Comedy
Veronica Lee
Internet porn, the sexualisation of childhood and the objectification of women are so commonplace in Western society that they go mostly unmentioned and unchallenged, even in the arts. So thank goodness for performance artist and comic Bryony Kimmings, who not only mentions and challenges these pernicious forces in so-called civilised society, but in Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model, an award-winning show first seen at Edinburgh Fringe, fashions an entertaining show around them.It was created from a very personal perspective. Kimmings recently started taking an active care role in the Read more ...
kate.bassett
The setting is Dublin. We're talking modern-day and down-at-heel in this major new musical which has a deliberately scruffy look – with a launderette glowing in the dark and a concrete, four-storey housing block hulking upstage. The adaptation is by Roddy Doyle himself, based on his 1987 comic novel.As many will also remember from the 1991 big-screen version of The Commitments, Doyle’s young protagonists are scraping by in Ireland, with no scintillating job prospects. But then they get together, form a band, work hard at it and wow a guy who has a recording studio. Though looking set to go Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Charity gigs, by their very nature, are usually jolly affairs, and Brighton Comedy Festival’s opening gala at the Dome was no exception. It had a stellar line-up, but also the advantage of being hosted by Alan Carr (the patron of The Sussex Beacon, in whose aid it was given) who was, like most of the guests, on cracking form.Carr, who will be touring next year, was running out some new material, but it was when he was just riffing with the audience that he was at his best, talking about his new boyfriend – “a nice mix of masculine and feminine. He could enjoy a dog fight but appreciates Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Mark Thomas is telling us how he organised a large gay rights comedy gig outside the Russian consulate in Edinburgh (where this show was part of the Fringe), how it was a huge success, how the local police chief affably arranged for the street to be blocked off to traffic, and how the comedian Stephen K Amos raised a huge cheer of support for the cause to which one policeman on duty responded with enthusiastic and heartfelt applause. Such behaviour, Thomas commented, after a suitable pause, had the potential to ruin his livelihood.That’s the thing with Mark Thomas, he’s defiantly political Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Tickets are now on sale for the Brighton Comedy Festival (4-20 October), which takes place in several venues in the South Coast town.As ever, the opening-night gala at the Brighton Dome is in aid of Sussex Beacon, and this year the event is hosted by Alan Carr. Other guests confirmed to appear with him are Jack Dee, Adam Hills, Seann Walsh and Suzi Ruffell. More names will be confirmed nearer the date.Highlights of the festival include Bridget Christie performing A Bic For Her (6 Oct), the show that won her the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award at the Fringe last month; Ed Byrne (17 Oct); Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Ardal O'Hanlon is best known as Father Dougal in the much missed Father Ted (created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan), but he started life as a stand-up and he clearly brought many of his own qualities – although not the dimwittedness – to the lovable Irish priest, as an hour of his latest show proves. He riffs on matters ranging from Catholic guilt and racial stereotyping to monogamy and paedophilia without once offending anyone.In fact, he tells us, his unwillingness to cause offence makes him singularly unsuited to the role of stand-up. Not for him the brazenness of comics such as Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Newcomer Ronny Chieng doesn't waste any time trying to get the audience on his side. He outlines his interesting ethnic background – born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, several years spent in the United States and Singapore, and he did a law degree in Australia - but that mix is distilled into his Chinese ethnicity and its innate superiority to anything Western.He says he's tried reclaiming the word 'chink', in the style of black rappers and the n-wordIt's a refreshing approach, as generally comics crave our affection. In The Ron Way Chieng runs through various stereotypes about Chinese and Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Australian stand-up Matt Okine made his UK debut at the Edinburgh Fringe last month and earned himself a best newcomer nomination in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, to add to his best newcomer award at 2012's Melbourne Comedy Festival (jointly won with Ronny Chieng). He's certainly an assured performer, even if his observational humour relies too heavily on the everyday in Being Black & Chicken & S#%t.Chicken – whether the companies Okine keeps in business to feed his habit or a controversial television advertisement back home in Australia – features prominently in the first 10 minutes, Read more ...
Jasper Rees
Tony Hancock stopped producing the work on which his reputation rests the best part of half a century ago. He still casts a long old shadow. Many years before BBC Four embarked on its series of biodramas, a life of Hancock starring Alfred Molina captured some of that hulking self-disgust. More recently Paul Merton has become a one-man module in Hancock studies, even going so far as to re-enact some of the old Half Hours. The absence of the real thing only served to remind the audience of Hancock’s ineffable charisma.There is always the danger, when contemporary comics make reverential films Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Tig Notaro, Gilded Balloon ****“I've been busy. I've been growing my hair out.” Not the the most animated start to an hour of comedy, but that's how American Tig Notaro begins Boyish-Girl Interrupted, one of the most original 60 minutes I've seen at the Fringe, and certainly the most laidback.Those who are familiar with her personal story – she underwent a double mastectomy last year, spoke about it at the Largo comedy club in Los Angeles and it went viral after Louis C.K. tweeted about it – might have expected the growing-her-hair-out thing to be chemotherapy-related. But no, she's just Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Glenn Wool, Assembly George Square ****There are some comics who can always be relied upon to create engaging and funny shows, and the Canadian Glenn Wool is one of them. His comedy appears to be straightforward stand-up – anecdotes are interspersed with one-liners and puns, with occasional interaction with the audience, to create a small world of his own, with more than a touch of the surreal about it.This Road Has Tolls gives an outsider's view of UK news stories in the past year, from the Olympics and the royal birth, to the Yewtree investigation and the horsemeat scandal. The last leads Read more ...
Veronica Lee
John Lloyd, Underbelly Bristo Square **** John Lloyd is a comedy god to any aficionado of the art form. He has written or produced some of the best radio and television comedy of the past 40 years, including (and these are just brief highlights) Just a Minute, The News Quiz, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, Blackadder and QI. He was with the Cambridge Footlights but hasn't performed live for more than 30 years, yet in Liff of QI you wouldn't know it – he's a naturally gifted raconteur.Standing behind a lectern, he delivers a sort-of lecture, which is a very funny collection of Read more ...