Shows like Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg exist to make politicians seem upright and substantial. Lycett rightly pointed out that some of them are not “Memo: don’t put comedians on Ques…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:55AMAssembly George Square, EdinburghThe Australian physical comedian conjures up a career for himself as a professional spear-thrower in this wacky if uneven show There is a distinguished, if n…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AMM&S Bank Arena, LiverpoolThey are arguably the two greatest US standups of their generation – and both topical for not always lovely reasons. Could this double-whammy possibly live up …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:55AMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghSince her last show, about weightlifting, the 39-year-old has split from her son’s father and moved in with a woman. Which adds up to hilarity for the audience if n…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AMPleasance, EdinburghMaddix is a fluent, playful comic, but the window opened here on his conflicted psyche feels unresolved – for him as much as his audience ‘I needed to say it more tha…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:49AMAssembly George Square, EdinburghThere are few bells and whistles in Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher’s fringe debut, just two seasoned US comics in effortless harmony with each other Here�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:07PMThe baby-faced oddball has gone from performing to tiny audiences to winning live comedy’s most coveted prize, the Edinburgh festival fringe comedy award What does an Edinburgh comedy awar…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:03AMI’ve spent my whole professional life loving and writing about the fringe. But rocketing rents, a lack of diversity and its overwhelming scale are pushing this world-class cultural crucibl…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:55AMUnderbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh The Dave’s Edinburgh comedy awards best newcomer nominee carries a confidence and warmth that is hard to resist In a lesser controversy at this year’s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:37AMMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe standup puts her working-class status front and centre in this compelling and cathartic journey through her Covid years Lauren Pattison had two ambitions f…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12PMMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghPugh shambles his diffident way into the spotlight with a stealthy, clever and heartwarming show Incompetent, negative, a follower not a leader: Josh Pugh is h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMMonkey Barrel, EdinburghThe Australian comic takes incongruity to uncommon lengths – and this year he’s recalibrated his show towards warmth “My mind is a prison full of crazy ideas. A…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:43AMMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghDean’s great skill is to make the audience feel like intimate confidantes, but sometimes his impatience to get to the next laugh weakens the shtick It’s a …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42AMFrom Liz Kingsman’s ‘messy woman’ send-up to Seann Walsh’s memories of his off-screen Strictly kiss, the nine-strong shortlist is a triumph for diversity though not without glaring o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:03PMSamira Wiley makes her UK stage debut, there’s an urgent counter to antisemitism, plus a fourth King James, refugee dancers and comedic returns Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33AMThey are the shock troops of comedy, pranksters who risk arrest and worse to ridicule the powerful. As two acclaimed practitioners – including the man who threw Nazi golfballs at Trump –…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PMUnderbelly, EdinburghOutlandish physical antics and a spontaneous stage presence keep Wardeh’s audience laughing as he clowns through a cast of oddball characters Clown is in vogue again, …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:49PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghHoult hangs up the dress and luvvie cadences of his fringe-staple alter ego Anna Mann in a camp, silly yet surprisingly emotional show When a character comic bi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWilson relives her tumultuous turn as a teenage talent show contestant armed with laughter and song, topped with a touching tribute to her plucky younger self �…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghOkatsuka’s slightly incapable, slightly on-edge persona is a fun time, whose yarn about an intruder frames material on marriage, mental illness and migration …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PMMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghThe answer may seem obvious but the commanding comic’s fringe debut eschews any clear structure with mixed results Back in 2020, Thanyia Moore was planning h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33AMThe Mash House, EdinburghThe New Jersey comic mines his lineage for laughs in a pensive dispatch from cosa nostra America (or somewhere nearby) The “dead dad” show is a fringe comedy cli…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghMaturity has made the awkward standup more at ease with himself and lent heft and fruitful battle-scarring to his shtick It’s a feature of standup that comedy…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54AMGilded Balloon, EdinburghSherman’s show, pitched between anti-comedy, performance art and body horror, leaves no doubt why she’s also known as Sarah Squirm Delightfully weird, says the p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AMAssembly George Square, EdinburghPart observational, part autobiographical, The Real Hero in All This considers life from ever-surprising angles Sixteen years in Malaysia, 16 in the UK. Thi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:37AMGilded Balloon, EdinburghAdam has lots to say – about proposals, weddings, football and houseplants – and delivers it with puppyish pleasure There are worse qualities to bring to standup…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:03PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghFrom jokes about men’s waning dominance to a teary anecdote, this show runs through a range of emotions on a post-breakup journey Wanna feel weird? Try star-r…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:42AMGilded Balloon, EdinburghIn his debut fringe show OK Zoomer, the 22-year-old comic bounces between optimism and fatalism, delivering gags with a sly twinkle Gen Z’ers have every reason to …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54PMPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe Mischief Theatre regular delivers routines to fit the audience’s requests before heading down a darker path in an uneven show “You can’t please everyo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PMThe festival is in full swing with audiences crammed into comedy clubs. But is our global pandemic the elephant in the room? Comedian Sam Nicoresti starts his show with an elaborate sanitisi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AMQuestions of free speech offer no simple answers, but it’s clear that this is a watershed moment in comedy If we don’t defend free speech, we live in tyranny. That’s the tenor of the c…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM
