Sunday, August 7, 2011
'Most people conclude it's Looney Tunes time when Ed's around," says Edward Aczel halfway through his show. Spoken by any other comic, that would sound entirely credible. But spoken by Aczel…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:01PMAssembly George SquareFor Dave Gorman to call his new show PowerPoint Presentation is not remotely to distinguish it from the crowd. These days, fringe comedians feel naked without a screen …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:40PMThursday, August 4, 2011
National, LondonTwo actors on stage reading from a script usually means a rehearsal, not opening night. But this is Sam Holcroft's Edgar and Annabel: not just a drama of political resistance…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30PMWednesday, August 3, 2011
Soho theatre, LondonWhen Lawrence Leung was growing up in 1980s Australia, the futurology TV show Beyond 2000 foretold a world of robot servants, replaceable body parts – and jetpacks. Now…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PMTuesday, July 19, 2011
Conway Hall, London"Some of us will die." Earthalujah! "But we will have freedom again." Not many comedy shows ask us to sacrifice ourselves to save the planet. Then again, it's not clear wh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMMonday, July 18, 2011
A contest between 10 jobbing standups is more MasterChef than The X Factor bringing as much awkwardness as laughterIt was only a matter of time before standup got its own The X Factor. So we…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:38AMMonday, July 4, 2011
Soho Theatre, LondonIn interviews to promote this show, transgender diva Justin Vivian Bond – formerly of cabaret double act Kiki and Herb – has insisted he/she be referred to using the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PMTuesday, June 28, 2011
Palace theatre, SouthendThere's not much in my career I'm proud of, says Dom Joly – and this, his first live show, is unlikely to extend that short list. It's not standup, just chat, in wh…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PMPalace theatre, Southend Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PMMonday, June 27, 2011
Soho theatre, LondonOne of the stars of the Pajama Men's new show is the South American Give-it-to-me bird, whose call is halfway between a squawk and the erotic moan of a particularly hammy…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMSunday, June 26, 2011
Soho theatre, London Gluttony is hilarious, right? If you agree, Jeff Garlin's standup is for you. If not, the Curb Your Enthusiasm star – he plays Larry David's "fat fuck" manager Jeff Gr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:45PMFriday, June 24, 2011
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonIt's not often that, on a balmy summer's evening, one finds oneself willing night to fall. But this Doctor Faustus needs a helping hand with sepulchral atmosphere.…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:39PMWednesday, June 22, 2011
Gate, LondonFreud isn't so fashionable these days, but you can see what once made his ideas compelling. Arthur Schnitzler's Dream Story (which Kubrick filmed as Eyes Wide Shut) is Freud's th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:30PMMonday, June 20, 2011
The Playboy founder's former fiancee was recorded for Funny or Die sending up her unusual romance. Is this the end of satire?Is this the oddest use to which comedy has been put? When 25-year…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AMTheatre Royal Stratford East, LondonSet in and around a Chinese takeaway, Robert Lee and Leon Ko's musical - the first, it's claimed, to represent the British East Asian experience - is a ch…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:43AMSunday, June 19, 2011
Shepherd's Bush Empire, LondonThere is a moment in Bo Burnham's show when, crossing the stage from guitar stand to keyboard, he breaks into a dementedly silly walk. "Never waste a moment," h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:15AMWednesday, June 15, 2011
Alban Arena, St AlbansWe came for jokes; he's giving us a sermon. The opening moments of Dylan Moran's new set are tantalising, as the Irish comic swaps levity for sonorous pronouncements on…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:57PMTuesday, June 14, 2011
Shaftesbury, London"One of you will find yourself possessed by an entity." It can only be Derren Brown, tickling our taste for the melodramatic and supernatural. It works a treat during…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:47PMWednesday, June 8, 2011
Critics praised James Corden's performance in One Man, Two Guvnors, but few recognised that its funniest moments were someone else's responsibility entirely ...Reviewing the National Theatre…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:13AMTuesday, June 7, 2011
O2 Arena, LondonTo start his show, Peter Kay turns a camera on his audience, gifting one or two their moment on the giant upstage screen. At the end, he karaokes Queen and the Proclaimers to…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:29PMThursday, June 2, 2011
They're a passionate pair with a fetish for West End playhouses – and they're putting actors off their lines. But who are they?When the Telegraph's Charles Spencer reviewed Nicole Kidman i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:03AMTuesday, May 31, 2011
Open Air, LondonThere are few stages more apt to evoke a desert island than the Open Air Theatre's. This Regent Park venue's oasis-like qualities scarcely need embellishment to double a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:25PMShould a local hit be shown more widely? Promoter Tommy Sheppard says yes – and accuses the Beeb of Oxbridge biasIs the best comedy necessarily the most universal? Hackles have been rising…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:20AMMonday, May 30, 2011
Royal Festival Hall, LondonWhen photographs of David Cameron's new kitchen were publicised last week, the eagle-eyed identified a Michael McIntyre DVD on the PM's shelves. But standup comedy…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:59AMMonday, May 23, 2011
It's got dodgy accents, dance routines and Fabio Capello: the creators of Total Football, a new show about football tribes, talk to Brian LoganIt's FA Cup final day in Bar Kick in east Londo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:44PMBarbican, LondonGovernment attempts to engineer national identity are the target of this sideways satire by the theatre duo Ridiculusmus, in which bureaucrats fail to organise Team GB's…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18PMPeople rate a joke higher when a comedian's name is attached – which proves just how susceptible we are to cults of funninessHave you ever been to see a well-known standup and noticed the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:45AMFriday, May 20, 2011
Charing Cross theatre, LondonThe Leopold and Loeb case has been well represented on stage and screen, notably in Hitchcock's Rope. Stephen Dolginoff's 2005 musical zeroes in on the relations…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:13PMWednesday, May 18, 2011
Not so long ago, this British-Muslim phenomenon was a games tester without a 'single positive aspect' to his life. A trip to see much-mocked self-help guru Tony Robbins changed all thatSo fa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:15PMTuesday, May 10, 2011
Jacksons Lane, LondonGeneration X Factor has found its perfect comedy duo in Frisky and Mannish, a karaoke-cabaret act who belt out medleys of pop hits. The joke is that F&M are "pop educato…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:26PMIf the comedian wants his personal archive to get children hooked on standup, he should try picking some funnier clipsParents! Has your 10-year-old been acting unusually recently? Using his …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:14AM 
