Top 10 comedy shows of 2019
A double dose of Stewart Lee, Hannah Gadsby’s follow-up to Nanette and London Hughes’ uproarious blue humour tickled the comedy circuit this yearMore on the best culture of 2019 Continue reading…
Continue ReadingTag: Stage
Annie McGrath: ‘I really got the giggles at my friend’s dad’s funeral’
The standup and writer on the things that make her laugh the mostLou Sanders is the best. Always funny – in front of 12 people in the basement of a pub or running off stage at the Apollo to get her Vote Labia bags to show an audience of 3,000. Continue…
Continue ReadingFitter review – a love letter to masculinity
Soho theatre, LondonEll Potter and Mary Higgins radically push on from previous show Hotter, in this fantastic, sexy, athletic examination of male identity Hilarious, sincere, sexy and brutal, Fitter is a deep-throated examination into modern masculini…
Continue ReadingPull the other one! Top 10 modern Christmas cracker jokes revealed
TV channel Gold announces the winners in a national competition for topical festive gags – can you do any better?What do Donald Trump, Santa and Olivia Colman have in common? No, it’s not a joke – but all three feature in the winning gags of a national…
Continue ReadingSuzi Ruffell review – smear tests, domestic bliss and ‘lesbian accoutrements’
Warwick Arts Centre A cool crowd warms to the standup’s animated stories, daft moves and disarming candour in Dance Like Everyone’s WatchingA standup needs several qualities in their locker, among which tenacity may be the least heralded. It’s a specta…
Continue ReadingAdam Kay review – lurid comedy, lyrical flair and blunt NHS humour
Bloomsbury theatre, LondonDoc-turned-comic Kay recalls Christmases spent in hospitals – with anecdotes about peanut butter, ill-used confectionery and a blast of Spandau Ballet‘Christmas comes but once a year – and if you work in the NHS, you’ll say: t…
Continue Reading‘He just isn’t funny in real life’ – surely the nice couple can’t mean me? | Romesh Ranganathan
Being approached by people who like my work is a privilege, but not every interaction is positiveBeing on tour is my favourite thing to do. It is amazing to be able to play to people who have come on a night out to see you – immediately followed by the…
Continue ReadingHarry and Chris: ‘The funniest standup? An author reading a poem about bums’
World poetry slam champion Harry Baker and jazz musician Chris Read on the things that make them laugh the mostHarry: This National Poetry Day I performed alongside [poet] Paul Cookson, who at one point had a roomful of primary school children joining …
Continue ReadingJim Jefferies review – filthy comic leaves a nasty stench
O2 Arena, LondonGlimpses of wit float to the surface in this sex-and-excrement bonanza … but are quickly flushed away by tedious misogynyTwo trips to the O2 in 10 days: two shows wallowing in faeces. Reader, the life of the comedy reviewer is not all g…
Continue Reading‘They threw sausage rolls!’ Christmas gigs bring no cheer for standups
During the festive season, comedy clubs can be hijacked by drunk, obnoxious audiences. Dave Johns, Maff Brown and Jessica Fostekew recount their worst experiences‘We would sometimes bet to see how long a comic would last on stage. We amused ourselves b…
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