Tim 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 04:44PMComedians Tim Vine and Milton Jones are famed for their one-liners. Can they teach Brian Logan the art of the fast gag? Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:44PMWatford Palace theatreIf, as their publicity claims, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are "kings of satire", then satire is in need of a palace coup. In their first stage outing for three years, t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:16PMSoho theatre, LondonThere's a surprise joke in the middle of Jonny Sweet's show, which turns on the idea that he hasn't enough material to sustain an hour-long set. Sweet gets away with it: …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMHammersmith Apollo, LondonMark Watson's new show is one long fret about the insufficient impact he thinks he's making on the world. I'm sure you'll join me in extending your sympathies …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30PMSoho theatre, LondonTwenty-six gigs in 26 days: Will Adamsdale is off on a marathon tour of 26 venues, all within a few miles of each other. A pointless endeavour? Well, that's just the poin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30PMCambridge Corn ExchangeSome shows date quicker than others. "I've had another shit year," says Rhod Gilbert, introducing this touring version of his 2009 Edinburgh festival show. But – eve…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMLooking for a new you for the new year? Well, help is at hand. Brian Logan meets a 'motivational life coach' with a differenceThe Edinburgh comedy award is held to confer instant greatness o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:01PMFrom relative newcomers such as Andi Osho to old-timers such as John CleeseJerry SadowitzIn what's becoming a January tradition, Britain's most malicious comic brings his ranting-and-magic c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMThe comedian's latest show, Cradle to Rave, is autobiographical - and a bold departure from previous workThere won't be many standups on tour in 2011 whose most recent accolade, at the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:59AMIn the summer Brian Logan bemoaned a lack of it. So have any comedians made him reconsider?In August, I wrote an article in G2 about the lack of political comedy on the Edinburgh Fringe. Her…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMLeicester Square theatreA lot has changed since Richard Herring premiered his show Christ On a Bike in 2001. The New Atheism movement has arrived to redeem us. Rationalist comedy is all the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:45PMLeicester Square theatre, London"A big proportion of the world is thick as shit," says Australian standup Jim Jeffries. And so it may seem to him: with an act like this, he's unlikely t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMLeicester Square theatre, London Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMBrighton Centre"Nothing ruins comedy like arenas," sings Tim Minchin. But comedy doesn't usually feature a 55-piece orchestra. The Aussie minstrel succeeds where several comedians (his compa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:29PMBloomsbury theatre, LondonWhy do I find it funny when one man teaches an imaginary rabbit to talk, but not when another man dresses in a silver leotard and impersonates a cat? I can't stop l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:28AMBloomsbury theatre, LondonWhy do I find it funny when one man teaches an imaginary rabbit to talk, but not when another man dresses in a silver leotard and impersonates a cat? I can't stop l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:28AMThe comedian has been criticised for daring to talk about art rather than do gags. Why aren't comics allowed to do serious?I saw an episode of House for the first time recently. I didn't re…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:22AMPurcell Room, LondonSome experiences are critic-proof, and they include being coerced into impersonating a birthing goose by the wife of spoof metal legend Derek Smalls. Fans of Spinal Tap o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:19PMAmbassadors Theatre, LondonJohn Shuttleworth starts his new show dressed as - who, exactly? "Oliver Cromwell," says Sheffield's versatile vocalist and organist, "but it's not quite right, is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PMThe controversial comic is now free of the BBC straitjacket – but has Channel 4 just given him enough rope to hang himself?John Crace on the Battle for Barking and The Morgana Show"Limitat…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:14AMRichmond Theatre, LondonHis recent BBC documentary The Dirty South announced a mission to redeem the reputation of America's bottom half – which may be why Rich Hall has left redneck alter…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:46PMHammersmith Apollo, LondonLast week, Jason Manford quit as presenter of BBC1's The One Show after revelations of text and Twitter flirting with fans; he has now publicly rededicated him…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:31PMHammersmith Apollo, LondonIt has been a difficult week for Jason Manford, who last week quit as presenter of BBC1's The One Show after revelations of text and Twitter flirting with female fa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:57PM'Sometimes gigs are news stories too'Sometimes reviews aren't just reviews, they are news. We newspaper critics tend to present our work in topical terms – and one way of doing that i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:46PMTwo young comedians are spearheading a more theatrical style of comedy with their stage version of The TrialWhen you think Franz Kafka, what comes to mind? Mitteleuropean gloom, perhaps. "B…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:38AMStandups, singalongs and slapstick – the funniest shows of the festive seasonCarl-Einar HacknerA Swedish Tommy Cooper, say the critics, with a dash of Abba thrown in, Carl-Einar Hackner is…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AMBrian Logan on the giddy rise of John Bishop, ex-pharmaceuticals salesman turned superstar standup comedianThree years ago, in his show on the Edinburgh fringe, John Bishop described walking…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:31PMPerforming amid the splendour of the Kennedy Centre raises questions about how experimental theatre is received at home as well as abroad"Can you fringe from the Centre?" That's the question…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:43AMBrian Logan reports on a comedy show taking on mental health taboos Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:15PMCliff's Pavilion, Southend"People ask me: what's your pet hate?" says Jimmy Carr. "Well, he doesn't like it if you put things in his bum." It's the classic Carr quip: concise, linguistically…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30PM
