Nerves nearly kept her from picking up the mic and then she discovered an industry hostile to women. As her hit TV show returns, the star reflects on the thrill and camaraderie of comedy – and its much-needed changeImagine being so uncomfortable in you…
Continue ReadingThey were pigeonholed, derided – and even shot at. With The Marvelous Mrs Maisel back on TV screens, we find out what life was really like for women who dared to be funny in the postwar yearsBack in the days when they were still called comediennes, an …
Continue ReadingThey were pigeonholed, derided – and even shot at. With The Marvelous Mrs Maisel back on TV screens, we find out what life was really like for women who dared to be funny in the postwar yearsBack in the days when they were still called comediennes, an …
Continue ReadingPlaying junior doctor Shruti is a far cry from the standup’s ‘really silly’ sketch comedy but her improv background helped her find moments of levity in Adam Kay’s NHS dramaWhen Ambika Mod was cast in This Is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay’s TV adaptation of …
Continue ReadingNetflixThe terrific standup with the common touch remains an engaging everyman even as the material works in his adventures in showbizMo Gilligan performed no fewer than 10 nights at the 3,000-seat Hammersmith Apollo last autumn, a run now captured for…
Continue ReadingA generous-hearted jokesmith, Cryer created laughs for generations of comics, was a consummate performer and had a lifelong commitment to wit‘An honorary uncle to countless comics’: Jack Dee on CryerThe best work of Barry Cryer, who has died aged 86, w…
Continue ReadingAfter a career spanning six decades, the veteran comedy writer and performer has died, aged 86. We highlight his finest hours, from The Frost Report to I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue Continue reading…
Continue ReadingHe was the shellshocked genius who channelled his anarchic brilliance into The Goon Show. Ian Hislop and Nick Newman explain why they’ve written a play about Spike Milligan – while comedians remember a legendThe tortured lives of comedians form a biogr…
Continue ReadingHe has made a career out of winding people up in everything from The Office to his Golden Globes speeches – but is the comedian’s bark worse than his bite?Ricky Gervais’s assistant leads me past a huge, empty room to the top floor of an office above a …
Continue ReadingChaotic life, lots of sex, little sense of purpose … the Anglo-Aussie’s hilarious takedown of Fleabag and the booming ‘messy-woman genre’ was halted by Covid. Now, after a year and a half of worry, it’s finally backGiven the content of her smash-hit co…
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