Afghanistan Is Not Funny: the comedian transformed by the war on terror

Henry Naylor travelled to Afghanistan in 2003 to research his fringe farce Finding Bin Laden. His sobering new show takes stock of the country’s fate sinceWas Henry Naylor’s agent right when he warned the writer and comic, at the height of the “war on …

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Ignacio Lopez: ‘I’m trying to figure out how to most effectively wind up the English’

The Spanish-Welsh comedian on cut-throat critics, dying on stage in the dark and why telling thousands of people to shut up was a career highWhat drew you to standup comedy?In my family’s bar in Spain we had satellite TV for the football and I used to …

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Cult standup John Kearns: ‘You might not like my show for 20 minutes, but you’ll leave happy!’

The self-deprecating star has won two Edinburgh awards but remains a niche concern. Will a recent breakout turn on Taskmaster and a huge nationwide tour bring his absurdist comedy to the mainstream?In 2014 John Kearns became the first – and thus far th…

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Brodi Snook: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

The comedian spends too much time on the internet, but this means she can recommend the likes of Susie Dent, an Instagram dedicated to nihilism and Wanda SykesGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailLike any well-put-together human being, I spend a …

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Catherine Cohen: Come for Me review – a hilarious social-mediated psyche set loose

Komedia, BrightonOutrageous comedy, self-glamorising songs and self-ironic ridiculousness in abundance from a comic with a sharp sense of her own daftnessYou mellow with age, they say. So whither, now she’s 31, the comedy of Catherine Cohen? When Cohen…

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Tig Notaro: ‘Can I recall a bad gig? The first two years of my career’

The US comedian on heckling, why she gravitates towards silly people and the best and worst advice she’s ever been givenWho did you look up to when you started out?In the open mic comedy scene I was coming up in, I loved my friends Maria Bamford, Zach …

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Welcome Home review – madcap sci-fi adventure spins out of control

Soho theatre, LondonThis intergalactic show about sexuality and religious homophobia boasts a charismatic star in Willy Hudson but tips into chaosWilly Hudson’s “queer sci-fi epic” has an interstellar theme and rocket-fuelled energy, even if it ultimat…

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Patti Harrison review – mischievous and wildly funny standup

Soho theatre, LondonThe Ohio comic takes us on her narcissistic ‘therapy journey’ including ridiculous songs, played with a wickedly straight bat Patti Harrison’s last London show, she tells us with concern, upset some audiences. So tonight she comes a…

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Spitting Image stages revival – and this time the puppets are on a mission

Live theatre version of 1980s TV satire features Tom Cruise and other showbiz stars trying to save ‘broken Britain’Writing a political satire for the stage in today’s tumultuous times is no easy task, as the writers of the new Spitting Image Live were …

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Spitting Image stages revival – and this time the puppets are on a mission

Live theatre version of 1980s TV satire features Tom Cruise and other showbiz stars trying to save ‘broken Britain’Writing a political satire for the stage in today’s tumultuous times is no easy task, as the writers of the new Spitting Image Live were …

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