Speaking at launch for West End adaptation, Cleese complains about literal-minded viewers ‘not playing with a full deck’John Cleese said that he decided to cut the N-word from a scene in his West End Fawlty Towers revival because in contemporary Britai…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonA lesser act might have struggled to follow the brilliant Sydnee Washington, but Faustin’s swaggering, gossipy shtick is superbHas Marie Faustin blundered? Support acts are supposed to be warmup funny, not red-hot funny. Faustin’s N…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly Boulevard, LondonThere are shocks aplenty as daredevils perform death-defying acts hair-raisingly close to the audienceCircus used to happen in big tops. The Underbelly Boulevard is a very small top, a venue where the fire-breathers almost s…
Continue ReadingThe standup on being a vibe killer, studying Richard Pryor and why comedy isn’t for good-looking peopleWho is your comedy hero?I grew up idolising a lot of standups: Chris Rock, Maria Bamford, Bridget Christie. I followed Ross Noble around (that sounds…
Continue ReadingBrighton DomeRanganathan’s Hustle delivers laughs, but not the shock of the new. It is at its best when we glimpse something meaningful beneath the standard-issue curmudgeonliness‘I’ll be honest with you: I’m getting sick of me too.” His TV ubiquity no…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonPhil Burgers made clowning hip after winning the Edinburgh comedy award in 2012. Now older, if not wiser, his new show is a little undercooked, but his skill as a performer is undeniableClown is the hippest thing in comedy right now…
Continue ReadingThe huge success of her memoir has turbocharged the Scottish comedian’s career, with midlife, Catholicism and marriage in her withering sightsCynicism is now and then expressed about the phenomenon of comedians writing books. Rare is the instance of a …
Continue ReadingAt the world’s biggest barrel of laughs, Hannah Gadsby, John Kearns and Rose Matafeo rub shoulders with homegrown stars-in-the-making. Our writer has the time of his lifeWhat’s the biggest comedy festival in the world? Parochial Britons would say Edinb…
Continue ReadingThe chilling, visceral, deeply compelling comedy-drama has caused shock waves worldwide since launching last weekend. But what about the experiences that inspired it?When Richard Gadd wrote Monkey See Monkey Do for the Edinburgh fringe in 2016, he says…
Continue ReadingThe comedian on her favourite new painter, the downfall of Diddy, and wanting to save Britney SpearsBorn in Ontario, Canada in 1983, comedian Katherine Ryan won the Funny Women award in 2008. Since then she has appeared on numerous TV sitcoms and panel…
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