Friday, July 14, 2017
One act offers Badults-style sketches, the other does mindbending meta-gags. Both bring new shows to a station that specialises in self-satisfied comedyThe Pin and Daphne were part of a wave…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AMThursday, July 13, 2017
Roundhouse, LondonKitson’s observations on everything from rough sleeping to sheep farming are beautifully crafted in a set that – with some polish – should be extraordinaryAfter a str…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMFriday, July 7, 2017
Hammersmith Apollo, London There's too much talk and too few new tricks amid the fire-breathing, bottle-juggling virtuosity• That's not magic: Penn, Teller and Derren Brown reveal all (or …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AMThursday, July 6, 2017
Good Mourning Mrs Brown, the cross-dressing hit’s live show, is so full of horseplay, guffaws and in-jokes, I started to feel like a gooseberryOne surefire way to elicit sympathy from your…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AMThursday, June 29, 2017
UnderbellyAlfie Brown is opening himself up to ridicule – more even than the comedian's usual share. The 25-year-old has set himself up as a passionate critic of our cultural life, and of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:36PMWednesday, June 28, 2017
The American duo’s slick act shimmers with Vegas-style glitz, while the Scottish standup’s sleight of hand is as flabbergasting as his vicious jokes The classic magician image, we are to…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMMonday, June 26, 2017
The big-haired, sleepy-eyed standup is an Oscar-winner, one of America’s best-loved comedians and ‘a car that has no gears’. Now, his deadpan style has won him a perfect role in The Em…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:42AMThursday, June 22, 2017
When critics analyse a standup routine it's considered pedantic and joyless – what's wrong with being serious about comedy?Theatre critics are seldom called pedants for analysing how a sta…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:33AMIn a long-running tour, the supercilious standup brings back old gags, leaving a bad smell – and a loveless worldview – in his wake‘I’m jealous of bands,” Jimmy Carr told the NME w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AMTuesday, June 13, 2017
The star of Catastrophe brings carnality, the elusive Kitson attempts to ‘alter language’, Sara Pascoe goes dating, while Hannah Gadsby goes out with a bangPenn and TellerLas Vegas’s l…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:33AMSunday, June 11, 2017
The black comedy circuit is booming, with packed crowds and a host of stars. So why aren't there more on TV or at mainstream venues? Brian Logan talks to performers about cowardly producers,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PMPleasance, EdinburghAt certain phrases, the heart sinks. "We all love that celebrity stuff, don't we?" says jolly Gina Yashere. Er, no, we don't. How rude Anne Robinson is, how great it woul…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PMFriday, June 9, 2017
Standup is supposedly a leftie haven. But from what I saw this week, the scene offered little support for the Labour leader – and, despite some droll insights, a lack of real debateWhere w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AMThursday, June 8, 2017
Sara Pascoe looks at life after a breakup, Trygve Wakenshaw brings his baby on stage, and Alexei Sayle, Ruby Wax and talkshow king Craig Ferguson all return to the fringe this yearIn recent …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AMWednesday, June 7, 2017
Soho theatre, LondonThe self-deprecating US comedian delivers a set littered with droll remarks about life in New York but the show is hamstrung by her uneaseFrom Master of None to Inside Am…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:04PMThe freestyle standup and bandleader on The Late Late Show is in London for a gig and has no idea what he’ll perform. Improv, he says, can free the mind – and maybe silliness can help sa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMFriday, June 2, 2017
From disrupting dam-building to toppling dictators, comedy has shown itself to be a global force for good. Here’s what ‘laughtivism’ could do for British politicsAt a protest to mark t…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AMWednesday, May 31, 2017
Soho theatre, LondonThe standup takes on relationships and parenthood with eloquence and wit, but he plays it too safeIn Edinburgh this August, Stuart Goldsmith will perform the world’s fi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:33PMSunday, May 28, 2017
Gilded Balloon, EdinburghLast year, he failed to deliver a lecture on "Egyptologics". This year, it's the story of the Bible that Count Arthur Strong is finding frustratingly difficult to te…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54PMLondon PalladiumThe malapropisms and garbled logic, plus a near-fatal encounter with Benedict Cumberbatch’s name, make Steve Delaney’s comedy character a giddying delightNot the least of…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12AMFriday, May 19, 2017
Luisa Omielan is aiming to be as big in standup as the inspiration for her show, Beyoncé, is in pop"You're going to think I'm a dick," says Luisa Omielan, "but I've always wanted …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:12PMSoho theatre, LondonLuisa Omielan secured a best newcomer nomination at last year's Edinburgh comedy awards for a show on the Free Fringe, far from the festival's main stages. I doubt she'll…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:05PMTuesday, May 16, 2017
In tune with our sceptical times, magicians debunk the supernatural. But are they really as rationalist as they claim?Richard Dawkins may or may not approve, but I was reading my daughter a …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48PMMonday, May 15, 2017
As Radio 4 seems unable to find enough comics to offset its left-wing output, Comic Relief says sorry for offence caused by Frankie Boyle at Russell Brand's Give It Up eventChristmas comes e…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:33AMHe’s a likable performer capitalising on the idea that most of his fellow comedians are lefties. So is Norcott’s show Conswervative more wind-up than battle cry?“Have I got any Tories …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AMThursday, May 11, 2017
Soho theatre, London Ludicrous tights, crude puppetry and dialogues with a chattering toilet brush make Jones’s alter ego The Herbert irresistibly daft We should probably forgive Spencer J…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:05AMMonday, May 8, 2017
Orchard, DartfordThe standup considers kinky sex, politics and Angela Merkel’s alter ego but his new touring show is seldom strikingYou might have heard I’m controversial, Reginald D Hun…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AMFriday, April 28, 2017
Fed up with heckles, hostility and predatory promoters, Kiri Pritchard-McLean set out to detail the industry’s misogyny in a raucous, revelatory performanceAre women funny? At a time when …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AMWednesday, April 26, 2017
Polka, London The dotty TV duo and their friend Scarf Lady become puppets in a touring stage show that should satisfy ardent fans aged three to sixSome swoon at the gentle dottiness of CBeeb…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AMSoho theatre, LondonFlashes of tenacious positivity illuminate a gleeful set that ranges over Willan’s troubled early years in care, from teenage delinquency to a run-in with SantaRebellio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:54AMFriday, April 21, 2017
Richmond theatreHunter’s mercurial logic takes him into territory other comics don’t occupy … but sometimes leads him astrayReginald D Hunter begins with an apology to audiences who kn…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:18AM 
