‘Comedy is a powerful recruitment tool’: how the US rightwing use laughs for vast influence

Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx spent months researching rightwing comedy and found that whether or not you’re laughing, you can’t ignore its powerIn January, Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum: it’s me or Joe Rogan. The streaming giant picked Rogan, …

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Russell Kane: ‘A bad gig? The great dane that came up on to the stage’

The standup on courgette puns, comedy audiences and why John Kennedy Toole is his comedy heroWhat did you spend lockdown doing? I leaped straight into creating standup video rants which I call “Kaneings”. This kept me sane and felt almost like doing st…

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Comedian Chloe Petts: ‘I thought I’d resolved all of this stuff about masculinity’

The standup talks about touring with Ed Gamble, how comics enjoy the life of a retiree and the importance of exploring gender and its presentation“I’m a radical feminist and queer,” says Chloe Petts. “But also a top football lad who wants to go to the …

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‘Will Boris drive a tuk-tuk this time?’ … a comedian relives Johnson’s last hilarious India visit

In 2012, he gurned his way around Mumbai on a tiny bike, baffling everyone except the Indian elite, who adore a posh, bumbling Brit. Could this new visit see the PM being compared to Beyoncé?If you Google Boris Johnson while online in India, a brillian…

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‘Forgotten how to behave’: comics say audiences more abusive post-lockdown

Comedians such as Nish Kumar say they have noticed a change since crowds have returned to clubsIt was halfway through a show in Shrewsbury when Nish Kumar noticed an audience member being disruptive. It became so bad that he asked the man to leave, and…

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Anarchic delight in the UK’s real north-west | Brief letters

LipService Theatre | Channel 4’s mature audience | British geography | Flamin’ Nora lives onThe rural touring scene in the Highlands in the late 1980s was greatly strengthened by the arrival of Maggie Fox (Obituary, 8 April) and Sue Ryding. As LipServi…

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‘Everyone has one cancellation in them’: standup Joanne McNally on her unfiltered comedy

From career doldrums to fending off pantless stage invaders, the straight-talking Irish comic’s journey to becoming a must-see act has been a wild rideAt a recent gig, an audience member was so taken with Joanne McNally’s standup that she tried to get …

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Floyd Alexander-Hunt: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

The comedian and former face of Tip Top bread in New Zealand shares her favourite videos, including an orchestral mishap and Obama’s ‘anger management translator’Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email and listen to our podcast!I have an all or not…

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Sophie Duker: ‘You have to laugh at yourself – you’ll never be in the right for long’

Having defeated impostor syndrome, the standup is taking on Taskmaster and returning to the Edinburgh fringe with ‘sexy and chaotic’ new show HagSophie Duker’s just shared a Taskmaster secret: every contestant has to have two identical versions of thei…

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Sophie Duker: ‘You have to laugh at yourself – you’ll never be in the right for long’

Having defeated impostor syndrome, the standup is taking on Taskmaster and returning to the Edinburgh fringe with ‘sexy and chaotic’ new show HagSophie Duker’s just shared a Taskmaster secret: every contestant has to have two identical versions of thei…

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