Saturday, December 17, 2022
From dazzling comic debuts at the Edinburgh fringe to occult sketches, soul-searching standup and deeply strange revelations, it was a top year for laughing matters
' More on the best cultur…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54AM[SHARE]Friday, December 16, 2022
Apollo theatre, LondonThe veteran illusionist outdoes himself with an evening of bewildering trickery that holds a mirror to our deepest feelings
Having followed his stage work for years, I …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM[SHARE]Thursday, December 15, 2022
London PalladiumDawn French, Julian Clary and Alexandra Burke join an animatronic giant with a vast beanstalk in an innuendo-heavy, story-light show
Pantos are usually cheap and cheerful, so…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Soho theatre, LondonWith his Scandi-nowhere accent and cool-dude aspirations, Archie Henderson's comic character is improbable, clever and very funny
'I'm in control," sings Jazz Emu, while …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06AM[SHARE]Monday, December 12, 2022
Matthew Holness's fictional horror author is on the road reading from his novel " prepare to be terrified at the tills while we dream of his full return to the stage
When is a show not a sho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12AM[SHARE]Friday, December 9, 2022
Once an under-the-radar live comedy jewel, Mohammed's alter-ego impresario is hogging the spotlight in two new stage shows. Is the character destined for TV?
Any assessment of the best chara…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32PM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Apollo, ManchesterThere's ample room in comedy to tease at woke over-earnestness but this weak and boorish set fails to engage
Ricky Gervais gives us a little lecture after curtain call toni…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AM[SHARE]Friday, December 2, 2022
Manchester ArenaAfter 12 years away from the stage, the slimmed-down entertainer is more unapologetically nostalgic than ever
No hotcake ever sold in greater quantity than tickets for Peter…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Soho theatre, LondonEven when the grouchy wannabe game-show host's set is buffering he still delivers a winning formula of hi-tech comedy and twisty jokes
In Danger Money, we find Mat Ewins …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:36PM[SHARE]Monday, November 28, 2022
Lyric Hammersmith, LondonA streetwise Jack sells his cow for a tin of baked beans in this sugar rush of a show, which is underpinned with an anti-greed moral about the collective good
Your e…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18PM[SHARE]Thursday, November 24, 2022
Soho theatre, LondonThe tale of two 'mucky northern oiks' on a quest for success is less important than the joyful jokes, backchat and smutty puns en route
The barely realised comic play, fo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AM[SHARE]Friday, November 18, 2022
Dorking HallsPlayful material about Pascoe's life on the celebrity B-list is eclipsed by a heartfelt second act focused on private truths about new motherhood
Sara Pascoe isn't the first com…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Hammersmith Apollo, LondonAfter his show was pulled from the Edinburgh fringe, the comic continues his efforts to outrage, resulting in deep discomfort as well as bleak brilliance
"Winner of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Cambridge JunctionThe political comedian's new touring show takes on Liz Truss and the Tories but too often swaps subtlety for stridency
Mark Thomas's last show drew on his lifetime of polit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:12PM[SHARE]Sunday, November 13, 2022
Palace theatre, SouthendThe manic 35-year-old riffs on pregnancy, childbirth and how she can make the world a less sexist place for her 10-month-old daughter
The comedian reconsidering her l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM[SHARE]Friday, November 11, 2022
The standup is returning to the stage to welcome us back into his lovably parochial world. But will we ever know the man behind the homely persona?
It can't be easy to become the nation's fa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Graham Fellows' film Father Earth records the Sheffield comedian's trip to Orkney with his dad " and a bid to step out of his alter ego's shadow
When I last saw Graham Fellows in character a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06PM[SHARE]Sunday, November 6, 2022
The Vaults, London Slapdash daftness propels Sleeping Trees' glam mashup of a Christmas show, though more risk-taking would summon the magic to really fly
Sleeping Trees are known for their …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Soho theatre, LondonLyons raises her personal demons so she can publicly refuse to play by their rules in this complex comedy-horror crossover
The eye-popping final sequence of Elf Lyons's R…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24PM[SHARE]Monday, October 31, 2022
Milton Keynes theatreWhile not quite reaching previously attained heights of absurdity, the comic still pulls off a successful stream of nonsense
It's been a decade of tumultuous change sinc…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42PM[SHARE]Thursday, October 27, 2022
Shakespeare's Globe, LondonThe comedian is as spontaneous as ever in this unadorned show featuring a one-ghost campaign to rewild the sanitised customs of All Hallows Eve
'Just a very long-w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:33AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 26, 2022
He breezed into the Edinburgh fringe late with just half a show " and won the 'Oscar of comedy'. In his first ever face-to-face interview, the eccentric Aussie standup reveals what's next ('…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:37PM[SHARE]Monday, October 24, 2022
Farnham Maltings, Surrey The Portsmouth native is good company, cheerfully goofing around for our entertainment, but the set feels one draft short of its full potential
New baby. Spiking anx…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 23, 2022
O2 Arena, London The controversial US podcaster finds fertile material challenging society's sensitivities " yet while his standup takes pains to short-circuit offence, fear of emasculation …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:07AM[SHARE]Friday, October 21, 2022
Soho theatre, LondonRubina Pabani and Poppy Jay hop between banter, song and comedy skits in a show with a solid emotional and political core
You get a particular type of laughter, undergird…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:07AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 18, 2022
When his show was pulled this summer over reports of nudity, sexism and racism, it caused a furore. In his first major interview since, the comedian explains why he will never tone down his …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:33PM[SHARE]Sunday, October 16, 2022
Hammersmith Apollo, LondonFine crowd-work, choice joke-writing and a standout set-piece about the comedian's Kafkaesque efforts to trace his birth parents
We have Covid to thank for So Where…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AM[SHARE]Friday, October 14, 2022
Fierce festival, BirminghamThis immersive cabaret invites you into a world of 'goblin core', drag ogres and live art happenings
Birmingham's Fierce festival opened this week with a compellin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:49AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 13, 2022
Hackney Empire, LondonThe crossword-setting comic has lost none of his zest as he noodles in the nooks and deep-dives into the details
Struggling for comedy work under lockdown, Dave Gorman …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:13PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 11, 2022
The hotly tipped comic was the talk of Edinburgh with his blistering hour of hilariously hollow egomania " and audiences haven't a clue whether to pity or deplore him
UK standup has a new su…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:33PM[SHARE]Friday, October 7, 2022
Leicester Square theatre, LondonThe American comedian goes straight for the jugular in a fearlessly off-colour and skilfully constructed show
'Oh, your queen died," says Michelle Wolf, faux-…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:55PM[SHARE] 
