Church Hill theatre, EdinburghAt the Edinburgh international festival, Olivier Rannou’s lone cowboy encounters desert dangers in a mix of clowning, mime and visual trickeryThe lone ranger at the centre of Olivier Rannou’s family-friendly western initia…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, EdinburghSohrab Haghverdi takes pleasure at winding up the audience in a subversively funny ‘anti-comedy’ of autobiographical insight and political provocationSohrab Haghverdi says he wants to be liked. I’m not so sure. Would a needy actor …
Continue ReadingFrom big-name standups to dance performances and experimental plays, here are our picks for an excellent festival‘If you’d done that in the 90s, you’d be torn to shreds!’: comedy icons share their survival tips with Edinburgh first-timersExplore the re…
Continue ReadingThe Great Australian Bake Off host and comedian on being ignored by Steve Carell, why it should be illegal not to own a rice cooker, and looking angry on Mr InbetweenI have always wanted to ask a Bake Off host this – how much cake do you actually get t…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith characteristic wit, Dan Bishop’s comedy develops from a jolly send-up of the vacuous TV industry into a politically astute play about power‘I’ve never read anything Greek, but I bet if feels exactly like this,” says I…
Continue ReadingHaving cut his teeth in the holiday camps of the north, the comic bestrode 80s TV with his unthreatening brand of fun, being knighted by the pope in 2015• Jimmy Cricket, comedian known for his ‘And there’s more!’ catchphrase, dies aged 80After the come…
Continue ReadingThey turned the news into a Funny or Die video. They cooked up a romcom between PM Modi and Giorgia Meloni. And they fought the police with Lana del Rey memes. Our writer observes the Cockroach party’s bold new strategyI’ve spent 16 years doing standup…
Continue ReadingAs she brings her memoir to the Edinburgh festival, Keeley Hazell talks about trauma, exploitation, the hollowness of the high life – and her new career as a writer on Ted LassoThere was a time in the mid-2000s when it felt as though “everyone” had see…
Continue ReadingThe comedian and actor’s new Netflix special is a gleefully absurd take on politics and potty-mouthed humorMary Beth Barone knows exactly who will be offended by her new Netflix special. “JK Rowling, Republicans, establishment Democrats, the British, t…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, London She has penned jokes for Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien and the Academy. Now she’s seizing the limelight with scattergun routines about everything from penises to free-bleedingLaurie Kilmartin is not afraid of vulgarity. The Peabody a…
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