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Reginald D Hunter: ‘Getting married, having kids is one ideal. But it’s not my ideal’

April 21, 2017TheGuardian

The American comedian explains how his relationship with his mother affected his life and how you have to leave your home to make sense of it

I’m the fourth funniest person in my family, but No 1 for confidence. For years, Daddy was the funniest, but at 97 his memory is a bit off. I’m the youngest of nine children, although my eldest sister died in 1949 and I had another who died six years ago. My brothers and sisters are so much older than me that they were more like parents than siblings, especially my sisters. They shaped me. They all pitched in to fund my education and decided what experiences I would have, how I would spend my summers.

I grew up in a sleepy place called Albany in Georgia. As a teenager, I played basketball and baseball. I liked Saturday Night Live, chess and girls. My desire to act came from years of watching television. I was a 1970s child and grew up watching Star Trek, The Six Million Dollar Man and Man from Atlantis. By the time I was 18, I was a good mimic.

The 10 best things to do this week: Machynlleth festival, Arca and Mindhorn

April 21, 2017TheGuardian

Britain’s best standups hit the Welsh town, the Venezuelan producer plays London and Julian Barratt stars as a washed-up former TV cop

From Cradle to Stage
Mum’s the word! Literally, actually, as Foo Fighter Dave Grohl’s mother, Virginia, has gone around the world to interview mothers about their famous offspring, from Pharrell Williams’s ma Carolyn to Amy Winehouse’s mummy Janis for a new book. It’s out on 25 April.
From Cradle to Stage by Virginia Hanlon Grohl is published by Coronet, £20

Joel Dommett review – I’m a Celebrity star’s goofy comedy gets big laughs

April 20, 2017TheGuardian

South Hill Park, Bracknell
Skype sex and confetti cannons are harnessed to full effect by a likable performer who breathes new life into a time-honoured persona

‘Who here saw me on I’m a Celebrity? Who’s seen my penis?” Joel Dommett’s fame is of a very modern variety, the 31-year-old having been propelled into the slightly-bigger-league of comedians by reality TV and an online sex tape. The latter is mined for laughs in this extended touring version of Dommett’s 2016 Edinburgh set – infectiously stoopid entertainment with big payoffs, loosely exploring lies, truth and our host’s accident-prone love life. When it cracks on (in the second half, mostly) it proves Dommett to be no mere gatecrasher in comedy’s upper firmament, but perfectly at home.

The show’s weaker moments come before the interval, and stem, I suspect, from the task of padding out 55 Edinburgh minutes into a tour-friendly two hours. There’s some fine material in act one, but it is attenuated by lots of filler, as Dommett compulsively comments on his own jokes, mannerisms and the audience’s every titter. With a persona built on exaggerating his immaturity and gormlessness, it’s a risky business to perform a first half so thinly stuffed with good jokes – the risk being that we start to think the pretty-boy air-headedness isn’t just an act.

Joel Dommett review – I’m a Celebrity star’s goofy comedy gets big laughs

April 20, 2017TheGuardian

South Hill Park, Bracknell
Skype sex and confetti cannons are harnessed to full effect by a likable performer who breathes new life into a time-honoured persona

‘Who here saw me on I’m a Celebrity? Who’s seen my penis?” Joel Dommett’s fame is of a very modern variety, the 31-year-old having been propelled into the slightly-bigger-league of comedians by reality TV and an online sex tape. The latter is mined for laughs in this extended touring version of Dommett’s 2016 Edinburgh set – infectiously stoopid entertainment with big payoffs, loosely exploring lies, truth and our host’s accident-prone love life. When it cracks on (in the second half, mostly) it proves Dommett to be no mere gatecrasher in comedy’s upper firmament, but perfectly at home.

The show’s weaker moments come before the interval, and stem, I suspect, from the task of padding out 55 Edinburgh minutes into a tour-friendly two hours. There’s some fine material in act one, but it is attenuated by lots of filler, as Dommett compulsively comments on his own jokes, mannerisms and the audience’s every titter. With a persona built on exaggerating his immaturity and gormlessness, it’s a risky business to perform a first half so thinly stuffed with good jokes – the risk being that we start to think the pretty-boy air-headedness isn’t just an act.

Why I love… Dave Chappelle

April 15, 2017TheGuardian

I will never not laugh at his bit on chicken and racism

Back when easy streaming was a twinkle in some young executive’s eye, some TV was just… unavailable. If you were desperate to watch that US TV show, you could try the dodgy VHS guy down the market (ahem). So for a long time, I just heard about US comedian Dave Chappelle’s legendary show. When I finally got to watch, on a grainy DVD copy, I laughed so hard I cried.

Dave Chappelle, 43, moved to New York as a teen and was soon on stage at the world famous Apollo theatre. By 19, he was cast as Ahchoo in the spoof Robin Hood: Men In Tights. The 90s were good to him (more film and TV work, and his first standup special) but it was the 2000s that cemented his legacy: he co-created Chappelle’s Show in 2003, influencing a new generation of TV comedians in the process. The sketches and characters are iconic now (professional hater Silky Johnson and Chappelle as Prince are my favourites) and still relevant. His standup style is warmly sly and anecdotal: he’s your best friend but, like, 2,000 times funnier. I will never not laugh at his bit on chicken and racism, or applaud his incredibly nuanced “how old is 15, really?” bit on how black kids are perceived.

Danny Baker: ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000 nearly killed me’

April 14, 2017TheGuardian

From crisps to his co-host Danny Kelly, the long-serving radio personality reveals the things that make him laugh the most

Not exactly standup, but Monty Python at Drury Lane in 1974. I had to leave my seat to compose myself – I genuinely thought I might die.

The 10 best things to do this week: from Jude Law’s new play to Rookie’s podcast

April 14, 2017TheGuardian

The actor finally returns to the Barbican stage and the precocious Tavi Gevinson interviews her pal Lorde, while elsewhere Stormzy’s cousin plays live

Cambridge literary festival
Although many people worked themselves into a fury after the US election, few managed to bash out a savagely satirical novella in response. Howard Jacobson’s talk on his Trump-inspired book, Pussy, is sure to be one of the highlights of this top-class literature festival.
At various venues, 18-23 April

The 10 best things to do this week: from Jude Law’s new play to Rookie’s podcast

April 14, 2017TheGuardian

The actor finally returns to the Barbican stage and the precocious Tavi Gevinson interviews her pal Lorde, while elsewhere Stormzy’s cousin plays live

Cambridge literary festival
Although many people worked themselves into a fury after the US election, few managed to bash out a savagely satirical novella in response. Howard Jacobson’s talk on his Trump-inspired book, Pussy, is sure to be one of the highlights of this top-class literature festival.
At various venues, 18-23 April

Charlie Murphy, Chappelle’s Show star, dies aged 57

April 13, 2017TheGuardian

Brother of Eddie Murphy, who turned his encounters with Hollywood’s great and good into much-loved TV skits, has died

Charlie Murphy, the older brother of Eddie Murphy and a comic performer who turned his encounters with Rick James and Prince into standout sketches on Chappelle’s Show, has died at the age of 57.

In the show’s recurring segment Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories, Murphy would recount how his brother’s fame brought him into the orbit of the biggest stars. His versions of the experiences, played out by him, Chappelle and others, became enduring hits. In one sketch, Prince is at first mocked for his frilly shirt but then shows his slick moves on the basketball court. The music legend then serves everyone pancakes.

TJ & Dave review – wizards of improv conjure a comedy gem

April 12, 2017TheGuardian

Soho theatre, London
The Chicago pair show they are masters of their art with an off-the-cuff performance that is as poignant and sharply observed as any scripted show

Most writers and comics spend months – even years – honing scripts and refining gags. Chicago improvisers TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi make mincemeat of all that, plucking from thin air a one-act, multi-character play that is as funny, shrewdly observed and emotionally complex as many a slaved-over work. Right up there with the best of the Pajama Men and Improbable Theatre, they really are Zen masters of their art. I found their unshowy and beadily intelligent improv blissful to watch.

There are no frills, gimmicks or audience participation, just two middle-aged men building a story detail by extemporised detail. It begins with two office workers wondering at the late arrival of a third. One of them wears a new watch, bequeathed by his dead dad; the other, touched, spontaneously phones his own father. On these bare bones, fragments of a tale are fleshed out, in which an elderly couple fret about macaroni etiquette, a 7-Eleven attendant kvetches about his uncle Marcel, and a driver with blood spattered across the grill of his car “has no idea if it was a kid or a raccoon”.

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