Assembly Hall theatre, Tunbridge Wells Heartfelt two-act show revels in the manic, painful and sometimes amusing fallout of recovering from alcoholismHas the advent of trauma-comedy been a boon to standup, broadening its emotional range? Or has it, as …
Continue ReadingOff the heels of publishing a memoir, the star of Taskmaster and Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable discusses unhappy readers, deleting Twitter, and outing Russell Brand“Can you say I wafted in looking stunning?” asks Lou Sanders, dissolving into laughter befo…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe comedian launches her campaign to become a national treasure with a show that has charm, smut, irony and laughs in equal measureRosie Jones was going to write a gag-packed show, she tells us – but then she got too busy. Delivere…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe standup’s loud and proud show about female self-sufficiency presents her as an attention-hogging misfit parading her indignities for our delightAged 32, Helen Bauer has never had a boyfriend and her “empath” friends think they k…
Continue ReadingDespite #MeToo and greater awareness, women are still having to protect each other from threatening men and still paying the price for speaking outAs the investigation into Russell Brand’s treatment of women was published last weekend – allegations tha…
Continue ReadingMany women working in industry say allegations only scratch the surface of its culture of misogyny“When I was 18 I had an incident with a powerful male comedian in his 30s,” says Lucy (name changed), a female comic in her early 30s. “It was really harr…
Continue ReadingThe standup on her comedy heroes, preshow jitters and the parenting double standards for male and female comediansHow did you get into comedy?I was on maternity leave from teaching, at home with a newborn and a two-year-old, and felt like I was going a…
Continue ReadingWyndham’s theatre, LondonWhere other midlife male standups splash in the shallows of domesticity, dinner parties and feeling tired, Birbiglia dives right into family, death and the meaning of lifeThere’s no shortage of standup on the depredations of mi…
Continue ReadingHackney Empire, LondonAs the dust settles on his recent tabloid notoriety, Walsh contrasts the domestic landscape of maturity with his wild youthWe had a fun night, says Seann Walsh – “but not as fun as if I hadn’t turned up”. The joke is that Walsh – …
Continue ReadingThe comedian and author on his new musical about Twiggy, remembering Rik Mayall, and why he’d like to have a word with Julian FellowesWhile studying drama at the University Of Manchester, Ben Elton met Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. They became part …
Continue Reading