Sarah Keyworth: My Eyes Are Up Here review – top surgery becomes a family affair

Soho theatre, LondonWith fine one-liners, the crowd-pleasing east Midlander traces their relationship with their parents in a touching showSarah Keyworth launched their standup career with two thoughtful solo shows deconstructing gender and the meaning…

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‘Why would you not want to be woke?’ Inside the TV comedy workshops infuriating the right-wing press

They’ve been called ‘a disaster for the arts’ and lambasted for ‘pursuing a heavily woke agenda’. So what actually happens at a comedy workshop? Our writer joins 30 working-class standups determined to break into TV A bunch of comedians are pouring int…

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Mary O’Connell: ‘My whole shtick was complaining about money. Then I won £100,000’

The standup on delusional confidence, her heroes and bugbears – and why she hasn’t bought a gold-plated toilet with her OnlyFans contest winningsWhy did you get into standup?I always liked performing. I did dance and piano when I was younger – to a med…

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Miles Jupp: On I Bang review – elegantly funny, terribly English account of a tumour

Brighton DomeThe comedian guides us through this life-and-death tale of seizure, diagnosis and treatment with his usual brand of self-deprecationWe have all seen comedians die on stage. Is Miles Jupp’s new show about a comedian dying offstage? “We’ll f…

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Bill Hicks: the scorching standup who thought comedy could change the world

Thirty years after his death, the Texan who set out to ‘topple idols’ remains an outlaw truth-teller for many but his raging material can land with a clunkI could mark out my comedy critic’s life in Bill Hicks anniversaries. When I first started writin…

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Lara Ricote review – endearingly offbeat comedy of self-exploration

Soho theatre, LondonThe fringe award-winner compares her romantic relationship to how she feels about her audience in this mildly evasive investigation of inner knottinessThere’s a formula for a comedian’s first show, and it’s “this is me”: an hour abo…

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Bill Bailey: a comic maestro of bits, bobs and barbs at the Tories

Thoughtifier, a new European tour, brings familiar whimsy from the Strictly Come Dancing champ. But does the mirth cramp his musical stylings?Forty years into his performing career, you know what you’re going to get with Bill Bailey. Musical noodling: …

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Hir review – Felicity Huffman wreaks havoc in Taylor Mac’s black comedy

Park theatre, LondonA rich and messy revival explores ideas of belonging, with the Desperate Housewives star playing a determinedly indifferent matriarchChaos reigns. Every inch of Paige’s home is a domestic dumping ground. This rich and messy revival …

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One Last Push review – Chris Chibnall’s family farce about birth and beyond

Salisbury PlayhouseA fitfully funny play from the creator of Broadchurch considers the terrifying prospects of parenthood yet never quite deliversHere’s a perfect prop for farce: a huge, baby-blue birthing pool, stubbornly resisting inflation, plonked …

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‘We’re going back to silly’: what’s the next turn for British comedy in era of nostalgia?

It’s no joke for new shows as classic favourites live on while investment in sitcoms and sketches faltersThere is a quip beloved of comedians, when asked if their industry is going down the pan: “Nostalgia? It ain’t what it used to be.”But for fans of …

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