standup comedy
Ed Byrne, Touring review - the perils of modern fatherhoodMonday, 23 April 2018
Ed Byrne is a worried parent. Thankfully his two young sons are hale and hearty, but he is concerned he may be bringing up a pair of pampered, Lord Fauntleroy youngsters, and in Spoiler Alert he ponders the differences between his experience of... Read more... |
Funny Cow review - Maxine Peake is stellarThursday, 19 April 2018
One of the joys of writing about comedy over the past few years is the decreasing frequency with which I am asked to comment on “women in comedy”, “female comics” or, most egregiously, “are women funny?” I think we can all agree that you're either... Read more... |
Angela Barnes, Soho Theatre review - history with great gagsThursday, 19 April 2018
It's always nice to come away from a show having learned something and Angela Barnes, history buff and a woman with an obsession some may consider weird (more of which later), certainly fills in a lot of historical detail in Fortitude. Some of it... Read more... |
Daliso Chaponda, Touring review - uneven but entertainingMonday, 16 April 2018
You may have seen Daliso Chaponda on Britain's Got Talent last year. He came third but, as he says, he was delighted as it brought him to a wider audience after working in comedy for 15 years – and made possible his first UK tour What the African... Read more... |
Simon Evans, Soho Theatre review - intellect examinedFriday, 23 March 2018
Simon Evans, at 52, is far too young to be a grumpy old man, but he’s doing his best to prepare for the role, with this amusingly dyspeptic standup show at Soho Theatre about the ageing process, and how the evolutionary model appears to be moving... Read more... |
Craig Hill, Glasgow International Comedy Festival review - sweary and filthy funMonday, 12 March 2018
The Glasgow International Comedy Festival kicked off with a performance by one of its most popular performers, Craig Hill, a comic far better known in his native Scotland than south of the border. That may be because his shtick relies so much on... Read more... |
Fern Brady, Soho Theatre review - opinions with raw edgeTuesday, 27 February 2018
Fern Brady is a young Scot with plenty of provocative opinions – on politics, society and relationships – with a delivery that can only be described as dry as a desert. It means that some pieces of information – as well as a few gags – take some... Read more... |
Rose Matafeo, Soho Theatre review - sassy and she knows itThursday, 22 February 2018
New Zealand comic Rose Matafeo is a fan of romcoms and has decided she is destined to appear in one at some point in her career. As she explains, it's not possible – as a mixed-race woman – to play the film's heroine, but she is surely a shoo-in for... Read more... |
Hannah Gadsby, Soho Theatre review - misogyny exploredMonday, 12 February 2018
Hannah Gadsby was awarded best show (jointly with John Robins) at the 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Awards for Nanette, which had already been given the equally prestigious Barry award at last year's Melbourne Comedy Festival. Gadsby draws us in gently,... Read more... |
Andrew Maxwell, Soho Theatre - insightful political comedyFriday, 09 February 2018
“I don't want to talk about Donald Trump,” Andrew Maxwell tells us as he comes on stage at the beginning of Showtime, because no matter what comics make up about the US President, he then goes and does something more weirdly comic, more comically... Read more... |
Chris Rock, SSE Wembley Arena review - energetic and fast-moving performanceMonday, 29 January 2018
Chris Rock, another fine alumnus of the comedy factory known as Saturday Night Live, rarely comes to these shores, so his short arena tour was welcome. He last visited the UK 10 years ago as he had been busy with, among other things, presenting the... Read more... |
Leicester Comedy Festival Gala Preview Show - going from strength to strengthMonday, 15 January 2018
In the early 1990s, a group of students at Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) staged an end-of-year comedy project. Three of them – Claire Walker, Abi Palmer and Geoff Rowe – developed the idea into what in 1994 became the first... Read more... |
