Up the Creek, GreenwichIt's late and the audience at Up the Creek has watched two hours plus of comedy before Dwight Slade comes to the stage. And yet, after 30 seconds of Slade, everyone fe…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:35AMGate, London"I found your story very difficult to listen to." So says Electra to Strophius, who has told her of her brother's death. And so say I to director Carrie Cracknell and adapter Nic…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:00PMTheatre Royal, Stratford EastIt makes perfect sense. Beatrice and Benedick's verbal sparring in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a precursor to freestyle rap - or at least, it's easy …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMIndigO2, LondonSomebody once told Andy Parsons that it was his rhythm that makes him funny; that what he's actually saying is neither here nor there. It ain't so – as he demonstrates tonig…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:53AMCorn Exchange, IpswichDan Clark is riding high on the back of his BBC3 sitcom How Not to Live Your Life. I doubt he considered How Not to Tell a Joke as a title for his standup show, but the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMGiggle your way through spring with Jeff Garlin (AKA Jeff Greene, Larry David's manager in Curb Your Enthusiasm), Dom Joly and Irish New Yorker Des BishopDes BishopMy Dad Was Nearly Jam…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00PMYoung Vic, LondonAn international hit since its 2007 Abbey Theatre debut, Mark O'Rowe's Terminus has found favour in most quarters – save, I suspect, the Dublin tourist board. Its account …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:31PMFrom Flight of the Conchords to French and Saunders, single-sex double acts are everywhere – but Frisky and Mannish show that more should cross the gender divideWhat's distinctive about Fr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AMLeicester 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 04:45PMBlackfriars, GlasgowOne of a clutch of young US comics appearing at Glasgow's comedy festival, Lee Camp is from the Al Franken tradition: an impeccably liberal standup and contributor to the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54PMThe Broadway, BarkingGreg Davies has little to fear from the slings and arrows of showbiz, having worked as a schoolteacher for 12 years. When you've had "Mr Davies is a bell-end" scrawled o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:31PMThe Cresset, PeterboroughEd Byrne is an anagram of Be Nerdy, the Irish standup tells us, and he's most effective when following that directive to the letter. A veteran observational sta…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:49PMWhen six BBC radio presenters tried their hand at standup for the first time, were the results funny or farcical?Watching amateur standup is revealing. A month ago, I went to the Comedy Stor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:28AMSoho Theatre, London"Anyone else here prepared to admit that they're – not the best?", Zoe Lyons inquires. At almost 40 and with little to show for it – at least according to her introdu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:48AMStandup (usually) makes us laugh – but is it right for a charity to provide comedy lessons to people with mental health problems?Does comedy make you sad, or happy? Two recent stories from…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:39PMNathaniel Mellors's latest exhibition makes mainstream sitcom look highly conventionalEleven years ago, the double act Noble and Silver won the Perrier best newcomer award. I was a big fan o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:22PM'Should I give away punchlines in my reviews?'I reviewed the comedian Paul Sinha a fortnight ago, and sparked a conversation on the Guardian website (and on Sinha's blog) about the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:45PMOrchard, DartfordSo Jim Davidson writes a play about a bigoted comedian and concludes that – well, I never! – within his breast beats a heart of gold. Stand Up and Be Counted isn't so mu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMSoho theatre, LondonGermany's self-styled "comedy ambassador" to Britain has a high-status routine that trades on his country's supposed superiority. It's an amusing shtick, which Wehn pulle…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PMSoho theatre, LondonPaul Sinha's show takes its name, Extreme Anti-White Vitriol, from an accusation levelled at the British Asian comic by the deputy chairman of the BNP. At times, one wish…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:30AMHeritage entertainment develops historical accuracy at Hampton Court this week, as learning-disabled actors play Tudor jestersThere are several things one might expect of a visit to Hampton …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18AMHexagon, ReadingBack in standup after moonlighting as Othello in the West End, Lenny Henry confronts a green-eyed monster of his own in his new show. The jealousy is directed at Luther Vandr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:45PMLyric theatre, LondonForty years after BBC radio's Round the Horne, comedians with that surname still can't resist telling the joke they were born with. That's not the only thing unchanged a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:22AMSoho theatre, LondonWhat kind of comedian uses Leonard Cohen for his intro music? Not one bent on spreading complacent good cheer, but that's never been Simon Munnery's stock-in-trade. This …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30PMSouth Street, ReadingDid you know that the Israel-Palestine separation wall is twice as long as the actual border? And that its route purposefully slices off 9% of the West Bank's territory?…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:31PMBloomsbury theatre, LondonWith a starring role in the award-winning church sitcom Rev, Miles Jupp knows all about devotion. But it's cricket, not God, to which Jupp genuflects…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:33PMLeicester Square theatre, London"Guardian readers might crap into their lentils," brays the publicity for this would-be diabolical cabaret, staged weekly in the theatre's basement …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:45PMHoxton Hall, LondonThere's no shame in falling asleep at the theatre; we've all done it. But under a quilt? Different rules apply at the Improvathon, an extemporised entertainment endurance …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18PM'Would you heckle an armed robber?'Have you heard that financial fraudster Bernie Madoff is playing bassoon for the London Philharmonic Orchestra? Or that Kanye West has pulled on a pai…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:15PMReaders have been inspired by an interview with comedians Tim Vine and Milton Jones to send in their own (and others) quick-fire witWhen I interviewed comic Tim Vine for an article this week…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00PMTim Vine is famed for his one-liners. Can he teach Brian Logan the art of the fast gag?Did you know that if you shine an Anglepoise lamp at a rabbit's paws, it can make the silhouette of a c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:44PM
