90 stories by "Leo Benedictus"
A little-known Canadian whose instructions on how to stalk, capture and murder a woman do little to dent his charmReading on mobile? Click here to view videoTitle: Me Doing StandupYear: 2011…
Comedy about comedy is risky, but Gottfried's barked renditions of playground favourites are a treat for humour nerdsTitle: Dirty JokesYear: 2008The setup: After more than three decades in s…
This Edinburgh festival and TV favourite takes postmodern standup to a dangerously funny new levelYear: 2012The set-up: It's almost its own genre now, self-referential comedy. In the early 1…
He may be reviled, but the highest-earning comedian around is this era's Tommy Cooper or Eric Morecambe … and a class actTitle: Live and LaughingYear: 2008The set-up: Is it provocative to …
Behind the man-baiting facade, you get the feeling that all this brilliantly funny comic wants is for everyone to get alongTitle: Barely LiveYear: 2003The set-up: She called herself "the Sea…
One of the funniest and most original comedians of the past 20 years is an incorrigible dabbler with little interest in fameTitle: HelloYear: 2007The set-up: For a long time now " in Britain…
The granddaddy of modern standup comedy is on erratic but brilliant form in his penultimate showTitle: The Lenny Bruce Performance FilmYear: 1967The setup: Lenny Bruce was not the first stan…
Behind the gurning game-show host and mother-in-law jokes was a complex comic with an unexpected past, who captured the hearts of the British TV-watching publicTitle: The Best of Les Dawson.…
A man who takes silliness to a new level, Teeuwen makes us look at normality anew. While doing improvised autoerotic yogaTitle: Live in LondonYear: 2008The setup: When he performs in Dutch, …
Playing a bleakly comic country singer allows Hall to take his comedy to some harsh " and hilarious " placesTitle: Otis Lee Crenshaw and the Black Liars " London, Not TennesseeYear: 2001The …
Whether it's loose-lipped Lurleen or dope-smoking Fontaine, Whoopi's alter egos let her go further " and be funnier " than other standup comedians might dareTitle: Back to BroadwayYear: 2005…
Taking aim at priests and politicians, sharp-suited iconoclast Dave Allen pushed the boundaries of standup comedy while sitting downTitle: The Best of Dave AllenYear: VariousThe set-up: Dave…
Taking aim at priests and politicians, sharp-suited iconoclast Dave Allen pushed the boundaries of standup comedy while sitting down Continue reading...
Three years before his breakthrough movie, Jim Carrey was a remarkable standup, displaying his originality and his brilliance at making a physical spectacle of himself Continue reading...
Andy Kaufman made it appear like everything was a disaster, but his genius was to perform inside the audience's mind Continue reading...
Don't let Kevin Bridges' TV series What's the Story? put you off: his standup, celebrating the grimness of life, is much funnier Continue reading...
Straight-talking US comedian who's as funny attacking opponents of gay marriage as she is bawling out a 'racist' dolphin Continue reading...
The great improviser lifts a conventional standup routine into something extraterrestrial in this foaming torrent of a show Continue reading...
Amstell's soul-baring standup is part Samuel Beckett, part self-help manual " but entirely brilliantTitle: Do NothingDate: 2010The set up: Simon Amstell is a paradox. Here is a man, as he ex…
This suave, mic-wearing Canadian may look like a conference-hall shyster but he's a master of the slow-burning punchline Continue reading...
Britain's best standup offers a theatrical masterclass in comic timing, baroque repetitions and sheer, barefaced bravura Continue reading...
Obsessed with sex and defecation, this standup pioneer's blue routines possessed a unique earthiness Continue reading...
Obsessed with sex and defecation, this standup pioneer's blue routines possessed a unique earthinessTitle: On Location with Redd FoxxDate: 1978The setup: It's 21 years since John Sanford, be…
Age suits Rivers, giving her cantankerous wit an edge, and nothing is sacred, from haemorrhoids to her husband's suicide Continue reading...
Age suits Rivers, giving her cantankerous wit an edge, and nothing is sacred, from haemorrhoids to her husband's suicideTitle: An Audience with Joan RiversDate: 2006The set-up: The best come…
