Gilda’s Laughfest has announced some major headliners for its eighth annual celebration of comedy in Grand Rapids, Mich. Among them: Trevor Noah, Tiffany Haddish, returning LaughFesters Maria Bamford and Cameron Esposito, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bert Kreischer, Anjelah Johnson and Greg Hahn. Laughfest will take place March 8-18, 1018. “We’re thrilled to bring such diverse talent to LaughFest 2018,” […]
Continue ReadingThe biggest, longest comedy festival in the United States is coming back in 2018, and SF Sketchfest boasts an equally impressive lineup, to be presented by Audible at 16 venues across San Francisco for 18 nights in January (Jan. 11-28, 2018). Tickets go on sale this Friday for most events. Which events? Try this on […]
Continue ReadingThe biggest, longest comedy festival in the United States is coming back in 2018, and SF Sketchfest boasts an equally impressive lineup, to be presented by Audible at 16 venues across San Francisco for 18 nights in January (Jan. 11-28, 2018). Tickets go on sale this Friday for most events. Which events? Try this on […]
Continue ReadingThanks to the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the women who decided to go public with sexual harassment, assault, and rape allegations against him, there’s been a snowball effect, thanks in part to the #MeToo hashtag, of more and more women – both famous and non-famous – coming forward with sexual misconduct experiences of their own. It’s […]
Continue ReadingPeake is hypnotically belligerent as an ambitious club performer trampling over prejudice and sticky carpets on the 1970s comedy circuit
Maxine Peake dominates the screen as producer and star of this painful, angry film written by Tony Pitts and directed by Adrian Shergold, about a fictional female club comedian fighting her way to the top, or at least the middle, in 1970s Britain.
Maybe without Peake this would have looked merely strident or chaotic; and to be frank, even with Peake, it does flirt with some age-old cliches. Comedians are traditionally given centre stage in a drama on condition that they reveal themselves to be unhappy or empty inside. But Peake gives it a fierce, blazing energy and holds everything together through the magnetic force of her performance. Jim Moir, John Bishop, Kevin Eldon and Diane Morgan provide cameos (perhaps to underline the project’s comedy credentials) and the excellent Christine Bottomley is perhaps a bit underused as Peake’s mum.
Related: Maxine Peake: ‘I’m a Corbyn supporter. We need a coup’
Continue ReadingThe sun falls into the Pacific as a small commuter train whisks by, momentarily interrupting the rocking sounds of Garbage. And that was just the second stage at KAABOO Del Mar. At this third annual music and comedy festival held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, just off the northern outskirts of San Diego, you could […]
Continue ReadingThe stars of the Greenwich comedy festival had to concertina their standup routines. But can the likes of Dylan Moran and Bridget Christie ruminate and rage against the clock?
What is the basic unit of comedy performance? As comedy festivals spring up nationwide, as the Edinburgh fringe expands annually and spawns ever more touring comics, the hour-long solo show has started to feel like the art form’s default setting. But it isn’t. As any casual comedy watcher – the occasional visitor to their local club; the magpie Live at the Apollo viewer – will tell you, standup is usually served in 20-minute chunks. The Greenwich comedy festival, now eight years old, celebrates this species of comedy. Over five days, in the grounds of the National Maritime Museum, the country’s higher-end acts (Dara Ó Briain, Alan Davies, Adam Hills) rub shoulders in a tent.
Much is made in comedy of the progression from club set to full show. Some acts take years honing the skills, or plucking up the courage, to make the leap. But what of the leap in the other direction? On Saturday in Greenwich, I watched three acts who I usually see in long-form mode. Of course, you’d expect comics such as Bridget Christie and Dylan Moran to be excellent whatever the time slot. But what sacrifices do they make when they don’t have time to develop an argument? What routes do they take to a faster, flightier kind of laugh?
Related: How Bridget Christie found the funny side of Brexit
Continue ReadingThe folks at All Things Comedy are putting on their first-ever ATC festival this October in Phoenix. The podcast network founded by Al Madrigal and Bill Burr will celebrate their wide-ranging community of funny folks from Oct. 26-29, 2017, at Stand Up Live in Phoenix. Lineup so far includes many of comedy’s most popular podcasts, […]
Continue ReadingShows about relationship breakdown and homophobia pick up a prize – or two – for John Robins and Hannah Gadsby
The longest ever shortlist. The first ever joint winners. And clearly, the most indecisive judging panel ever.
It was indeed, as the publicity would have it, an “unprecedented” year for the Edinburgh comedy awards. But, if there’s a worry that the currency of these awards is being devalued, there can be no real complaints about this year’s champs: probably the two most audacious stand-up shows on the fringe, and certainly among the funniest.
Related: Are they having a laugh? Edinburgh comedy judges give prize twice
Continue ReadingA new wave of comedians probing faults in leftwing politics provoke a crucial debate, but does their exaggerated antagonism hamper the cause?
Identity politics has gone too far. PC has gone mad. These aren’t unfashionable opinions: they’re practically mainstream. What’s new in fringe comedy is that we’re now hearing it from leftwing comics. That’s both a fascinating phenomenon, and a troublesome one. Fascinating because there may be some truth in these propositions, and the left needs to interrogate them. Troublesome because standup doesn’t always favour nuance and fine margins, and one or two of these leftwing comedians – whether they’re mocking champagne socialists, rehabilitating slavery or defending the Iraq war – can start to sound (accidentally or on purpose) pretty rightwing.
Fin Taylor is pre-eminent among them – a rising star whose 2016 show Whitey McWhiteface made hay with white identity and privilege. It was an excellent show, as is its follow-up Lefty Tighty Righty Loosey, with which he again lays siege to the complacency of his (presumed to be) white, leftwing audience.
Related: Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy | Moira Weigel
Related: Arrest that comedian! How satire could swing the UK election
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