The comedian’s show Collaborator involves 160 audience members getting speaking parts – and Kitson has anticipated every possible question, anxiety or misstepWhat happens when an audience participation-phobe makes a show all about audience participatio…
Continue ReadingThe comedian’s show Collaborator involves 160 audience members getting speaking parts – and Kitson has anticipated every possible question, anxiety or misstepWhat happens when an audience participation-phobe makes a show all about audience participatio…
Continue ReadingChartreuse de Villeneuve, AvignonThere is gallows humour and unzipped ribaldry as a mischievous group share stories that are joyful, tender and sometimes eye-wateringWarning! The people in this show are likely to die at any moment, we are told. Don’t b…
Continue ReadingKyle Gass’s ill-judged Donald Trump assassination jibe has put Tenacious D on ice. Will he be for ever cancelled, or bounce back like Billy Connolly and Jo Brand?On the edge. Walking a tightrope. When we admire comedy for its outspokenness, we make it …
Continue ReadingThe comic on her standup heroes, using depression as an inspiration for laughter and stereotypes about northernersHow did you get into comedy?I’d always wanted to do it but was way too self-conscious. Then when I was very depressed, staying on my frien…
Continue ReadingFashion and music from the 90s are with us again – not to mention a Labour landslide. Next month’s Edinburgh fringe will capture the moodAs Labour swept to a landslide win on 4 July to the sound of D:Ream and chants of “Football’s Coming Home” echoing …
Continue ReadingResearchers say standups’ contribution is unsung, and hope findings will help to bolster the industry’s credibilityThe live comedy industry in the UK contributes more than £1bn to the economy every year, according to a study by Brunel University London…
Continue ReadingTestosterone-soaked clowning show Furiozo: Man Looking for Trouble spikes fun with fear – but the hooligan’s knife-edge moments of vulnerability lead us somewhere differentClowning is about vulnerability. Hyper-masculinity is about invulnerability. Wha…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonLenoir’s mischievous charm is infectious, and she plays with skill on the heartstrings and funny bonesClowning may be silly, but it is seldom, these days, insubstantial. Paulina Lenoir is performing Puella Eterna as part of the Lond…
Continue ReadingAs a veteran of the festival, Richard Gadd captures the mix of heady promise and bleak reality that awaits another influx of acts this summerNothing prepares you for performing at the Edinburgh festival fringe. It’s the largest arts festival in the wor…
Continue Reading