting comedy but she’s let down by duff puns and an aversion to logical argumentShazia Mirza dislikes performing…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:38AMFriday, September 25, 2015
Soho theatre, LondonIn a richly strange set, this year’s Edinburgh award-winner snorts cereal, obsesses over the audience’s legwear and acts out everyday annoyancesIt’s a rare feat to …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:56PM 
