The Stand, EdinburghRyan excels at the barbed comedy of supercilious abuse in a disjointed set that riffs on the Taylor Swift/Nicki Minaj row and has a standout section on Bill CosbyReported…
Wherever you look at the festival, comedians are unselfconsciously rocking the mic. Critic Brian Logan joins the party …Cue hip-hop beat. Middle-aged, middle-class, white comedy critic try…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghPart musical comedy, part doomed romance and part Desert Island Discs, this is an eccentric, subversive work about the soundtrack to a life Joseph Morpurgo migh…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghKumar directs his intelligence and moral fury toward race, privatisation and oppressed capitalists " and comes out triumphantAnother day, another article in a r…
Standups relish language and forms of communication, so it's no wonder emojis are a feature of so many shows this year. But how much can you really say with yellow symbols?The Edinburgh frin…
The Stand, EdinburghThe fringe superstar returns with a mostly uproarious, sometimes sobering set in response to social injustices of every hueIs it a show? Is it a book launch? Fringe super…
The Tron, EdinburghThe anarchic member of sketch trio Pappy's lets loose in an irrepressible and mischievous " but non-trivial " celebration of fancy dress and funFans of the sketch troupe P…
Underbelly Cowgate, EdinburghThe comedian is impressive as her sexist alter ego Dave, but the brand of chauvinist comedy depicted makes for a fairly soft target"I mostly hang out with comedi…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup's festival return sees him get serious about the state of racial politics, while retaining his keen sense of sillyEnjoyable though it was, there was…
Pleasance DomeThough sadly not living up to the promise of their 2014 fringe debut, this comedy trio are still an impressive and endearing actThe month of previews, the week to break in your…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe comedy threesome play off their incongruous personae to create an odd, slippery and exhilarating show of extreme slapstick and fresh, uneasy jokes Recently …
Gilded Balloon, EdinburghTruscott has some funny, transgressive material but technical glitches and a lack of polish undermines the flow of this performanceNot many acts enter fringe legend …
Laughing Horse @ The Free SistersWilliams tiptoes around outright bleakness as he adds relationship angst to his ideological distress in another exciting Edinburgh showLast year's show was c…
There are spirited and charismatic performances in the Muju Crew's cross-cultural sketch show " as well as the occasional lapse into bad tasteRamadan as a fitness programme ("I lost 30lb in …
Huge crowds for sets by Tim Key, Dylan Moran and others show how popular comedy is at music festivals; no wonder standup was spilling out all over the site this yearAs a symbol of how comedy…
Comedy is growing out of pubs and arenas, and making inroads into respected arts festivals " but could it lose its edge as a result?Interesting times for comedy fans: we're watching an artfo…
Just the Tonic at the CavesThe term character comedy doesn't quite cover what San Francisco standup Will Franken does in an underground cave, late at night on the Fringe. Yes, he flits in an…
Soho Theatre, London"Kamikaze cabaret", "post-postmodern performance", "opera brut". Read Meow Meow's publicity, and you expect something new and indefinable. W…
Pavilion theatre, ManchesterManic trio Sheeps redeem a Manchester festival comedy night whose amusement value even the performers seem uncertain about"Are you having a good night?" compere M…
Last year, Holly Walsh posed with an upside-down cigarette, this year Nish Kumar is going retro … what makes for a good comedy poster? And does a comic's offering actually draw audiences t…
Hammersmith Apollo, LondonChappelle kicks off with gleeful, scorching indelicacy, but his cock-of-the-walk comedy doesn't always match his considerable charisma You'd think it was a rock sta…
Rumour is rife that Monty Python's surviving members are to reform – but can they ever be as good as their heyday? Here are some favourite clips (and not a parrot among them) Continue …
The outspoken standup talks about teenage bad behaviour, panel shows and the 'stubborn' iPhone pest who inspired her Manchester international festival showThe seeds of Sara Pascoe's Manchest…
Soho theatre, LondonThe character comic is charismatic and subtle, but his attempts to get the audience to deliver the laughs sometimes fall flatWant to be a duck? Want your face lathered in…
Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonComedy's king of Twitter is flamboyantly smutty " not only for the fun of it, but as a way to test the boundaries of good tasteAs declarations of intent go, it's …