Comedy Reviews
Phil Wang, RFH review - smut and smartsTuesday, 23 May 2023
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. Read more... |
Dear Billy, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh review - powerful tribute to Scottish prideMonday, 22 May 2023
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. Read more... |
Hannah Gadsby, Netflix special review - shaggy dog story of marital blissTuesday, 16 May 2023
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. Read more... |
Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, Touring review - Bogies, bottoms and other childish funTuesday, 25 April 2023
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. Read more... |
Emmanuel Sonubi, ArtsDepot review - confessions of a former bouncerMonday, 17 April 2023
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. Read more... |
Chris Rock, Netflix special review - no holds barred on the Oscars slapFriday, 17 March 2023
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. Read more... |
Crybabies, Soho Theatre review - sharp sci-fi spoofThursday, 09 March 2023
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. Read more... |
Bridget Christie, The Haymarket, Basingstoke review - making the menopause funnyTuesday, 07 March 2023
Bridget Christie is hot. Not in that way, you mucky pups. She’s hot because she’s 51 and menopausal, she tells us – and she’s on a mission to explain why, rather than marking a negative moment in her life, it’s the start of a new age, and a good one at that. Read more... |
Ricky Gervais, BIC review - nudging the boundaries againMonday, 27 February 2023
Ricky Gervais tells us at the top of the show that there was a backlash to his 2022 Netflix special SuperNature. So big, he says, that it’s become the most watched comedy special of the year. “So I’ve learnt my lesson,” he says with a side-eye to the audience. Read more... |
'Weird Al' Yankovic, London Palladium review - deep dive into his original songsTuesday, 21 February 2023
The most striking thing at the London Palladium for the last night of “Weird Al” Yankovic's mini-tour of the UK was the number of youngsters in the audience. I don't mean young adults, but children, who were there with their parents and even grandparents. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Music Reissues Weekly: New York Dolls - Showdown At The Merc...
“A band you’re gonna like, whether you like it or not.” The proclamation in the press ads for the New York Dolls’ debut album acknowledged they...
Flight Risk review - the sky's the limit for Michelle D...
Director Mel Gibson probably made Flight...
Presence review – Soderbergh’s haunted camera
The camera is the ghost in Steven Soderbergh’s 35th feature, waiting in a vacant house for its buyers, ambitious Rebecca (Lucy Liu, ...
Cymbeline, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - pagan women figh...
There’s not much point in having three hours worth of Shakespearean text to craft and the gorgeous Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as a...
An Interrogation, Hampstead Theatre review - police procedur...
In a dingy room with dilapidated furniture on a dismal Sunday evening, two detectives prepare for an interview. The old hand walks...
Album: ALT BLK ERA - Rave Immortal
The utopian messiness of 1990s dance music culture is now so far...
The Lonely Londoners, Kiln Theatre review - Windrush Generat...
As something of an immigrant to the capital myself in the long hot summer of 1984, I gobbled up Absolute Beginners, Colin...
Gigashvili, Hallé, Cox, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review...
There was excellent music making in the Hallé concert in Manchester last night, and there was self-admitted “noise”. Briefly, the two coincided in...
Album: Ludovico Einaudi - The Summer Portraits
Nine billion streams a year. That’s the sheer scale on which the music of Ludovico Einaudi reaches audiences. The Italian, who will be 70 this...