Anna Ptaszynski: ‘I dreamed I served a baby for lunch’

The QI elf and No Such Thing As a Fish team member on the things that make her laugh the mostHarry and Paul’s Question Time sketch springs to mind. Their panel show sketch would also be hilarious if I didn’t work on a panel show and thus find it very o…

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Trixie Mattel review – glittering, belittling comedy from Drag Race star

O2 Academy, Newcastle Ill-judged jokes and a lack of wit and grit make for a tedious set from one of the queens on RuPaul’s seriesIn an interview with Rolling Stone, drag queen Trixie Mattel said she was taken aback by the positive response to her uniq…

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I can handle my critics – apart from the nasty voice in my head | Romesh Ranganathan

I have always had an ‘inner bastard’, but doing standup has made it worseAs a comedian, you are often subject to criticism: partly because comedy is so subjective and partly because social media means that any idiot with an internet connection has a di…

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Rob Auton: ‘My haircut got comments like – Doth thou playeth the lute, sire?’

The polymath standup, writer and painter on the things that make him laugh the mostBrian Gittins doing his show on the top deck of a bus in Edinburgh. Continue reading…

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Ben Target review – kooky comic wants to send you to sleep

Battersea Arts Centre, LondonTarget’s absurdist show Splosh! – about swimming and his childhood in Houston – cocks a quiet snook at machismoIt’s my dream with this show, says Ben Target, “to send someone in this room – myself excluded – to sleep”. Splo…

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Russell Kane: The Fast and the Curious review – a comedy whirlwind

Wyvern theatre, SwindonCartoonish characters and an operatic vomiting routine animate conventional observations about Brits abroad, marriage and moving to the provinces A “fast, mental, neurotic bastard” is how Russell Kane describes himself – and ther…

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Lee Ridley, Lost Voice Guy: ‘It’s quite ironic if I’m the voice of the disabled’

The Britain’s Got Talent winner, who has cerebral palsy and uses a voice box in his standup act, talks about ditching his day job – and the thorny issue of being inspiringIn April 2015, Lee Ridley wrote an email to his parents and sister. “Hi family, I…

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‘Bill Hicks was a bit misogynist’ – young comics reassess the standup legend

He was the Kurt Cobain of comedy, railing against advertising, politicians, the war on drugs, even waffle waitresses. What do the new generation make of the chain-smoking motormouth?Comedy Central, Channel 4, Rolling Stone: whenever there’s a poll of t…

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An improv comedy workshop for inclusion

Jess Kelley-Madera, an independent improv comedy coach, used to perform at the Reckless Theater in New York City until the joint closed when its founder acknowledged his pattern of inappropriate behavior. Kelley-Madera has studied at the UCB and curren…

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