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Seann Walsh: ‘I wrote a line for The Thick Of It – it’s probably my proudest moment’

February 24, 2017TheGuardian

The fun-loving standup and panel show regular on the things that make him laugh the most, from Partridge to sausage

The Thick Of It. “Wake up and smell the cock,” is one of the best lines ever written; they managed to make the sound of the letter “K” a left turn punchline. That blew my mind. I inadvertently wrote a line for it once. Will Smith is asked: “What do you ask for at the hairdressers, Disney Prince?” I had told Will he had Disney Prince hair at Banana Cabaret. He kindly credited me on Twitter. That’s probably what I’m most proud of in my career.

Ricky Gervais review – ruthless, self-revealing show is his best yet

February 24, 2017TheGuardian

Colston Hall, Bristol
Gervais’s new set, Humanity, is pumped with scorn and provocation but the inclusion of more personal material gives a rare glimpse of a gentler man

In his new standup show, Humanity, his first for seven years, Ricky Gervais tells a childhood story about his Uncle Reginald, a bald man whose preposterous wig ignited a conspiracy of silence in the family. Can we blame – or thank – Reg for the entertainer his nephew became? For tonight’s show, and Gervais’s whole comic career, is one big delinquent reaction against just such taboos, a gleeful rending of drawn veils, to hell with feelings hurt in the process. Those sensitive to transgender issues, say (or jokes involving rape or cot death), should take a deep breath before booking for Humanity. And yet, it’s Gervais’s best and most considered standup show so far.

It’s also, not coincidentally, his most personal. Alongside the Uncle Reg material, there are stories about his prankster brother Bob, their mother’s funeral, and life growing up on a Reading council estate. This is a self-revealing side to Gervais we’ve seldom seen, offsetting the wilful provocation with something gentler, less attention-seeking.

Alfie Brown review – subversive standup rages about the pieties of our age

February 23, 2017TheGuardian

Soho theatre, London
Like a British Doug Stanhope, the provocative comic oozes scorn, cynicism and sardonic spleen

There’s a gap in the market for a British Doug Stanhope, although Alfie Brown, who is best positioned to fill it, would reject the terms of that proposition. His whole career, and much of this show, oozes scorn for capitalism and commodified culture. On stage, that parlays into sardonicism, spleen and self-laceration: Brown doesn’t make himself easy to love. But even if you frequently disagree with this hectoring takedown of the pieties of our age, you’ll never be bored.

Provocation is the keynote: Brown has an armful of subversive arguments, some of which surely aim more to ruffle than persuade. We’re all a bit racist: Brown’s analysis of our wariness of passengers who “look like terrorists” on planes. Men are victims of gender inequality: he rages with envy at the intensity of the female orgasm.

Max and Ivan review – rambunctious comic duo are a dorky delight

February 22, 2017TheGuardian

Soho theatre, London
Scout leaders haunt the woods with crossbows and there are groansome puns aplenty in this deliciously silly coming-of-age show

After half a dozen shows together, Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez are presenting the origin story of their friendship. It’s told, as were its predecessors (including the award-nominated Edinburgh fringe show turned recent Channel 4 short The Reunion), in the form of a multi-character, two-person, freewheeling comic play. The teen twosome meet while attending scout camp and wrestling school and their dorky bromance is spliced with sketches and nonsense as the pair’s present-day relationship skates close to the rocks.

Susan Calman review – Radio 4 favourite’s sparky set is far from cosy

February 20, 2017TheGuardian

The Stables, Milton Keynes
The standup reveals she’s taken up boxing on her Calman Before the Storm tour, and the show swipes energetically at a formidable array of targets

“No one says, ‘Hicks. Pryor. Calman’,” says Susan Calman, ruefully. “I’m not a dangerous comedian.” By her own admission, Calman is considered precisely the opposite, a “Radio 4 favourite”: chirpy, erudite, unlikely to alarm the livestock. Now 10 years a comic, her touring show locks horns with that reputation, and asks: is she the comedian audiences suppose her to be? If that sounds self-reflexive, I can only report that the navel gaze has done no harm to the comedy. This is a good-time standup set, more assertive and upbeat – and at ease with itself – than the shows I’ve seen her perform in the past.

The most recent was 2015’s Lady Like, in which Calman recounted a nervous breakdown she experienced as she adjusted to newfound celebrity. No such shadows cloud this set, which is conspicuous for its energy and ebullience. Itemising the expectations others have of her (left-wing, intellectual, lesbian) – endorsing some, scorning others – there’s a real attack to Calman’s comedy here. She’s taken up boxing, she tells us – and this feels like 90 minutes delivered by a contender always on the balls of her feet.

Shappi Khorsandi: ‘My worst job? Life modelling for a woman who made me recite Shakespeare as I posed’

February 18, 2017TheGuardian

The comedian and author on memories of Iran, doing things her way and buying her mum a walk-on part

Born in Iran, Shappi Khorsandi, 43, was granted asylum in the UK after her family was forced to flee following the Islamic Revolution. After a degree in drama, theatre and television, her career in standup took off in 2006 with her Edinburgh show Asylum Speaker. She is the author of A Beginner’s Guide To Acting English, and a novel, Nina Is Not OK. This spring, she tours the UK with her show Oh My Country! She is divorced, has two children and lives in London.

When were you happiest?
Right now. Ask me again when my children are grown, and I’ll sob, “When they loved me more than that woman/man they’ve shacked up with.”

Jon Richardson: ‘The first series of The League Of Gentlemen blew my mind’

February 17, 2017TheGuardian

The standup and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown team captain on what makes him laugh the most

Louis CK. The pressure was on as it was the first date for my future wife and me. We had a lovely time, save for her starting a fight with a man who sneezed on to the back of her head. I stayed out of it because I didn’t want her to get an unfair impression of me, but to learn that I am the kind of man who will not defend her honour even when it has been besmirched.

Jon Richardson: ‘The first series of The League Of Gentlemen blew my mind’

February 17, 2017TheGuardian

The standup and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown team captain on what makes him laugh the most

Louis CK. The pressure was on as it was the first date for my future wife and me. We had a lovely time, save for her starting a fight with a man who sneezed on to the back of her head. I stayed out of it because I didn’t want her to get an unfair impression of me, but to learn that I am the kind of man who will not defend her honour even when it has been besmirched.

Sue Perkins Live: Spectacles – comic comfort food from a good egg

February 17, 2017TheGuardian

The ex-Bake Off presenter’s show is a droll self-portrait full of nostalgia and juicy tidbits about Paul and Mary. But it’s less standup than love-in with fans

Neither standup show nor book tour, but an “animation” of her 2015 memoir, Spectacles – that’s how Sue Perkins describes this live outing, her first stage foray since the pre-Bake Off era. And so Spectacles Live joins that burgeoning pantheon of solo shows (Danny Baker is touring one too) whose hosts are obliged only to be themselves, entertainingly – cribbing material they’ve created for another medium, gossiping about starry chums and dusting off well-worn anecdotes in response to questions from their adoring crowds.

It’s as much celebrity appearance as comedy, in other words, with a few choice extracts from the autobiography thrown in. But it adds up to an enjoyable evening, and – via her family slideshow, self-deprecating stories of immature adulthood, and the inside track on Paul Hollywood’s genitals – Perkins emerges as that most essential of baking ingredients: a thoroughly good egg.

Sue Perkins Live: Spectacles – comic comfort food from a good egg

February 17, 2017TheGuardian

The ex-Bake Off presenter’s show is a droll self-portrait full of nostalgia and juicy tidbits about Paul and Mary. But it’s less standup than love-in with fans

Neither standup show nor book tour, but an “animation” of her 2015 memoir, Spectacles – that’s how Sue Perkins describes this live outing, her first stage foray since the pre-Bake Off era. And so Spectacles Live joins that burgeoning pantheon of solo shows (Danny Baker is touring one too) whose hosts are obliged only to be themselves, entertainingly – cribbing material they’ve created for another medium, gossiping about starry chums and dusting off well-worn anecdotes in response to questions from their adoring crowds.

It’s as much celebrity appearance as comedy, in other words, with a few choice extracts from the autobiography thrown in. But it adds up to an enjoyable evening, and – via her family slideshow, self-deprecating stories of immature adulthood, and the inside track on Paul Hollywood’s genitals – Perkins emerges as that most essential of baking ingredients: a thoroughly good egg.

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