Wyndham’s theatre, LondonWhere other midlife male standups splash in the shallows of domesticity, dinner parties and feeling tired, Birbiglia dives right into family, death and the meaning of lifeThere’s no shortage of standup on the depredations of mi…
Continue ReadingHackney Empire, LondonAs the dust settles on his recent tabloid notoriety, Walsh contrasts the domestic landscape of maturity with his wild youthWe had a fun night, says Seann Walsh – “but not as fun as if I hadn’t turned up”. The joke is that Walsh – …
Continue ReadingThe comedian and author on his new musical about Twiggy, remembering Rik Mayall, and why he’d like to have a word with Julian FellowesWhile studying drama at the University Of Manchester, Ben Elton met Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. They became part …
Continue ReadingSoho Theatre, LondonAs they craft their extended sketches off the cuff, TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi deliver laughs with a surprisingly moving emotional twistNothing in comedy defines expertise quite like Chicago improvisers TJ & Dave at work. T…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe electrifying Berlant recounts her fictional life in this sharp and silly show directed by Bo BurnhamComedies don’t come hipper than this New York transfer from Kate Berlant. Its director is the prodigious talent behind lockdown …
Continue ReadingAs her play about toxic secrets and old friends hits the stage, the host of The Guilty Feminist podcast explains how studying Wilde and Shaw showed her the subversive power of laughterI’m a feminist, but … I went to university in 1997 and in those days…
Continue ReadingFor the first time ever, both the ‘Oscars of comedy’ have gone to standups with South Asian heritage. So what do the two performers who set the fringe alight have planned? Lots of boasting, finds our writerTo be crowned the best of the best at the Edin…
Continue ReadingWhy did the Taxi and Saturday Night Live star travel across America paying women $1,000 to wrestle him? Could transcendental meditation have had anything to do with it?By the time he died in 1984 of lung cancer aged only 35, Andy Kaufman had wrestled m…
Continue ReadingPleasance Dome, EdinburghThe TikTok star follows an atom through time, via a dinosaur, Julius Caesar’s lunch and Van Gogh’s ear, in an uncynical show with an excess of scene changesInjury time is mushrooming in football in response to the realisation t…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly Cowgate, EdinburghAstute, well-built set about suffering and its surprise elimination is charmingly at odds with other festival narrativesWe’ve seen shows about trauma, depression and anxiety. What about a show exploring their blissful absol…
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