sat 05/07/2025

Comedy reviews, news & interviews

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support

Tom Birchenough

We are bowled over! 

Summer Laugh review - five comics gear up for the Fringe

Veronica Lee

Appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe has long been an expensive gig for comics. But while stand-ups may need only a microphone to ply their wares at the world’s biggest arts festival, the costs they have to bear – among them venue charges, accommodation and marketing – don’t come cheap, and are growing year on year. Many people attending the Fringe are unaware of its financial eco-system – but the majority of performers there are self-funding.

Kieran Hodgson, Soho Theatre review - a love...

Veronica Lee

Kieran Hodgson is known to television viewers from Two Doors Down and to online fans for his spoofs of TV dramas; but comedy fans know him best for...

Sarah Silverman, Netflix Special review - finding...

Veronica Lee

Death can be a powerful driver for comedy, as countless stand-ups and sitcom writers will affirm, but it has to be sensitively handled. Dark humour...

Dara Ó Briain, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review -...

Veronica Lee

Dara Ó Briain’s  has described his previous show So… Where Were We? – in which he describes his search for his birth mother who gave him up...

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Mr Swallow: Show Pony, Richmond Theatre review - magic tricks and mayhem

Veronica Lee

Nick Mohammed gives his creation's origin story

Zoe Lyons, Touring - midlife, without the crisis

Veronica Lee

Warm and witty take on finding contentment

Greg Davies, Brighton Dome review - chocolate bars and errant bumholes

Veronica Lee

Taskmaster's first tour in seven years is a joy

Marcus Brigstocke, Touring review - modern manhood laid bare

Veronica Lee

Observations on what it is to be a bloke today

Matt Forde, Touring review - politics, poo and Viagra

Veronica Lee

The personal and political collide

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Harry Hill, Wilton's Music Hall review - madcap comic on terrific form

Veronica Lee

Utterly daft mix of new material and favourite old characters

Nina Conti: Whose Face Is It Anyway?, Brighton Dome review - a melee of jubilant spontaneity

Thomas H Green

The ventriloquist-comedian's improvised hour-long outing is skilful and fabulously entertaining

Amy Gledhill, Soho Theatre review - delightfully bawdy take on serious subjects

Veronica Lee

Best show winner at the Edinburgh Fringe

Russell Howard Live at the Palladium review - feelgood philosophy with added smut

Veronica Lee

Special recording available to download

Ben Elton, Duke of York's Theatre review - big subjects, big laughs

Veronica Lee

Comic is as punchy as ever

Chris McCausland, Winchester Theatre Royal review - Strictly winner as cheerfully cynical as ever

Veronica Lee

Back to the day job telling gags

Gala Preview Show, De Montfort Hall review - Leicester Comedy Festival nicely teed up

Veronica Lee

Europe's biggest comedy festival opens next month

Best of 2024: Comedy

Veronica Lee

Authentically good memories of the year

Jamie Foxx, Netflix Special review - doctors and divine intervention

Veronica Lee

Comic discusses his recovery from a stroke

Ricky Gervais, Touring review - new show, not-so new gags

Veronica Lee

Set relies on established tropes

Kemah Bob, Soho Theatre review - Thailand, massage and mental health

Veronica Lee

Texan's full-length debut is a personal story

Natalie Palamides: Weer, Soho Theatre review - a romcom of two halves

Veronica Lee

Comic plays male and female roles simultaneously

Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Brighton Dome review - a foster carer's tale

Veronica Lee

Comic skilfully melds a personal story with sharp social commentary

Rose Matafeo, Arcola Theatre review - Starstruck star muses on love

Veronica Lee

Kiwi comic on dating, phone apps and Taylor Swift

Ellen DeGeneres, Netflix Special review - no mea culpa and few jokes

Veronica Lee

Former chatshow host’s bizarre take on cancellation

Joe Rogan, Netflix Special review - US podcaster leaves the controversy - and the jokes - at home

Veronica Lee

Nothing edgy about this hour

Zoë Coombs Marr, Soho Theatre review - stock checks and spreadsheets

Veronica Lee

Australian comic's autobiographical show

Adam Sandler, Netflix Special - songs, silliness and deconstructing stand-up

Veronica Lee

The comic and director Josh Sadie have fun with the form

Footnote: a brief history of British comedy

British comedy has a honourable history, dating back to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, through Shakespeare’s and Restoration plays to Victorian and Edwardian music hall and its offspring variety, and on to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, working-men’s clubs, 1980s alternative comedy, and today's hugely popular stand-up acts in stadiums seating up to 20,000 people.

In broadcast media, the immediate decades after the Second World War marked radio’s golden age for comedy, with shows such as ITMA, The Goons, Round the Horne and Beyond Our Ken. Many radio comedy shows transferred to even greater acclaim on television - such as Hancock’s Half Hour, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Knowing Me, Knowing You, The Day Today, Red Dwarf, The League of Gentlemen, Goodness Gracious Me and Little Britain.

In television, the 1970s and 1980s were the great age of British sitcom, when shows such as Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, Rising Damp, Dad’s Army, Porridge, Yes, Minister, Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and Blackadder. They were marked by great writing, acting and directing, although the time should also be noted for great British dross such as On the Buses and Love Thy Neighbour.

By the 1990s, British sitcom had developed into intelligent über-comedy, with shows such as Absolutely Fabulous and The Office making dark or off-kilter (although some would say bad taste) shows such as Drop the Dead Donkey, Peep Show, Green Wing and The Inbetweeners possible. In film, British comedy has had three great ages - silent movies (Charlie Chaplin being their star), Ealing comedies (Passport to Pimlico perhaps the best ever) and Carry On films. The first are in a long tradition of daft physical humour, the second mark the dry sophistication of much British humour, and the last the bawdiness that goes back to Chaucer.

The 2000s marked the resurgence of live comedy, with acts (including Jimmy Carr, Peter Kay and Russell Howard) honing their talents at successive Edinburgh Fringes and their resulting TV, stadium tour and DVD sales making millionaires of dozens of UK comics. Comedians cross readily from TV to stand-up to film to West End comedy theatre. The British comedy industry is now a huge and growing commercial business, with star comics such as Peter Kay and Michael McIntyre grossing tens of millions of pounds from arena tours, and attendances of up to 20,000 at venues across the UK.

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