On my radar: Rosie Holt’s cultural highlights

The satirist on her favourite superhero show, her go-to gym motivation music, and why she loves Tim KeyComedian Rosie Holt came to prominence during lockdown with her online political parodies of Conservative MPs. She grew up in Somerset and trained at…

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Top 10 funny comic books | Luke Healy

From the madness of North Korea to memoirs of modern dating and caring for elderly parents, these books show how the best graphic artists can get a laugh out of almost anythingComics have their roots in comedy – the evidence is in the name. From early …

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‘Comedy is a powerful recruitment tool’: how the US rightwing use laughs for vast influence

Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx spent months researching rightwing comedy and found that whether or not you’re laughing, you can’t ignore its powerIn January, Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum: it’s me or Joe Rogan. The streaming giant picked Rogan, …

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‘Comedy is a powerful recruitment tool’: how the US rightwing use laughs for vast influence

Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx spent months researching rightwing comedy and found that whether or not you’re laughing, you can’t ignore its powerIn January, Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum: it’s me or Joe Rogan. The streaming giant picked Rogan, …

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Hannah Gadsby on her autism diagnosis: ‘I’ve always been plagued by a sense that I was a little out of whack’

Even as a child, the comedian knew her brain was atypical. But it was only in her late 20s that her anxiety, depression and meltdowns finally made senseYou don’t have to be an expert to know that people with autism don’t get to speak about their own ex…

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From hilarity to hardback: the comedy shows that became books

Haley McGee, James McNicholas and Mo Gilligan talk about the tricky business of turning stage performances into a reading experienceWhen developing her solo show The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale, theatre-maker Haley McGee was struggling for an ending. “A fri…

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Henry Normal: ‘Comedy’s like sugar. It makes things better but I wouldn’t eat it on its own’

The producer whose TV hits include The Royle Family and Gavin and Stacey on finding the poignancy in life’s little moments, and heading back to the comedy circuit with his poetryComedians become actors, pop stars become TV presenters … we’re used to ar…

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Henry Normal: ‘Comedy’s like sugar. It makes things better but I wouldn’t eat it on its own’

The producer whose TV hits include The Royle Family and Gavin and Stacey on finding the poignancy in life’s little moments, and heading back to the comedy circuit with his poetryComedians become actors, pop stars become TV presenters … we’re used to ar…

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‘I was pretty crushed’: Mitch Benn wrote two novels – then stopped. What happened?

The standup won a book deal after an idle tweet. Two books later, his love for publishing was over. He talks about why he’s persisting with the third book in his scifi trilogyA decade ago, a bored tweet landed standup comedian and singer Mitch Benn a b…

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‘I feel joy’: how Bisha K Ali went from struggling standup to Marvel maestro

She was living on beans. Now she’s in LA writing Ms Marvel, the eagerly awaited TV series starring MCU’s first Muslim superhero. The writer talks about joyriding premiers and how to silence trollsBefore she became a Marvel screenwriter, Bisha K Ali was…

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