Wednesday, 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 12:22PMWednesday, March 9, 2011
'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 04:45PMMonday, March 7, 2011
Orchard, 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 05:00PMFriday, March 4, 2011
Soho 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 01:06PMFriday, February 25, 2011
Soho 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 07:30AMThursday, February 24, 2011
Heritage 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 05:18AMMonday, February 21, 2011
Hexagon, 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 04:45PMWednesday, February 16, 2011
Lyric 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 10:22AMMonday, February 14, 2011
Soho 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 05:30PMSunday, January 30, 2011
South 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 12:31PMFriday, January 28, 2011
Bloomsbury 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 01:33PM 
