Komedia, BrightonThe comic’s swaggering take on religion is ebullient before a handbrake-turn brings emotional candour tooLuisa Omielan’s last show, Politics for Bitches, ostensibly about public affairs, devolved into a personal tale of her mother’s de…
Continue ReadingGet Off! was set up by Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Nina Gilligan in order to create safer workplaces within little-regulated industryAn organisation has been established to tackle sexual harassment in the UK comedy industry. Get Off! Live Comedy was laun…
Continue ReadingLondon PalladiumThe clubbable comic casts himself as master of ceremonies in a self-effacing musical story of his life – with celeb mimicry‘I’ve done so many strange things in my career,” says Rob Brydon – not the least of which is journeying from the …
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe standup’s rich and playful show about the menopause combines ingenious silliness with campaigning ferocityA handful of times in the opening stages of Bridget Christie’s new show, she stumbles over or forgets her lines. The criti…
Continue ReadingAbove the Stag, LondonThe gags come thick and fast in this bawdy adult panto, which is set in a funeral parlour and channels Joe OrtonWho loves Dick? It’s hard not to in the bawdy adult panto from Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper. Dick Whittington: A Ne…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe American standup delivers so-bad-they’re-good music parodies and sends up millennial entitlement in a bright UK debutBest known in the UK for her scene-stealing turn in BBC sitcom Shrill, Patti Harrison is prominent among a gene…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe twisty satirist considers mental health, white privilege and youth with vividly acted, wittily phrased jokesComedy audiences, we’re told, are too sensitive these days. Not so, says Alfie Brown: they’re righteous, which isn’t the…
Continue ReadingSpeech is out. Daft captions are in. Nearly everyone is beautiful. And one guy amassed 11m followers while living in emergency accommodation with his mum. Our critic samples TikTok comedyI’m used to consuming jokes and sketches as part of shows, as com…
Continue ReadingSpeech is out. Daft captions are in. Nearly everyone is beautiful. And one guy amassed 11m followers while living in emergency accommodation with his mum. Our critic samples TikTok comedyI’m used to consuming jokes and sketches as part of shows, as com…
Continue ReadingThe Yorkshire cricket race row shows people are still claiming that abuse is just acceptable joshing. It isn’t“I like your handbag!” I say.“It was only a pound, from the pound shop,” she says.Shazia Mirza is a comedian. Her latest show, Coconut, is on …
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