standup comedy
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... |
Best of 2017: ComedyThursday, 28 December 2017
The Edinburgh Fringe is usually the high point of the year for comedy, but in truth it wasn't a solid five-star year – although there were some stand-out performers. And if the test of good comedy is the shows that stay with you, and which you want... Read more... |
Margaret Cho, Hen & Chickens Bristol review - sex and drugs, no holds barredThursday, 30 November 2017
Margaret Cho takes no prisoners: if you don’t like good honest filth or feel uncomfortable around matters of feminism, sex and race, then this Korean-American comic is not for you. Cho was voted among the top 50 comics of all time by Rolling Stone... Read more... |
John Bishop, O2 review - Everyman comedy with a hint of subversionMonday, 06 November 2017
John Bishop was last on tour three years ago and he tells us that this show, Winging It, was inspired by two things that happened in the intervening period. Not the obvious Brexit (although it does make an appearance), but in that time he has passed... Read more... |
Kerry Godliman, Touring review - affable and down-to-earth humourFriday, 20 October 2017
Kerry Godliman is such an affable and down-to-earth onstage presence that when she talks about whether she should move now that her area has upped and come – you can tell by the local baker making sourdough loaves – you think how much her neighbours... Read more... |
