Tuesday, May 10, 2011
If 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 08:14AMThursday, May 5, 2011
Corn Exchange, CambridgeDividing 19 years of marriage by $20m alimony, John Cleese's former wife made $3,650 each day she spent as Mrs C. The divorce has driven Cleese to undertake his first…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:32PMI cower at the mere sight of fake guns in the theatre. Why must plays be peppered with this weapon of mass distraction?"Warning: shots will be fired during tonight's performance." Oh no. Mus…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:51AMWednesday, May 4, 2011
These men are aiming to resurrect the sketch show – with a time-travelling dinosaur and a wise old owlAt a time when comedy is booming and rookie standups are getting TV breaks faster…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMUdderbelly, London"Loud beatboxing and polite conversation" is how Simon "Shlomo" Kahn describes his show Mouthtronica. A one-man band without instruments, this vocal percussionist collabora…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:37PMTuesday, May 3, 2011
Standup's growing popularity has seen it emerge from pubs and clubs to grander venues from the Nottingham Arena to the Albert Hall. Now the comedy must develop to fit themYou know all those …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:17AMMonday, May 2, 2011
Des Bishop turned his father's death into an extraordinary standup show. Does he regret it?At last year's Edinburgh fringe, at the end of comedian Des Bishop's extraordinary show about his f…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMDes Bishop turned his father's death into an extraordinary standup show. Does he regret it? Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMSunday, May 1, 2011
I've just read Me Cheeta by James Lever, and it's made me think: why can't standup comedy be performed by monkeys? The weaknesses, but mainly strengths, of this novel are not irrelevant to t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:30PMFriday, April 29, 2011
David Cameron is wrong to say socialists are humourless. In fact, there is a fine tradition of leftwing wagsYou might think a sense of humour was the first attribute required to be leftwing …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00PMWednesday, April 27, 2011
Reading Concert HallMilton Jones opens his new show, The Lion Whisperer, in character as his own doddering grandfather. But Jones Senior draws from the same pool of loopy one-liners wit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:09PMFriday, April 22, 2011
Royal Albert Hall, LondonJohn Bishop's last series of live dates "was less of a tour," he tells us, "and more of me just having a little drive around." But yesterday's nobody is today's BBC1…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:45PMThursday, April 21, 2011
Arcola, LondonThe crew of the lakeboat T Harrison "say fuck in direct proportion to how bored they are", one of them tells the ship's cook, Dale. Conclusion: shipping on the Great Lakes is v…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:05PMSunday, April 17, 2011
Can experimental theatre tackle the big issues? Brian Logan meets the companies breeding a new strain of political dramaIn a rehearsal room in east London, five actors are impersonating the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:00PMThursday, April 14, 2011
Cottesloe, LondonHere's a novel idea for David Cameron's big society: nothing forges community spirit quite like a serial killer in one's midst.Verbatim dramatist Alecky Blythe has previous …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:22PMUp 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 07:35AMWednesday, April 13, 2011
Gate, 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 08:00PMTuesday, April 12, 2011
Theatre 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 04:53AMMonday, April 11, 2011
Corn 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 01:30PMTuesday, April 5, 2011
Giggle 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 07:07AMMonday, April 4, 2011
Leicester 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 04:45PMWednesday, March 30, 2011
Blackfriars, 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 01:54PMTuesday, March 22, 2011
The 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 03:31PMSunday, March 20, 2011
The 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 01:49PMFriday, March 18, 2011
When 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 06:28AMThursday, March 17, 2011
Soho 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 05:48AMFriday, March 11, 2011
Standup (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 12:39PMThursday, March 10, 2011
Nathaniel 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 
