wed 04/06/2025

Comedy Reviews

Matt Forde, Soho Theatre review - Brexit and beyond

Veronica Lee

Matt Forde sets out his stall in Brexit: Pursued by a Bear from the first line: “We meet in diabolical circumstances.” These aren't good times, he says, with two major leaders in the Western world whose relationship with the truth is merely that of passing acquaintance.

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Flo & Joan, Soho Theatre review - entertaining wit and whimsy

Veronica Lee

Musical comedy siblings Nicola and Rosie Dempsey (Flo and Joan were their grandmother and great-aunt's names) get along very well – even being mistaken for lovers by one Paris hotel who gave them a double bed – and certainly their chat between songs, where they politely interrupt each other and finish each other's sentences, is testimony to that.

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Frank Skinner, Garrick Theatre review - a masterclass in owning the room

Veronica Lee

When Frank Skinner did a London run of new material last year, the show was billed as a taster of a longer touring version.

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Leicester Comedy Festival Gala Preview Show, De Montfort Hall review - mixed bag in mixed bill

Veronica Lee

A mixed bill rarely pleases all comedy tastes – whether in style or content – and so it proved at the launch of the Leicester Comedy Festival, which starts next month. In a line-up of eight comics that had few star names, the best came last – but more of that later.

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Best of 2019: Comedy

Veronica Lee

It was a year in which we welcomed some big, big names back on stage, including Ben Elton, Clive Anderson and Jack Dee.

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Adam Kay, Bloomsbury Theatre review - festive tales from the NHS coalface

Veronica Lee

Medic-turned-comic Adam Kay had been performing for some years before he wrote his 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show Fingering a Minor at the Piano. It had a personal addendum – about why he left medicine – and was a call to arms to save the NHS.

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Andy Parsons, Stamford Corn Exchange review - politics and the art of persuasion

Veronica Lee

Andy Parsons is a comic known to like a good old rant, particularly on a political issue.

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Jack Whitehall, O2 Arena - a mix of posh and puerile

Veronica Lee

Jack Whitehall is hardly ever off the telly, appearing on gameshows or jollying around with his father, Michael, presenting the BRIT Awards and proving to be a decent actor in dramas such as Decline and Fall.

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Ivo Graham: The Game of Life, Soho Theatre review - privilege and parenting

Veronica Lee

Ivo Graham's latest show The Game of Life follows on from his previous hour, in which he talked about passing a milestone in life and the prospect of starting a family.

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Stewart Lee: Tornado/Snowflake, Leicester Square Theatre review - snark to Sharknado

Veronica Lee

Stewart Lee is back on the road after three years, and he comes back wonderfully refreshed and on marvellous form with this double header, Tornado/Snowflake.

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