Comedy Reviews

Britney, Soho Theatre review - finding the funny in a brain tumour

Veronica Lee Monday, 22 April 2019

A brain tumour isn't usually the subject of a comedy show but Britney, written and performed by comedy duo Charly Clive and Ellen Robertson, is just that. It's “the true story of what happens to two best friends when one of them [Clive] gets a brain tumour” – the size of a golf ball, her father helpfully pointed out.

Tommy Tiernan, Shepherd's Bush Empire review - playful and poetic

Veronica Lee Friday, 19 April 2019

Tommy Tiernan is something of an institution in his native Ireland, as a stand-up comic, newspaper columnist, sometime chat show host and full-time controversialist. Now his appearance as Da Gerry in Channel 4's Derry Girls has brought him to a wider audience – both geographically and generationally – and deservedly so.

Angela Barnes, Blackheath Halls review - a pessimist turning the tables

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Angela Barnes is one of life’s pessimists, she tells us at the top of the hour, but she’s trying not to be so world-weary, and to turn negatives into positives. And, while there’s so much awfulness going on around us, why not try to lighten the mood a little?

Aziz Ansari, Eventim Apollo review - show follows his #MeToo moment

Veronica Lee Thursday, 04 April 2019

Most people in the UK know American actor and stand-up Aziz Ansari from Parks and Recreation, where he played the sarcastic and underachieving local government official Tom Haverford. Comedy fans will also know him as a successful club comic on both US coasts, and from his Netflix specials.

Ed Gamble, The Stand review - amiable hour touching on personal issues

Veronica Lee Friday, 15 March 2019

Ed Gamble starts the hour by telling us why his latest show is called Blizzard; he and a bunch of comic friends we stranded in New York by bad weather and it made the news - yet, strangely, the headline wasn’t a play on his name - a gift for hacks - but on the monicker of one of his mates. Cue faux outrage.

Lou Sanders, Soho Theatre review - shame put under the spotlight

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Have you ever felt the hot shame of saying or doing the wrong thing? Not just embarrassment – that's for amateurs, says Lou Sanders in her wonderfully honest and revealing show Shame Pig, in which she essays some of her life's red-faced moments.

Sheeps, Soho Theatre review - sketch comedy with a touch of the surreal

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 19 February 2019

Sheeps, the sketch comedy threesome, had never really gone away but when they performed Live and Loud Selfie Sex Harry Potter at the Edinburgh Fringe last year after a four-year absence, it was called a comeback. More a welcome reunion, as its members – Liam Williams, Daran Johnson and Alastair Roberts – had been busy doing solo projects.

Adam Riches Is The Guy Who..., Drink, Shop & Do review - super-suave Lothario on the prowl

Veronica Lee Thursday, 07 February 2019

The first line of this show is “I'm the guy who you meet right after you come out of a long-term relationship.” On the night I see The Guy Who..., Adam Riches has three tries with it before he meets his target, a woman who has been dumped by a long-standing boyfriend.

Lost Voice Guy, Soho Theatre review - Britain's Got Talent winner finds the funny in disability

Veronica Lee Monday, 28 January 2019

Lost Voice Guy – aka Lee Ridley – won Britain’s Got Talent last year. He's a unique talent in that his cerebral palsy means he is unable to speak, and so he delivers his comedy through a synthesizer controlled via his iPad.

Daniel Sloss, Leicester Square Theatre review - toxic masculinity examined

Veronica Lee Monday, 21 January 2019

Daniel Sloss's latest show is called X, to denote his 10th show. The Scottish comic started in comedy as a teenager in 2009 when a lot of his material was knob and wank gags, but in recent years his work has had a progressively edgier feel, including shows that delved into his sister's death from cerebral palsy and the childhood grooming from which he had a lucky escape.