Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonAmped-up visual gags and a cast that brings its own distinctive comic gifts to the Bard’s dialogue ensure a contemporary feel to the classic comedySean Holmes is associate artistic director at the Globe and there’s a lightnes…
Continue ReadingThe comedian on his worst gig, preshow rituals and receiving an ASD diagnosis after an audience interventionWhy did you start doing standup?I always wondered if I was funny. Or rather if my private sense of humour, that I shared with very few people, w…
Continue ReadingGraham Linehan and Dapper Laughs walk into a club … It sounds like the setup to a bad joke, yet platforming comics who may cause offence is a winning formula. But can a night run by a GB News host claim to be anti-establishment?It is a blustery eveni…
Continue ReadingThe standup has successfully used laughter as a balm, creating a safe space for himself and the audience to engage with this most difficult of subjectsThe death of a loved one. It’s the least funny thing in the world, right? Try telling that to Sam Mor…
Continue ReadingConceived by the artistic director of Birmingham Rep, Sean Foley, the award will be open to all with the winner receiving £25,000A new playwriting prize dedicated to comedy has been launched in honour of Victoria Wood on what would have been the standu…
Continue ReadingTraverse, EdinburghGary McNair delivers verbatim interviews and misremembered Connolly routines from ordinary people in this love letterThere is an air of Nick Park’s Creature Comforts about Gary McNair’s “love letter” to Billy Connolly. The performer …
Continue ReadingCriterion theatre, LondonCaroline Leslie’s production sends up the less problematic Victorian foibles with a terrifically spirited barrage of juicy one-liners, blunt anachronisms and pleasing melodramaAs a commercial prospect, you can’t fault this stag…
Continue ReadingFrom drunk punters to myopic commissioners, the comic has faced many hurdles. She talks about her NHS career, the conflict in Sudan and finding the funny through her family‘I feel kind of selfish because I’m talking with you here in this fancy place an…
Continue ReadingThe New Zealand comedian shares what makes her laugh online, including her friend’s audition tape, Sean Lock and a singing catGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI’ve been on the internet for as long as I can remember. I spent hours as a child m…
Continue ReadingHackney Empire, London You’d expect bawdy lines delivered with deadpan frankness from the rising TV comedian, but injections of knockabout physicality raise her stage showpiece to higher joySometimes at a standup gig, the environment elevates the mater…
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