The comic has come blazing out of lockdown fearless and on full throttle, buying a motorbike for her 50th birthday and turning the menopause – along with an incident in a park – into comedy gold‘I must tell you how old I’m going to be when I die,” says…
Continue ReadingMilton Keynes theatreGood albeit digressive gags keep the routines endearingly amusing in the comic’s new touring show Regional Trinket“I hate being camp,” says Alan Carr, which would be surprising if true – his signature style having secured TV ubiqui…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonKingsman spoofs the look-at-me egotism that sometimes animates solo shows, as she heaps meta layer upon layer in a tour de forceIt seems like five minutes ago that Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag was show-of-the-moment at this venue….
Continue ReadingStandups including Suzi Ruffell, Paul Sinha and Lee Peart reveal how hecklers, bookers and ‘the gay slot’ have affected their appearances in the spotlightThe comedian Stephen Bailey was hosting an Instagram Live earlier this year when he got a message …
Continue ReadingThe award-winning standup is known for his exuberance, but, as he writes in his memoir, he has had to dodge snobbery throughout his career. He discusses family, fame and being funnyRob Beckett is one of those comedians without whom many TV formats woul…
Continue ReadingHammersmith Apollo, LondonGilligan’s cartoonish parade of misunderstandings and manipulations have perspective and heartWhen you get rich and famous for your relatable comedy, how do you stay relatable? It’s a perennial problem, but Mo Gilligan dodges …
Continue ReadingThe comedian, 62, on growing up shy in Middlesbrough, losing his dad, meeting Vic Reeves, and the deep contentment of fishingI was quite a shy boy. Growing up in Middlesbrough, I felt a bit of an outsider. My three elder brothers are funny and boistero…
Continue ReadingThe comedian and her dad recreate a childhood photo and talk about early days in India, agoraphobia and swapping banking for comedy Born in New Delhi in 1969, Sindhu Vee spent her childhood in India and the Philippines, before throwing herself into aca…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonAmrou Al-Kadhi’s drag alter ego, poised between self-absorption and self-irony, delivers a tart, funny and swaggering tale“Too gay for Iraq, too Iraq for gay.” That’s Amrou Al-Kadhi’s predicament, and From Qur’an to Queen recounts t…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonMcGrath is smart and sardonic about the after-effects of British imperialism in Africa – even if she’s just skimming the surfaceThe Berlin Conference of 1884, the legacy of Hugh Trevor-Roper and the religious practices of Kenya’s Wa…
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