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Sue Perkins Live: Spectacles – comic comfort food from a good egg

February 17, 2017TheGuardian

The ex-Bake Off presenter’s show is a droll self-portrait full of nostalgia and juicy tidbits about Paul and Mary. But it’s less standup than love-in with fans

Neither standup show nor book tour, but an “animation” of her 2015 memoir, Spectacles – that’s how Sue Perkins describes this live outing, her first stage foray since the pre-Bake Off era. And so Spectacles Live joins that burgeoning pantheon of solo shows (Danny Baker is touring one too) whose hosts are obliged only to be themselves, entertainingly – cribbing material they’ve created for another medium, gossiping about starry chums and dusting off well-worn anecdotes in response to questions from their adoring crowds.

It’s as much celebrity appearance as comedy, in other words, with a few choice extracts from the autobiography thrown in. But it adds up to an enjoyable evening, and – via her family slideshow, self-deprecating stories of immature adulthood, and the inside track on Paul Hollywood’s genitals – Perkins emerges as that most essential of baking ingredients: a thoroughly good egg.

All standups have angles. But my jokes about being Asian just seem to upset @BritFIrstPete7

February 13, 2017TheGuardian

Often people just Asian assume Asian that Asian everything you Asian talk about Asian is just the Asian fact that you’re Asian

It has become a rule that if I ever make any sort of joke about my race on TV, I can pretty much guarantee that I will receive a series of tweets along the lines of: “Romesh waited four minutes before mentioning his race – new record,” or: “Great to see an ethnic comedian talking about being ethnic – NOT.” I once received a death threat from a man who said that his grandparents didn’t fight in the war to have me spouting my shit on the TV. In my defence, I have never once suggested that anyone went over the trenches shouting: “This is so Romesh can do Live at the Apollo!”

I also get accused of reverse racism a lot. I once joked off the cuff about not being invited to a wedding because it was “a different type of white wedding”. When the show went out, a viewer tweeted me to tell me that I was a racist, and that if a white comic had said the same thing there would have been national outrage. First of all, I think that woman is massively overestimating the number of viewers of 50 Greatest Wedding Disasters; and, secondly, I don’t understand how I can be accused of being racist when I’ve married one of your lot. The truth is, I need an angle. If I wasn’t Asian, I would just be an overweight father of three who is into veganism, comics and hip-hop. I think it’s possible that had I been white, I might have browned up to get ahead. Being Asian is the main point of difference with the majority of the audience, so why not talk about that difference? I’m not going to stop doing it because it upsets @darren1581 from Basingstoke.

All standups have angles. But my jokes about being Asian just seem to upset @BritFIrstPete7

February 13, 2017TheGuardian

Often people just Asian assume Asian that Asian everything you Asian talk about Asian is just the Asian fact that you’re Asian

It has become a rule that if I ever make any sort of joke about my race on TV, I can pretty much guarantee that I will receive a series of tweets along the lines of: “Romesh waited four minutes before mentioning his race – new record,” or: “Great to see an ethnic comedian talking about being ethnic – NOT.” I once received a death threat from a man who said that his grandparents didn’t fight in the war to have me spouting my shit on the TV. In my defence, I have never once suggested that anyone went over the trenches shouting: “This is so Romesh can do Live at the Apollo!”

I also get accused of reverse racism a lot. I once joked off the cuff about not being invited to a wedding because it was “a different type of white wedding”. When the show went out, a viewer tweeted me to tell me that I was a racist, and that if a white comic had said the same thing there would have been national outrage. First of all, I think that woman is massively overestimating the number of viewers of 50 Greatest Wedding Disasters; and, secondly, I don’t understand how I can be accused of being racist when I’ve married one of your lot. The truth is, I need an angle. If I wasn’t Asian, I would just be an overweight father of three who is into veganism, comics and hip-hop. I think it’s possible that had I been white, I might have browned up to get ahead. Being Asian is the main point of difference with the majority of the audience, so why not talk about that difference? I’m not going to stop doing it because it upsets @darren1581 from Basingstoke.

Whoopi Goldberg review – standup or glorified chat show?

February 12, 2017TheGuardian

London Palladium, London
US comedian’s first UK standup show got personal with segments about ageing and resenting her child-friendly reputation

The last time Whoopi Goldberg played London, it was as a nun in Sister Act. And on this UK visit, the raptures greeting her entrance are more revivalist meeting than comedy show.

This one-off gig – which became two-off when a late-night repeat was announced to meet demand – finds Goldberg performing standup in the UK for the first time, surprisingly. In a part comedy, part Q&A set, she does enough to make us wish the wait won’t be so long next time – even if there’s nothing to her act that British audiences haven’t encountered before.

Susan Calman: ‘When I’m feeling down I watch clips of cats jumping on children’

February 10, 2017TheGuardian

The Glaswegian standup and Radio 4 regular on the things that make her laugh the most

Billy Connolly. I’ve never managed to see him live but when I was younger I had a tape of one of his gigs which I used to play on my Sony Walkman. I remember being on a train once and I had to switch the cassette off because I was crying with laughter. I felt physical pain it was so funny.

Whoopi Goldberg to Secret Cinema: top things to do in the UK this week

February 10, 2017TheGuardian

From the actor’s rarely seen character comedy to an immersive version of Moulin Rouge: your at-a-glance guide to the best in culture

Whoopi Goldberg
A brilliant one-off: the award-winning actor brings two performances of her character comedy to the London Palladium for the first time on Saturday 11 February. Her standup deals in alter-egos, so expect to meet Fontaine the career dope-smoker or Lurleen the southern matriarch.
At London Palladium, W1

Silver Lining review – witty lines can’t save Sandi Toksvig’s care-home comedy

February 9, 2017TheGuardian

Rose theatre, Kingston
Toksvig’s play has plenty of good gags but there’s far too little characterisation, leaving an experienced ensemble treading water

Sandi Toksvig’s new comedy, set in a retirement home during a flood, puts five older women firmly centre stage. That should be something to cheer about: but in order to win itself a feelgood ending, Silver Lining plays to the stereotype that these women are useless old biddies whose stunted lives are far behind them, and who now exist in the stultifying limbo of the care home, protected from a terrifying outside world of technological, social and cultural change.

Silver Lining review – witty lines can’t save Sandi Toksvig’s care-home comedy

February 9, 2017TheGuardian

Rose theatre, Kingston
Toksvig’s play has plenty of good gags but there’s far too little characterisation, leaving an experienced ensemble treading water

Sandi Toksvig’s new comedy, set in a retirement home during a flood, puts five older women firmly centre stage. That should be something to cheer about: but in order to win itself a feelgood ending, Silver Lining plays to the stereotype that these women are useless old biddies whose stunted lives are far behind them, and who now exist in the stultifying limbo of the care home, protected from a terrifying outside world of technological, social and cultural change.

Is comedy infectious to doctors?

February 8, 2017TheGuardian

A white coat is often a sign of funny bones, as periodic outbreaks of medically trained comedians demonstrate

Is there an affinity between comedy and medicine? Certainly, a notable number of comedians used to work in the medical profession. One of them, Adam Kay of Amateur Transplants fame, has now signed a publishing deal for the book of his show about life as a junior doctor. Kay has spent most of his comedy career avoiding the subject of doctoring. Now he’s addressed it, he’s enjoying his biggest success since the viral London Underground Song that made his name.

On one level, it’s easy to explain why doctors, surgeons et al might make good comedians. As – to cite one recent example – Scott Gibson’s award-winning show demonstrated, life in the hospital ward is rich with comic potential precisely because it’s so deadly serious. Here is human life in extremis, all privacy and delusions of nobility stripped away (and that’s just the doctors – boom boom!). That’s what comedy often does too – it reminds us that we’re animals and punctures our pretensions to decorum or lofty self-esteem.

Is comedy infectious to doctors?

February 8, 2017TheGuardian

A white coat is often a sign of funny bones, as periodic outbreaks of medically trained comedians demonstrate

Is there an affinity between comedy and medicine? Certainly, a notable number of comedians used to work in the medical profession. One of them, Adam Kay of Amateur Transplants fame, has now signed a publishing deal for the book of his show about life as a junior doctor. Kay has spent most of his comedy career avoiding the subject of doctoring. Now he’s addressed it, he’s enjoying his biggest success since the viral London Underground Song that made his name.

On one level, it’s easy to explain why doctors, surgeons et al might make good comedians. As – to cite one recent example – Scott Gibson’s award-winning show demonstrated, life in the hospital ward is rich with comic potential precisely because it’s so deadly serious. Here is human life in extremis, all privacy and delusions of nobility stripped away (and that’s just the doctors – boom boom!). That’s what comedy often does too – it reminds us that we’re animals and punctures our pretensions to decorum or lofty self-esteem.

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