Larry Dean review – cheeky-chappy persona begins to fray

Monkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghDean’s great skill is to make the audience feel like intimate confidantes, but sometimes his impatience to get to the next laugh weakens the shtickIt’s a sign of the times that even the sunniest standups are now deliverin…

Continue Reading

Sam Campbell review – loopiness underpinned by sharp observations

Monkey Barrel, EdinburghThe Australian comic takes incongruity to uncommon lengths – and this year he’s recalibrated his show towards warmth“My mind is a prison full of crazy ideas. And I think there’s going to be a jailbreak!” That’s Sam Campbell: fre…

Continue Reading

Oliver Coleman: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

In between performances at Edinburgh Fringe, the Australian comedian has assembled a list of fun clips, including the Armando Iannucci Shows and a parody of Vogue’s 73 QuestionsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe future is bright for online …

Continue Reading

A love rat, a shelf-stacker and a Fleabag spoof: Edinburgh comedy awards shortlist announced

From Liz Kingsman’s ‘messy woman’ send-up to Seann Walsh’s memories of his off-screen Strictly kiss, the nine-strong shortlist is a triumph for diversity though not without glaring omissionsThe nominations have been announced for the first Edinburgh Co…

Continue Reading

Blues, Jews and Ukrainian ballet: the best theatre, dance and comedy of autumn 2022

Samira Wiley makes her UK stage debut, there’s an urgent counter to antisemitism, plus a fourth King James, refugee dancers and comedic returns Continue reading…

Continue Reading

‘Am I going to get shot?’ Comedy’s wild pranksters on their most daring stunts

They are the shock troops of comedy, pranksters who risk arrest and worse to ridicule the powerful. As two acclaimed practitioners – including the man who threw Nazi golfballs at Trump – hit Edinburgh, they relive their greatest scrapesIt was the polit…

Continue Reading

Tim Vine: ‘It was such a bad gig, I went off stage and came back as Vim Tine’

The king of one-liners on his unlikely comedy hero, preshow prayers and the best heckle he’s ever gotHow did you get into comedy? I spotted an advert in the Stage newspaper advertising a new act competition at the Comedy Cafe in London. Twelve acts did…

Continue Reading

Pasta one-liner wins best joke award at Edinburgh festival fringe

West Midlands comedian Masai Graham, who works as a part-time care worker, wins title for second time A standup comedian who works part-time as a care worker on minimum wage has topped a poll of the funniest jokes at the Edinburgh festival fringe for t…

Continue Reading

Colin Hoult review – a beloved character bids farewell

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghHoult hangs up the dress and luvvie cadences of his fringe-staple alter ego Anna Mann in a camp, silly yet surprisingly emotional showWhen a character comic bids farewell to their character, is it a death – or a rebirth? F…

Continue Reading

Sami Abu Wardeh review – a clown in character-comic’s clothing

Underbelly, EdinburghOutlandish physical antics and a spontaneous stage presence keep Wardeh’s audience laughing as he clowns through a cast of oddball charactersClown is in vogue again, coming at us wide-eyed wherever you look on the fringe – at Frank…

Continue Reading