Comedy
Gary Naylor
At first, it’s hard to believe that the true story of Colonel Blood’s audacious attempt to steal The Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671 has not provided the basis for a play before. After two hours of Simon Nye’s pedestrian telling of the tale as a comedy, you have your answer.We open on a lover of the King who regales us in song – since it’s Carrie Hope Fletcher (this production is not short of star quality), we can forgive the tinny piped-in music and enjoy her tremendous singing voice. The character returns a couple of times but (and this is a recurring theme in a Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Josh Pugh made quite an impression at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, where he was deservedly nominated for best show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards with Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips and Beans. In this special YouTube version, recorded at Birmingham Town Hall, he reprises that performance.It's an accomplished, warm-hearted hour of observational comedy about this and that, much of it drawing attention to Pugh's hapless persona and the scrapes he gets into – such as accidentally grooming a ripped Serbian teenage kickboxer, or ruining his wife's dinner because he became distracted by finding out Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Amy Schumer opens Emergency Contact, her latest Netflix Special, by asking a young woman in the front row how old she is. When the answer comes back as “27”, the New York comic has found the perfect segue into material about being 42 and feeling her age.It’s anything but quotidian though as Schumer is a wry – and often very sharp – observer of the human condition. Indeed her material about actor Alec Baldwin and his “not-Spanish Spanish” wife, Hilaria (christened Hilary) is deliciously pointed in reflecting on identity and self-awareness, or lack of it.Most of the show – derived Read more ...
Anya Ryan
And that’s it again for another year. Oh Glastonbury. A fever dream where the time of reality stops as you hop on a ride to a land of magic.Yes, it might be celebrated for its musical marvels (Elton John, surely, the set of 2023 that will make the history books) but the real wonder of the world’s greatest festival is its ability to transport you somewhere else – somewhere glorious, just for a little while. People all across the country and beyond will have watched the footage broadcast live on the BBC. But it is what they don’t see, can't see, that has the festival’s heart.In its very Read more ...
Veronica Lee
John Kearns' comedy is what you might call niche; absurdist, surrealist, poetic – they all apply, underlined by his onstage uniform, or “mask”, of tonsure wig and oversize false teeth. But last year he took part in something very definitely mainstream – Channel 4’s Taskmaster – and knows that some in the audience are here to see not the performer who won best newcomer and best show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in successive years (2013 and 2014), but the sweet, giggly comic seemingly incapable of lateral thinking, the contestant destined for last place. (Actually he came third.)Learns Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Phil Wang has an interesting background: he has a Chinese-Malaysian father and a white English mother, was born in the UK, and spent his childhood in Malaysia before returning to the UK at 16. His comedy has always mined this rich seam, and now in his latest touring show, Wang in There, Baby!, he mines it a bit more with his opening gags.First up is a discussion about rice, and very informative it is too, as he discusses the different positions English and Chinese people take on it – and what you're really eating when you order fried rice in a restaurant. There's more food-related material as Read more ...
David Kettle
Anyone expecting to see the Big Yin himself, Gary McNair breathlessly explains as he dashes on stage, should nip out and ask the box office for a refund. It’s an ice-breaking gag that sets the tone nicely for McNair’s fast-moving, often snort-inducingly funny tribute to Billy Connolly, whose production by the National Theatre of Scotland is touring the country until the end of June.And yes, there’s an undeniable resemblance between the two men, something that Glasgow-based actor/writer McNair puts to good use at certain key points in his big-hearted celebration of the legendary Scottish Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Hannah Gadsby had a memorable lockdown; it was when the Tasmanian comic got together with producer Jenney Shamash. And it's their courtship that forms the basis for Something Special, the wonderful new show by Gadsby which is now a Netflix special, recorded at the Sydney Opera House.Gadsby, whose previous shows have dealt with some pretty serious subjects, including rape, homophobia and misogyny, tells us drily at the top of the hour: “This is going to be a feelgood show. I feel I owe you one.”And yes, it is indeed a feelgood show (based on the previously toured Body of Work). Essentially, Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Judging by the average age of people in the audience, many of those who enjoyed Dick & Dom in da Bungalow when it aired on the BBC in the early Noughties were already adults. There was, though, a smattering of youngsters near their bedtime – good to see, as one of the most enjoyable elements of the weekend morning BBC children’s show, presented by Richard (Dick) McCourt and Dominic (Dom) Wood, was its anarchic attitude to rules.Whether a generation of schoolteachers would feel so fondly towards McCourt and Wood is another matter. They were plagued by their charges playing Bogies, a game Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Emmanuel Sonubi burst on the scene at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, where he was nominated in the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and has since appeared on the BBC's Live at the Apollo and supported Jason Manford on tour. It's easy to see why he's broken through; the north Londoner is an instantly engaging presence on stage, with a cheeky conversational style that draws the audience in.He is now touring that nominated show, Emancipated. Its title appears to have little to do with the (at times scattergun) everyday material about parenting, being humiliated by a teaching assistant, Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Chris Rock knows how to tease. It’s a safe bet that many watching this show are here for one thing – to hear his version of events that took place at last year’s Oscars, when actor and erstwhile rapper Will Smith came on stage and slapped the comic. First, though, he sets it up. Not by talking about the Oscars kerfuffle per se – although he tells us “Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face” – but by cheeky asides that let us know Rock is leading us there. He references Snoop Dog and Jay-Z; he’s not dissing them, he’s at pains to make clear, Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Crybabies – a sketch group comprised of Michael Clarke, James Gault and Ed Jones – were nominated for best newcomer for Danger Parade, a brilliant parody of Second World War adventure stories, at the 2019 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Their second show, Bagbeard, was another critical success at last year's Fringe and is now having its second run at the Soho Theatre. It's a lot of fun.“This is a story of hope, love – and monsters,” says Jones at the top of the show. Like his compadres he plays several roles, necessitating super-quick costume changes behind the on-stage cloth. Bagbeard is a sci Read more ...