‘I’m the perfect person to show life at rock bottom’ – comic Jayde Adams becomes the life guru next door

The comedian’s new podcast plunders neighbourhood messageboards for fun, feuds, gossip and second-hand goldfish. She explains all – and looks ahead to her Edinburgh show, a support group for men in crisisJayde Adams is flying the flag for that most mal…

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Josh Thomas on autism, his podcast and being honest to a fault: ‘Why am I telling you this now?’

The comedian and showrunner’s new podcast, How To Be Gay, marries interviews with personal stories. But he saved his ‘last secret’ for usGet our weekend culture and lifestyle email and listen to our podcastIn an episode of Josh Thomas’s new podcast, Ho…

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The Guilty Feminist Live review – serious comedy with Millie Bobby Brown

Kings Place, LondonThe Stranger Things actor discusses her experiences on male-dominated sets, alongside hosts Susan Wokoma and Deborah Frances-White’s standup comedySince its first episode in 2015, The Guilty Feminist podcast has explored topics such …

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Brian & Roger: A Highly Offensive Play review – podcast duo’s OTT exploits

Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonThe misadventures of a hapless hero led astray by his false friend are funny but don’t quite fill three dimensionsThere was a setback last month for this play inspired by a hit podcast when co-writer and performer Harry …

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Sound Heap review – one podcast to spoof them all

Available onlineThe age of peak podcast meets its match in John-Luke Roberts and his procession of hilariously titled imaginary showsIn 2018, John-Luke Roberts’s Edinburgh show consisted entirely of names of hitherto unheard-of Spice Girls. He’s up to …

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The History of Sketch Comedy review – Keegan-Michael Key’s love letter to laughter

Podcast The comic actor’s exuberant 10-part history unpicks the nuts-and-bolts of what makes sketches funny, from overlooked past acts to SNL, and British favourites including the Two Ronnies“The sexy dangerous first cousin of standup,” Keegan-Michael …

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From standup to stanzas: Frank Skinner’s terrific guide to poetry

The comedian’s new podcast is bursting with enthusiasm for poems. If standup forces him to be funny, here he forces himself to be true‘Phwooar – Ginsy Ginsy Ginsy, I love you so much!” You won’t find that in FR Leavis. The “Ginsy” in question is beat p…

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Corona comedy: Facebook cabaret, gamer gags and a WhatsApp panel show

From Iain Stirling’s Fifa banter to Jayde Adams live from her lounge, comedians isolated by the lockdown are reaching audiences onlineHottest front-room seats: theatre and dance to watchThe best arts and entertainment during isolationFor Scottish comed…

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Wild oversharing comic Phoebe Robinson: ‘I do dumb things. That’s who I am!’

Is the fringe ready for the brash standup who used to get paid in nachos and chicken wings? We meet one half of 2 Dope Queens as she fills her shoes with sweatWhat does Phoebe Robinson want to see when she arrives at the Edinburgh fringe? “Just tons of…

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Griefcast’s Cariad Lloyd: ‘Laughter? It’s about survival. It’s about living’

After her standup success and podcast about death, the comic’s next step was obvious: starring in a cancer-ward romcom

It wasn’t, I assume, the toughest decision in the history of casting. Who you gonna call, Finborough theatre, to star in your new play about a comedian and improviser grieving her dead sister and tending to her dying mum? A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (yup, that’s the title) could have been written for Cariad Lloyd: comic, improviser and creator of Griefcast, the award-winning podcast about death. Talk about typecasting. Getting to grips with the role of Karla was hard, says Lloyd, “because I had to keep reminding myself, OK, this is where she’s not me.”

In fact, the play is a 2016 off-Broadway success, whose writer, Halley Feiffer, is now working on a new Jim Carrey sitcom. Its maiden UK production coaxed Lloyd back to theatre after years in comedy, improv and, latterly, parenting. “I’d wanted to do a play again for ages,” she tells me over tea on the afternoon of Funny Thing’s opening night. “But initially, because of the baby” – her daughter is 22 months old – “I wanted to say no. Then I read the script and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s really funny. It was annoying, but the part was just really funny.”

A Funny Thing Happened… is at the Finborough theatre, London, until 27 October.

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