Maybe a Ghost Story review – Daniel Kitson scares up a sparkling Halloween yarn

Shakespeare’s Globe, LondonThe comedian is as spontaneous as ever in this unadorned show featuring a one-ghost campaign to rewild the sanitised customs of All Hallows Eve‘Just a very long-winded way of shouting boo.” So says the hero of Daniel Kitson’s…

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‘My parents wanted to give me horse hormones’ – Sam Campbell, comedy’s new champion

He breezed into the Edinburgh fringe late with just half a show – and won the ‘Oscar of comedy’. In his first ever face-to-face interview, the eccentric Aussie standup reveals what’s next (‘Something’)Here’s how the Edinburgh fringe usually figures in …

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Suzi Ruffell review – self-mocking snapshot of hapless parenthood and cats’ behinds

Farnham Maltings, Surrey The Portsmouth native is good company, cheerfully goofing around for our entertainment, but the set feels one draft short of its full potentialNew baby. Spiking anxiety. The state of the world. You can see how the component par…

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Joe Rogan review – ‘dumb guy’ comedy grounded in an alpha male world

O2 Arena, London The controversial US podcaster finds fertile material challenging society’s sensitivities – yet while his standup takes pains to short-circuit offence, fear of emasculation underpins too many of the gags“Talking shit used to be fun,” c…

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Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come review – candid carnal chatter

Soho theatre, LondonRubina Pabani and Poppy Jay hop between banter, song and comedy skits in a show with a solid emotional and political coreYou get a particular type of laughter, undergirded by gasps of joy and recognition, when a crowd hears its own …

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Dave Woodhead: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

You can use the internet to buy uranium on the dark web or laugh at this list, which includes Aunty Donna, a bad Drake cake and a sketch so funny that Dave thought he might dieGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe internet can be used for many…

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Zoe Lyons: ‘My hair is growing back – I’ve promised myself I’ll go full 70s bouncing perm’

The comedian on the return of her alopecia, her midlife crisis, and finding the funny in life’s curveballsHow did you get into comedy?At university I spent most of my time doing am-dram, usually with no lines. It was more a comedic shuffle on and off. …

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Zoe Lyons: ‘My hair is growing back – I’ve promised myself I’ll go full 70s bouncing perm’

The comedian on the return of her alopecia, her midlife crisis, and finding the funny in life’s curveballsHow did you get into comedy?At university I spent most of my time doing am-dram, usually with no lines. It was more a comedic shuffle on and off. …

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Robbie Coltrane, star of Cracker and Harry Potter, dies aged 72

Scottish actor who graduated from the alternative comedy scene to become a major performer known for taking on complex and difficult roles Robbie Coltrane, whose acting career spanned everything from Bond films to Cracker to Harry Potter, has died aged…

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Tentacular Spectacular review – wade through Oozing Gloop’s psychosexual swamp

Fierce festival, BirminghamThis immersive cabaret invites you into a world of ‘goblin core’, drag ogres and live art happeningsBirmingham’s Fierce festival opened this week with a compelling call by director Aaron Wright for the UK to diversify its the…

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