Janey Godley is a comic with the common touch – her final tour is as much communion as standup

Not Dead Yet addresses the return of Godley’s ovarian cancer. But mostly it is a celebratory farewell from a performer who has welcomed the crowd into her remarkable lifeNot Dead Yet is Janey Godley’s last tour, she has announced. She was diagnosed wit…

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Frankie McNair: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

The web may be brain-ruining, but at least this comedian can share videos of an Irish family taking on a bat, Reuben Kaye and a very misspelled menuGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe internet. The sweet provider of free Tetris and Vine comp…

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‘I did standup with my baby strapped to me’ – the comics motherhood can’t stop

Some lied. Some hid it. And few ever mined it for jokes. Becoming a mum used to be near-fatal to a comedian’s career. But now, in a Mother’s Day special, we meet the new wave taking on taboos‘Before I had kids, I swam in an ocean of time,” says Josie L…

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Tim Heidecker: ‘I’m trying to be an antidote to the toxic side of comedy’

Best known for his inventive work with Tim and Eric, the absurdist comic talks about playing it straight as a ‘legit’ singer-songwriter, and his newest creation: a ‘belligerent and terrible’ standup comedianGrowing up, Tim Heidecker didn’t know who he …

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Tim Heidecker: ‘I’m trying to be an antidote to the toxic side of comedy’

Best known for his inventive work with Tim and Eric, the absurdist comic talks about playing it straight as a ‘legit’ singer-songwriter, and his newest creation: a ‘belligerent and terrible’ standup comedianGrowing up, Tim Heidecker didn’t know who he …

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Michelle Brasier: Average Bear review – standup, songs and stories of lost innocence

Soho theatre, LondonAustralian comic delivers a compelling but messy exploration of grief – but where’s the bear?The “dead dad” show has become a standup genre unto itself in recent years – but that isn’t the half of it in Aussie act Michelle Brasier’s…

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‘I shouldn’t be agreeing with nationalists’: the comic causing uproar in Cornwall

When a podcast by Seamas Carey created a storm, he began investigating second homes, cream on scones …. and where local pride meets unwelcoming xenophobia. Now he’s taking his one man show on the roadAfter Seamas Carey interviewed Eden Project founder …

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Going out-out again: Micky Flanagan’s irresistibly unreconstructed comedy comeback

After several years away, the cheeky cockney comic is doubling down on his good-old-days brand – but despite his geezerish nostalgia he’s no anti-woke crusaderMicky Flanagan was worried, he says, that audiences might have moved on. Fair enough: it has …

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The venue’s no joke but Just for Laughs’ London festival delivered megastar standups | Brian Logan

A new sibling to Montreal’s big comedy shindig has launched in the UK and despite the corporate guff there was a lot to laugh aboutYou’ve heard of Just for Laughs Montreal: it’s one of the world’s biggest comedy festivals. But Just for Laughs London? T…

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‘Addiction can be funny’: the standups tackling drugs, booze, psychosis and self-harm on stage

Rich Hardisty cut himself, Harriet Dyer numbed her pain with drugs. A new wave of comics are working out their issues in their acts. But is it really helping them? And should we be laughing?The first and maybe only rule of comedy is that it has to be f…

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