Thursday, 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 01:37PMTuesday, September 6, 2011
Old Naval College, Greenwich"Better glance up every five seconds," says compere Dan Atkinson. In a big top in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, an overhead cable has fallen into th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:40PMSunday, September 4, 2011
The nights are drawing in, and we all need a laugh. Let Stewart Lee, Stephen Merchant and Russell Kane put a smile on your faceStephen Merchant"I really am mediocre [at standup]," Stephen Me…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:40PMMonday, August 29, 2011
The Caves, Edinburgh"I hate the internet!" Sanderson Jones is streaming a song he's found online – and the woman who recorded it, for her private pleasure, squirms with embarrassment on th…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:00AMSunday, August 28, 2011
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghFrom Penny Dreadfuls to straight-to-DVD movies: Thom Tuck's appetite for pulp knows no bounds. Like his Dreadfuls cohorts Humphrey Ker and David Reed, Tuck has now t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghStandup was once the art of telling jokes. Now, it's as likely to be the art of doing something improbable, and reporting back. Dave Gorman usually gets credit …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:32AMSaturday, August 27, 2011
Comedian with a 'fearless level of audience engagement' beats joint-favourite Nick Helm to most prestigious standup prize in UKHis show invites the audience to play swingball and impersonate…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:02PMFriday, August 26, 2011
Underbelly, EdinburghWhen David Cameron calls it "broken Britain", he's invoking moral decay and blaming the poor. When performance poet Luke Wright does so – his title quotes the phrase �…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:49AMVoodoo Rooms, EdinburghThe one-person, multi-character hour is a favourite of female comics on the fringe; Catherine Tate and Laura Solon, among others, launched in just that format. Now Car…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AMThursday, August 25, 2011
Assembly, George Square, EdinburghThere are more topical jokes in Andrew Maxwell's set than practically every other fringe show I've seen, combined. And it's not the facetious twittering tha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:59PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghOffermation, Chris Ramsey tells us, is useless or unwanted information, shoved under your nose whether you like it or not. Modern life teems with the stuff, and…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:59PMWednesday, August 24, 2011
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIf you have a horror of audience participation, you might choose to avoid Adam Riches's new show. But you'd miss a lot of fun. Riches is a chaos conductor, a ri…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:41PMAssembly George Square, EdinburghElsewhere on the fringe, sketch troupe Kieran and the Joes' spoof Milgram experiment purports to show how easily we can be induced to do terrible things. Som…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24PMThe untrammelled silliness of Adam Riches gets my vote for this year's Edinburgh comedy award, with Hannibal Buress for best newcomer, but it's a shame sketch comedy is missing from the main…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:56PMJust the Tonic @ The Store, EdinburghThe life-coaching seminar has proved rich terrain for parodists over the years; Will Adamsdale's take on it won the If.Comedy Award back in 2005. This ye…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AMTuesday, August 23, 2011
Assembly George SquareGlenn Wool has been given a hero's welcome on his return to Edinburgh after a three-year absence. I don't quite share the clamorous enthusiasm with which some have gree…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:20PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghAged 10, Isy Suttie released a balloon from her garden, with a plea for a pen pal inside. She hoped it would reach Australia – but instead, it reached 25-year…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:15PMMonday, August 22, 2011
Pleasance CourtyardJigsaw are three standups gathered to perform full-pelt sketch comedy. You'll see better acting in the primary school nativity, and there's zero experiment with sketch-sho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:00PMSunday, August 21, 2011
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghHalf the comedians in Edinburgh are performing in Portakabins – or worse. Might as well make a virtue out of necessity. And so, Henry Paker has set his show i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:04AMFriday, August 19, 2011
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe liveliest moments in newcomer James Acaster's show are supplied by the audience. At the performance I see, he is accused by a woman in the third row of bein…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36PMThursday, August 18, 2011
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghOne-third of the sketch troupe Penny Dreadfuls, Humphrey Ker uses his first solo show to tell a tale of second world war derring-do, in a style that fans of Com…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:45PMEICC, EdinburghFew authors could label a book-reading session as comedy and sell out five nights at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Yet David Sedaris can, and the event – a …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:43PMFlight of the Conchords they're not – but this musical comic duo win game, set and match when it comes to cheeky charmThe shtick: Anyone for Tennis? – two Melbourne lads anatomising in r…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:05AMWednesday, August 17, 2011
Assembly George Square, EdinburghPerhaps it's against the spirit of a variety night to crave less variety. But – as with their Edinburgh comedy award-nominated 2008 show – I left Hot Tub…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:50PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghA butler welcomes the audience at the start of Tom Rosenthal's show, separating us into haves and have-nots with a velvet rope. Rosenthal – son of TV sports r…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:44PM 
