Chris McCausland: ‘Yonks!’ review – mischievous Strictly winner goes back to the day job

Waterside theatre, AylesburyThe TV star’s tour covers childhood delinquency, celebrity encounters and a rectal examination – without ever getting especially personal‘Twenty one years of hard graft on the comedy scene, to now be best known for dancing.”…

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Panti Bliss: ‘The gays will never forgive me for that’

Irish drag performer and LGBTQ+ activist Rory O’Neill AKA Panti Bliss on Beyoncé, why Australia is so annoying about coffee, and pestering Madonna for a liftWhat’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?There’s a saying that I first heard said…

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Rob Copland on his head-banging, daredevil comedy: ‘I want it to feel like a punk rock show’

Featuring moshpits and acrobatics, the comic’s wildly physical brand of standup leaves audiences buzzing for hours. Now he’s taking his Edinburgh award-winning set on tour – if he can get through it without serious injuryComedian Rob Copland is s…

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Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible is Going to Happen review – hilarity and heartbreak

Arts Centre Melbourne, then Sydney and AdelaideFrom the producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, this brilliantly ambiguous one-man show poses the question: does standup comedy need to be true?The cliche of the sad clown – the jester who uses laughs to …

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Tony Slattery: the generous improv great whose successes masked his suffering

He was a wonderful team player in Whose Line Is It Anyway? and affection for him grew when he disclosed the severe pain and distress he was trying keep at bay• Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65• Tony Slattery: a life in picturesImprovisation has seld…

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‘King of the musicools!’ Inside the outrageous musical send-up of Andrew Lloyd Webber

It’s had hit runs in Edinburgh and Soho – and was the Guardian’s funniest show of 2024. Now it’s blazing into the West End. Comedy duo Flo & Joan (who were both in Joseph at school) reveal all about One Man MusicalOne Man Musical was launched under…

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Russell Howard looks back: ‘Am I peculiar? You’d struggle to find anyone who does standup who isn’t a bit weird’

The comedian on mining his very large family for material, avoiding the celebrity circus, and being an unashamed standup fanboyBorn in Bath in 1980, Russell Howard is one of the UK’s most successful comedians. He started his career on the standup circu…

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Titanique review – camp musical sails into silliness with Céline Dion onboard

Criterion theatre, LondonIt goes on and on but this madcap spoof of the blockbuster film has a sparkling cast, including Lauren Drew as Dion and Layton Williams as the icebergImagine James Cameron’s 1997 disaster film romance Titanic as a camp musical …

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Louise Young: ‘Some hecklers are just excited to be out of the house’

The comic on mining her wild life for material and her disastrous early gigs shouting punchlines over Sky Sports in a pubWhy did you start doing comedy?I wanted to write funny material, and the only real way into it seemed to be getting on a stage. Wel…

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Samuel Barnett: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

The English actor shares what tickles his funny bone, from a bracing bagpipes outtake to a foolproof moment of awkward familial physical interactionMore summer essentialsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHi Guardian Australia. …

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