Comedy Reviews
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Tiff Stevenson / Seann Walsh / Rosie HoltSaturday, 06 August 2022
Tiff Stevenson, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★
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Sikisa, Soho Theatre review - a confident debutMonday, 18 July 2022
Sikisa is a new name on the comedy scene, but trust me you'll hearing and seeing a lot more of the south Londoner with Barbadian roots. Twerk in Progress, her in-progress version of her debut show Life of the Party, is a winning mixture of autobiography and social comment. Read more... |
Joe Lycett, Eventim Apollo review - prankster goes long-formFriday, 01 July 2022
Joe Lycett’s career was on an upward trajectory when he took on hosting duties on The Great British Sewing Bee, and the crafting show delivered a whole new audience for his live comedy. But anybody thinking that his sweet-natured wit was all there was to Lycett might be taken aback by some of his stand-up material. Read more... |
Ricky Gervais, SuperNature, Netflix review - a provocateur at workWednesday, 08 June 2022
Irony can be a trump card for a provocative comic such as Ricky Gervais, and he plays it right at the top of his SuperNature, an updated version of a show he started touring in 2019, which was rudely interrupted by the pandemic and is now his latest Netflix special. Read more... |
Andy Zaltzman, Soho Theatre review - satire on the hoofMonday, 16 May 2022
Andy Zaltzman comes on stage to deliver a short preamble to his show Satirist For Hire. Much of the hour is suggested by the audience as they choose subjects they want him to muse on. Some have emailed before they arrive, others have left it till they arrive at the theatre; one shouts out a suggestion from the bar. Read more... |
Brandon Wardell, Soho Theatre review - US comic wings itThursday, 12 May 2022
Brandon Wardell is a big social media star – he has a large following on Twitter and Instagram, YouTube and TikTok – and has in the past appeared as support for fellow Millennial Bo Burnham. And now he is doing a short run at the Soho Theatre. Read more... |
Stratagem With Alan Partridge, touring review - he's back as a lifestyle guruMonday, 09 May 2022
After the latest disaster in Alan Partridge’s rollercoaster career, what would be the logical next move? To be a lifestyle guru, obviously. Partridge's creator Steve Coogan dipped into the idea back in 2008's Alan Partridge and Other Less Successful Characters and now, co-writing with Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons, Partridge is imagined as the purveyor of a lifestyle programme called Stratagem – where you turn STRAT into A GEM. Read more... |
Shaparak Khorsandi, touring review - sex, drugs and rock'n'rollWednesday, 27 April 2022
Shaparak Khorsandi has reverted to her given name since she last toured (she used to be known as Shappi) but other than that not much has changed in her brand of feelgood comedy, and her new show, It Was the 90s!, is an amusing look back at her youth from the perspective of middle age. Read more... |
String v SPITTA, Soho Theatre review - rival children's entertainers battle it outMonday, 11 April 2022
Spoofs of children's entertainment is a rich area for comics – whether it's the permanently drunk Jeremy Lion (Justin Edwards), or the permanently disappointed Funz and Gamez (Phil Ellis) – as they create adult fun in a seemingly innocent world. And now Ed MacArthur and Kiell Smith-Bynoe take an interesting new tack with String v SPITTA. Read more... |
Katherine Ryan, London Palladium review - a softer comic emergesMonday, 04 April 2022
A lot has happened to British-Canadian comic Katherine Ryan since she last toured and was expecting to go back on the road in 2020 – the “pandem”, which affected us all, of course, plus unexpected marriage and second-time motherhood. Updating us on that, plus her thoughts on much more, is a lot to pack in but she does so at pace in a show that barely stops for breath. Read more... |
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