standup comedy
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... 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,... 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... 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... 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... 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... Read more... |
Catherine Cohen, Brighton Komedia review - songs and New York sassThursday, 09 February 2023
Catherine Cohen made quite an impact at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe, where she won best newcomer in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for The Twist? She's Gorgeous. Global events have delayed her follow-up and a UK debut tour, but here it is, and Come For... Read more... |
Lucy Porter, Cambridge Junction review - making light of a midlife crisisMonday, 23 January 2023
A lot has been happening in Lucy Porter’s life since she last toured. The pandemic we all know about, so she doesn’t detain us to recount her lockdown woes; they get merely tangential mentions in Wake Up Call as she talks about more recent events... Read more... |
Alex Edelman, Menier Chocolate Factory review - London run for unmissable off-Broadway hitSaturday, 21 January 2023
At one point in this brilliantly constructed and performed set, Alex Edelman ponders on the catchment area for his comedy and figures it might be the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Nah: this is comedy that can talk to anybody with a brain. ... Read more... |
Best of 2022: ComedyFriday, 30 December 2022
In 2022 we were finally able to welcome back the first “proper” Edinburgh Fringe since 2019. While I was disappointed that a few established comics – they know who they are – hadn't used the enforced layoff from live comedy to, you know, write new... Read more... |
10 Questions for comedian Alex EdelmanMonday, 19 December 2022
US comic Alex Edelman first came to the attention of British audiences in 2014, when he was named best newcomer in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for his show Millennial, in which, said one critic, “he regales us with tales of smart-arsery and backchat... Read more... |
Tom Ward, Brighton Komedia review - offbeat observational gagsMonday, 12 December 2022
Tom Ward does his audience research at the top of the show, asking fairly mundane questions about their ages and where they live before he poses an unexpectedly pointed “Who is in an open relationship?” It's the beat before “They're aware of...”... Read more... |
