Orange Tree, RichmondInspired by a promise about climate change to a four-year-old girl, Jonny & the Baptists add some moral ballast to their usual gags and gigglesome wordplayA previous…
Accusations of tax avoidance, the most influential people in comedy, Russells, and Alastair and Armando square upThe 8 Out of 10 Cats host, Jimmy Carr, finds himself strewn across the newspa…
Marlowe theatre, CanterburyThe Essex comic's new dad routine wins no prizes for originality, but there is still more material in two hours than many fit into a decadeFour years ago, a broody…
David Walliams has been cast in Stephen Poliakoff's new drama - but can comedians ever play it totally straight? By Brian Logan"They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian," runs t…
One-time Blackadder buffoon Hugh Laurie was on devilish form in The Night Manager but it's a rare comedian who plays a convincing screen villainThe BBC's adaptation of John le Carré's The N…
Elsewhere in comedy this week: John Cleese targets BBC comedy chiefs, Tina Fey resurrects her Sarah Palin impression and Peter Kay's new sitcom gears up for an iPlayer premiereReading this o…
Politics is fertile ground for comics, but there are pitfalls to jumping on particular bandwagons " not least when it questions their loyalty to the punchlineNot that long ago, Donald Trump …
Dane Baptiste packed in his dead-end job to change the world. Britain's answer to Chris Rock talks about his new sitcom Sunny D " and laughing at his own jokesSpeak to some black standups an…
The token opening of a comedy set " even in its postmodern guise " is becoming tired and uninspired. All hail the trad crowd-work of masters like Al MurrayIt's an odd artform, standup " not …
Brighton DomeThe chipper comedian deftly juggles jokes, anecdotes and harsh facts in a fund-raising tour for her new political partyIt's been running for one year, 70 local branches have spr…
Lee's peevish reaction to being pipped to a Bafta unravels into a rant about James Corden in another set of brilliant routines that force us to puzzle out whether this self-pitying schtick i…
G Live, GuildfordThe 'nicest man in comedy' is soft-hearted to a fault, in a set of optimistic but entirely safe and familiar routines Adam Hills is "widely referred to as 'the nicest man in…
Criterion, LondonThe comedian chucks out the art form's creepiness for a thrilling interactive set in which her most essential prop barely features"Most ventriloquists …" says Nina Conti, …
Haymarket, BasingstokeOn his third solo tour, the standup retains his cynicism but there's now light amid the shade and warmth underlying the weariness Related: Romesh Ranganathan and Seann …
Soho theatre, LondonThe 24-year-old comedian is charming and verbally virtuosic sending up his own white privilege, but can't bring himself to be profound"Nothing bad has ever happened to me…
Vault festival, LondonDesiree Burch invites the audience to rebut racist cliches and face up to centuries of injustice in a show that loses some impact due to its scattershot approachThe US …
There were plenty of laughs at the quick-fire punning contest hosted by Lee Nelson, but the maligned art of wordplay deserves more of a rap-battle format"Some comedians don't take puns serio…
The director reveals he is a 'great fan' of the US standup comic. Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell looks set to star in her own TV comedy show and London's Glee Club isn't happyWoody Allen has been…
Leicester Square theatre, LondonOutlandish non sequiturs stack up as the wild-eyed, broad-grinned Law works the myth of his own zaninessIt's Tony Law's ambition, he tells us, to make a solid…
Cambridge JunctionThe ex-Peep Show star co-opts Roy the papier-mache penguin and her Slovenian flatmate Anya in a warm and wise show about her quest for loveWe're not in unfamiliar territory…
Soho theatre, LondonThe US comedian's anecdotes are unstructured, overlong and underpowered, but he has ragged charm and there's delight to be had in his throwaway asidesYou expect comedians…
Leicester Square theatre, LondonThe chronicler of society's oddest habits leads an endearing book reading-plus-debate about social media shaming " with a bonus appearance from Bridget Christ…
Soho theatre, LondonSloss tries to hide an uncertain stage persona in self-consciously provocative standup, but too often shoots himself in the footDaniel Sloss claims not to know what the t…
With The Brain Show, Robert Newman provides a welcome counter-argument to the many comedians hymning the virtues of rational inquiryComedy and science have been intimate bedfellows these pas…
Palace theatre, LondonThis erudite-magpie's tour of human history yields vintage Izzard moments of delightful silliness, yet lacks in jeopardy over two-and-a-half hours "I didn't want to bri…