Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Jermyn Street, LondonWhen Rainer Hersch started performing his mix of comedy and classical music, he found himself repeatedly compared to Victor Borge. He didn't know who Borge was – few n…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:09PMSunday, March 11, 2012
Samantha Spiro got a breakthrough award at 42, and is about to take on the biggest role of her career. She tells Brian Logan why it was worth the wait Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00PMThursday, March 8, 2012
Millican's new show might seal the comedian's entry into the mainstream – but will it get beyond her favourite subjects of sex and self-mockery?The very first line of standup comic Sarah M…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMWednesday, March 7, 2012
Festivals seem to be a permanent fixture on the national theatre scene. So how could I make Camden's Sprint festival different?In a world of perpetual festivals, how does any individual one …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMWednesday, February 22, 2012
BAC, LondonLeadership is a prized quality in these rudderless times, but we seldom think hard about what it means. Performance poet-turned-comedian Tim Clare has done that thinking for us, a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:56PMTuesday, February 21, 2012
Wyndhams, LondonThere comes a point when comic scepticism shades into cynicism – about halfway through Jackie Mason's West End show, to be precise. I enjoyed the first half of this farewel…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:41PMMonday, February 20, 2012
The Daykin sisters do comedy sketches sending up their know-it-all uncle and their parents' divorce. How much of it is true? Brian Logan finds outGiven the comic potential of sibling ri…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMStandups like Peter Kay and John Bishop pride themselves on being everyman comedians. So does it matter if they're raking in squillions every year?It's often said that football has never bee…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02AMStandups like Peter Kay and John Bishop pride themselves on being everyman comedians. So does it matter if they're raking in squillions every year? Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:02AMSunday, February 19, 2012
The truth might hurt but hatchet jobs are too muchA fortnight ago, a new prize was awarded to critic Adam Mars-Jones for the Hatchet Job of the Year, for a review he wrote of Micha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:31PMThursday, February 16, 2012
Riverside Studios, London"We want it swept clean. Totally sanitised," says an American diplomat, plotting the forced depopulation of the Chagos islands to allow the construction of a co…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:15PMWednesday, February 15, 2012
Orchard theatre, Dartford"Some people leave my show feeling hurt. Broken. Destroyed," says Reginald D Hunter, by way of an introduction. It's part of his considerable charisma, this offer of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:20PMTuesday, February 14, 2012
Leicester's Comedy festival will this year host a Silver Standup competition. Will an aggressively young artform embrace older voices?In the course of her standup career, now into its fourth…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:45PMMonday, February 6, 2012
Bloomsbury, LondonSay the first thing that comes into your head, runs the golden rule of improv. That's easier said than done, and Terry Alderton's manic standup show dramatises the difficul…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:27PMSunday, November 13, 2011
Stewart Lee has released his standup routine as a play script – but does the humour translate to the page?'Standup is finally the big business the industry has hoped it would be ever since…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:12PMFriday, November 11, 2011
G Live, Guildford"If it carries on like this," says cockney comic Micky Flanagan of his newfound success, "I'm seriously considering signing off." Flanagan is a former East End window cleane…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:34PMTuesday, November 8, 2011
Leicester Square Theatre, LondonOld people's opinions don't count, says Daniel Sloss – which is just so. At 21, he's a precocious professional comic: youthful belligerence is right and pro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:10AMWednesday, October 26, 2011
Soho, LondonYears ago, Stuart Silver was one half of Noble and Silver, Britain's most provocative (OK, its only) art-comedy double act. Then Kim Noble went solo, with an appallingly funny do…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:10PMWednesday, October 19, 2011
Soho, LondonAt the climax of her new one-woman show, Angie Le Mar finally takes to the microphone, riffing in character as US soul singer Falushilah Falashilay. As a diva who judges everyone…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:30PMTuesday, September 27, 2011
Bloomsbury theatre, London"There's going to be lots of extras on this DVD," says Patrick Monahan. He's not kidding: this is the gig that never ends. The London date of the live tour of the T…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:10PMMonday, September 26, 2011
After years of shouting, comedian Sam Wills covered his mouth with duct tape and devised a new show. But he won't be on Mock the WeekA complaint often levelled at 21st-century standup is tha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMAfter years of shouting, comedian Sam Wills covered his mouth with duct tape and devised a new show. But he won't be on Mock the Week Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMCatholic comedian Frank Skinner wants standups to take on the so-called 'atheist establishment'. But does this even exist?Rejoice, rejoice! Rationalism is cool, credulousness is socially una…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04AMFriday, September 23, 2011
Wembley Arena, London"Do you poop and scoop, Wembley?" Let it never be said that Alan Carr (pictured) aimed high with this, his first standup tour in four years. Carr knows his demographic �…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:41PMThursday, September 22, 2011
Harlow PlayhouseHaving seen and rather enjoyed Paul Daniels's show in Edinburgh a few weeks ago, I'm sorry to report that the touring version is harder to love. Fifty-five minutes of 80s TV'…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:04AMWednesday, September 21, 2011
Doctor Brown's shows are anarchic affairs – with a fair amount of nudity, too. But it's all about freedom, he says'Hey, dude." I've just arrived for our interview, and Doctor Brown ap…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMSunday, September 18, 2011
He was the toast of Edinburgh, he's written a novel and he's had a play put on at the RSC. Yet, comedian Russell Kane is prone to rages and plagued by doubtTen years ago, before he'd even dr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:01PMHe was the toast of Edinburgh, he's written a novel and he's had a play put on at the RSC. Yet, comedian Russell Kane is prone to rages and plagued by doubt Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:01PMThursday, September 15, 2011
Wembley Arena, LondonNot for the first time, Lee Evans ends with a song: a ballad this time, about an entertainer who sacrifices his personal life to make others laugh. Is it autobiographica…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:55PMTuesday, September 13, 2011
Hexagon, ReadingAt the start of his new show, Hello Ladies, Stephen Merchant displays a photograph with which the Guardian illustrated The Office's triumph at the 2004 Golden Globes. His co-…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:11PMWednesday, September 7, 2011
Soho theatre, London"What disease did Ben and Jerry give to all the prostitutes in their hometown of Waterbury, Vermont?" Questions such as this give a glimpse into the festering mind of Nei…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:37PM 
