2,036 stories by "Brian Logan"
Orchard, DartfordNeurosis makes for good comedy. It certainly isn't doing Jon Richardson's career any harm. The 8 Out of 10 Cats team captain is now taking his fretfulness and borderlin…
Southbank Centre, LondonNot for the first time, a cheap flight takes us from somewhere pedestrian to somewhere delightful. I found the first half of Fascinating Aïda's gig easy to admire …
Cleese declares war in an Israeli advert, but redeems himself in the trailer for a Monty Python film about the late Graham Chapman " and Armando Iannucci says the US version of The Thick of …
PleasanceWhy, after so many years, am I still so enthusiastic about life? That's what Sandi Toksvig explores in this new sort-of standup show. It's a measure of her charm that she gets away …
UnderbellyFrank Skinner, Steve Coogan, Dylan Moran ... Doctor Brown? The prospect of this sexually charged clown act joining the rollcall of Edinburgh comedy award winners is a delicious one…
Pleasance DomeComedy fans in Edinburgh will have seen the posters reading "Last Show Ever" and shuddered. Perish the thought that this lovable anarcho-sketch-comedy act should call it a day.…
By suggesting humour can be captured in a few words, Dave's one-liner award sells Edinburgh fringe comedy shortHow do you annoy a standup comedian? Easy: go up to him or her and say, "tell u…
Pleasance CourtyardI've seldom seen a theatre audience leave with more bemused faces than after David Hasselhoff's opening performance at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Hoff is in town for one we…
Pleasance CourtyardWhat's so funny? Louise Ford (one half of double act Ford and Akram) isn't the first character comic to sound out humour on society's maladroit margins. But if her creatio…
Gilded BalloonWhat's so funny? The brazen otherness of this Cornish rap duo, doing their own thing, their own way, to a small audience late night " early morning, actually " on the fringe.An…
Assembly RoomsAmerica's indie comedy scene has supplied some great fringe acts recently, including Perrier-winner Demetri Martin and Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal. Kumail Nanjiani …
Laughing Horse @ Free SistersWhat's so funny? Trodd en Bratt (that's en as in salmon en croute) is a new double act formed of two cast-members of the improvised hit, Showstoppers, whose sho…
Gilded Balloon"Saturday night is the worst," Sam Simmons tweeted after this performance, which was half standup, half running battle with the audience. Was this a one-off, or is Simmons this…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWhat's so funny? Growing up mixed race in South Africa was a bit of a hoot " at least if Trevor Noah is to be believed. Noah, now resident in the States, has be…
Just the Tonic at the TronWhat's so funny? Desolation and rage, as rendered by a squat, bald 53-year-old working-class American parading his inadequacies across the stage.Sounds like my cup …
Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh"Political comedy thrives under the Tories," comedian Phill Jupitus said last week " and sure enough, Coalition is the second satirical show (after Chumbawumba's mu…
The rising price of comedy, Harry Hill post-TV Burp " plus, a new Bill and Ted adventure, and your take on the week's comedyComedy news from EdinburghIt's week two of the fringe, and unease …
UnderbellyWhat's so funny? Claudia O'Doherty is an oddball Australian standup ("cheer-jerker", in her own coinage) making her third fringe appearance, this year under the auspices of indie c…
Assembly George SquareThere are themes and gimmicks, bells and whistles in other shows on the fringe, as comics test the boundaries of their art form. But straightforward, autobiographical s…
Pleasance CourtyardWhat's so funny? "Michael Mittermeier is very funny and German. If you don't believe either of these things " go check him out". It must be catching - even Eddie Izzard is…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWhat's so funny? The Pin are among this year's one-to-watch sketch troupes, and are " like last year's newbies, Sheeps, alumni of the UK's most gilded comedy pr…
Gilded BalloonWhen you think musical comedy, you don't think this. Rubberbandits are an Irish phenomenon heading Britain's way " in revenge for Bloody Sunday and the potato famine, as they m…
Pleasance Courtyard"Standup is the only artform that can't be contrived," David Trent tells himself in his debut fringe hour Spontaneous Comedian. That's the paradox: live comedy requires ri…
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…
UnderbellyWhat's so funny? Book clubs, according to Harry Potter actor Jessie Cave. Her Edinburgh debut is a meeting of the spoof book group Bookworms United, inspired, she says, by obsessiv…
