Show me the funny: essential comedy at Edinburgh fringe 2026

Elf Lyons mixes humour and heartbreak, Frank Skinner works the crowd, Kristen Schaal returns with a secret – and one man sings the same song over and over againNo fringe festival has been complete in recent years without some oddball clown confection –…

Continue Reading

To mischief born: Penelope Keith was a class comic act both on and off stage

The actor’s sophisticated sense of humour and natural ability to make everyone laugh were there long before her famous sitcom rolesA life in picturesPenelope Keith: the most spectacular sitcom snob ever to grace our screensPenelope Keith, who has died …

Continue Reading

Michelle Wolf: The Best Job in the World review – motherhood, mischief and The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s menopause

Watford Palace theatreThere’s plenty of devilment as the Pennsylvanian flies the flag for the magnificence of women and riffs on pregnancyThe Best Job in the World, Michelle Wolf’s touring show is called. Whether that refers to motherhood (chief among …

Continue Reading

Abbie Chatfield: ‘Someone told her worst dating story. I lay on the floor of the stage and screamed’

The podcaster and TV host talks to us about doomscrolling, aliens and a horrifying sound healing that made her want to vomitWhat’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?It’s not really advice, but it is something my mum said when I was going …

Continue Reading

Comedian Joanne McNally looks back: ‘In my 20s, my bulimia was spiralling out of control. My breakdown was the making of me’

The Irish standup and writer on three-day benders, her accidental comedy career, and her feral stage personaBorn in County Roscommon in 1983 and raised in Dublin, Joanne McNally is a standup comedian and writer. Her breakthrough came with the…

Continue Reading

Comedian Joanne McNally looks back: ‘In my 20s, my bulimia was spiralling out of control. My breakdown was the making of me’

The Irish standup and writer on three-day benders, her accidental comedy career, and her feral stage personaBorn in County Roscommon in 1983 and raised in Dublin, Joanne McNally is a standup comedian and writer. Her breakthrough came with the…

Continue Reading

Comedian Joanne McNally looks back: ‘In my 20s, my bulimia was spiralling out of control. My breakdown was the making of me’

The Irish standup and writer on three-day benders, her accidental comedy career, and her feral stage personaBorn in County Roscommon in 1983 and raised in Dublin, Joanne McNally is a standup comedian and writer. Her breakthrough came with the…

Continue Reading

Brassed Off review – stirring tale of coal and cornets moves Yorkshire audience to tears

Leeds PlayhouseIn a cavernous venue seemingly designed for a colliery-based story, Amy Leach directs Paul Allen’s adaptation of the 1996 filmIt’s odd that this most Yorkshire of stories has never been staged at Leeds Playhouse. That’s remedied with gri…

Continue Reading

Relics review – toxic heirloom cues hugely entertaining family clash

Lyric Hammersmith, London Four siblings squabble over an art treasure possibly stolen by their grandfather in this riotous play by Ben OckrentBen Ockrent’s black comedy about a family in mourning has distinct strains of the ludicrous, though the cartoo…

Continue Reading

The Truth review – Florian Zeller’s knotty comedy of deceit is a real delight

Apollo theatre, LondonStephen Mangan, Sarah Hadland, Ardal O’Hanlon and Janie Dee are seat-shakingly funny in this study of adulteryAlice and Michel must conceal their affair from possibly suspicious spouses Paul and Laurence, sometimes under detective…

Continue Reading