Saturday, June 7, 2014
Soho theatre, LondonAdrienne Truscott fights misogyny with hilarious slapstick, audience engagement and she's naked from the waist downHere's a dilemma: if you're a feminist comedian delive…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, March 15, 2014
Miranda Hart's party-popping Everywoman intimacy is perfectly at home in the huge O2I last saw Miranda Hart performing live standup at the Edinburgh fringe in 2004, before her Radio 4 show M…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:05PMSaturday, March 8, 2014
Tim Key at the Soho theatre is somewhere between standup and experimental theatre – and he's painfully funnyStandup comedy is a broad church, but Tim Key's quirky, experimental and often o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, November 23, 2013
London Palladium and touringLes, Sandy and of course Edna are on top form for Barry Humphries's farewell tour as the consummate entertainer shows he has lost none of his brillianceDame Edna …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, November 9, 2013
Leicester Square theatre, LondonFrom high erudition to stag jokes, Stewart Lee is a class actDon't expect an artfully constructed hour with a narrative arc and a coherent finale like the las…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, October 19, 2013
Arts theatre, LondonThe double act's physical comedy is an infectious combination of silly and smartPajama Men – Albuquerque duo Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez – have near-perfected their…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07PMSaturday, October 12, 2013
Birmingham Symphony HallRussell Brand brings a biblical flood of ideas to his finely balanced standup showIt's hard to think of many people better placed to talk about the cult of perso…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, August 10, 2013
Smart, fast-talking female standups Bridget Christie, Aisling Bea and Luisa Omielan are packing them in on the comedy fringeThe possibility of discovering a new comedy talent at the beginnin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, August 3, 2013
US comedian Michael Che on his gruelling Edinburgh schedule, writing for Saturday Night Live and being thrown out of home by his motherStandup and writer Michael Che only took up comedy four…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMFrom David Baddiel and Alex Horne to Katie Goodman and Claudia O'Doherty, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best comic turns from the first week of the fringeThere's nothing quite like the sense…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, August 11, 2012
Tristan makes a stand for the NHS, facts and fictions on a walking tour, and there's life in Shopping Centre yetHow do you like your scones?Trouble on the World's Greatest Walking Tour of Ed…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMSaturday, November 12, 2011
When her husband left her, Sarah Millican's unusual response was to tour Britain trying to make people laugh. The comic tells Stephanie Merritt about her Geordie toughness, the quiet humour …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, August 20, 2011
From Andrew Maxwell and Sarah Millican to Russell Kane and Meryl O'Rourke, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best of this year's Edinburgh comedyAndrew Maxwell's fringe poster is adorned with ro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:04PMFriday, August 19, 2011
Comics cross the line into real life-coaching with tips for gents on undoing bra straps and advice for ladies on keeping their hats onThe increasing popularity of self-help and life-coaching…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:55AMThursday, August 18, 2011
Whether it's stripping off or throwing bread, sometimes the only way to respond to an interactive show is to embrace the sillinessFew things chill my blood like the sight of the word "intera…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:56AMWednesday, August 17, 2011
Magic acts are reinventing the genre with show-and-tells, Facebook mind-reading and a 'young Jack Dee in a dragon suit'Magic shows are benefiting from the recent revival of variety – there…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PMTuesday, August 16, 2011
What with the heckling, non-sequiturs and scatological glee, a roomful of over-excited kids is more like a group of drunk adultsIn the past few years, the children's section of the fringe pr…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMMonday, August 15, 2011
In Comic Strip, Asher Treleaven and Gypsy Wood mix standup with striptease to strike a blow against censorshipComedy and striptease: are they natural partners? We're not used to thinking of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:20AMSaturday, August 13, 2011
From Humphrey Ker and the Pajama Men to Vikki Stone and Tim Key, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best of this year's Edinburgh comedyJust as the first solo album by members of a successful ban…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMFriday, August 12, 2011
When it covers anything from standup to striptease, isn't it time the Edinburgh Comedy awards introduced some categories?Thirty-one shows into the Fringe and I find myself asking the same ol…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:38AMThursday, August 11, 2011
We enjoy the comedy of failure and self-deprecation – so find it hard to believe attractive comics could share our insecuritiesWhen you're watching someone on stage for an hour, particular…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:22AMWednesday, August 10, 2011
Standups in Edinburgh are working the unrest into their routines. But is it too soon to use such material for laughs? Stephanie Merritt reports from the fringeThe fringe is a kind of bubble.…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00PMSpotlights crashing to the stage, unrehearsed comedians ... how much bungling can we bear when we're paying a tenner a ticket?Two nights ago, I and tens of other people looked on and did not…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AMTuesday, August 9, 2011
The Edinburgh fringe is renowned for craft and originality, so where's the allure of watching sofa surfers talk to each other?There are a record-breaking 500-plus shows on the fringe this ye…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:46PMMonday, August 8, 2011
Alma Mater's iPad-based show blurs film and reality to unsettling effectI was rather sceptical about the idea of a show you watch alone on an iPad. Surely you could do that at home…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:15PMIn the first of our dispatches from the Edinburgh comedy frontline, we look at why standups are a lot like strippersFive days in Edinburgh and already I've seen five strangers naked, and two…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:19AMSaturday, August 6, 2011
From Isy Suttie and Margaret Cho to Dave Gorman and Asher Treleaver, Stephanie Merritt on the best of this year's Edinburgh fringe comedy offeringsWith more than 500 comedy shows on offer at…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PMSaturday, June 11, 2011
02, LondonJerry Seinfeld's first full-length show in the UK for 12 years was a masterclass in delivery, control and timing. Over a 90-minute set, he didn't lose his footing once; each sectio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, May 7, 2011
Royal Albert Hall, London, and touring"Nothing ruins comedy like arenas," belts Tim Minchin to an audience of 4,000 from the stage of the Royal Albert Hall on his current arena tour. "But yo…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05PMSaturday, March 5, 2011
You may not approve of Jim Davidson, but his new play poses interesting questions about the dearth of rightwing standupsWhen it comes to British comedy, we pride ourselves on being world lea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:15PMSaturday, February 26, 2011
Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonIt's now such a commonplace for anyone off the telly to do a stint in the Priory, rehab and psychiatric clinic to the stars, that we rarely stop to think abou…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:02PM 
