‘I’d had 28 years of depression – now it was gone’: Comic Paul Foot on three seconds that changed his life

Driving through Manchester one Sunday, at the wheel of a Nissan Micra, Foot suddenly woke from decades of anxiety, anger and misery. He talks about the friends who tried to help him, and the forgiveness he struggled to findFor three years and four mont…

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‘Robin Williams said: “I’ll buy the club!”’: how The Comic Strip set the UK comedy scene ablaze

It started in a strip joint and ended up bringing alternative comedy to our TV screens. Ahead of a new Edinburgh show, Peter Richardson tells us why his riotous creation still makes audiences laugh 40 years onIt was the moment comedy broke with sexism …

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Kathy Maniura: ‘I’ve played a paper straw, a nervous smoke alarm and now a middle-aged cycling man’

The sketch comedian, who merges gentle absurdity with drag, on performing in the rain to an audience of two and how the comedy world needs to changeWhy did you get into comedy?I’ve always loved making people laugh. I was raised on a diet of sketch show…

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Kathy Maniura: ‘I’ve played a paper straw, a nervous smoke alarm and now a middle-aged cycling man’

The sketch comedian, who merges gentle absurdity with drag, on performing in the rain to an audience of two and how the comedy world needs to changeWhy did you get into comedy?I’ve always loved making people laugh. I was raised on a diet of sketch show…

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‘I face the haters full-on!’ Rosie Jones on ramping up the laughs in her new drug-dealing sitcom

In Pushers, the comedian and actor plays a disabled woman from Yorkshire who turns to crime after her benefits are cut. She talks about beating trolls, ‘inhumane’ Labour – and her love of gravy‘No,” says Rosie Jones with a laugh. “I have never done any…

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Search Party’s John Early: ‘You can only take a narcissistic monster for so long – it grates after 10 years’

Dropping the droll, self-obsessed character from his early standup shows, the comic and TV star is swapping millennial irony for the sincerity of songThere was a time when comedians weren’t just about the jokes, they were about the crooning, too. I saw…

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Nish Kumar: ‘I’d like to rap battle Drake. Even I could take him down right now’

The British comedian on his most controversial opinion, explaining Priti Patel overseas and what it is like being ‘the least Zen person alive’Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailYou’re bringing your standup show to Australia. Are you looking for…

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

This gen Z comedian is perfectly placed to pick the internet’s funniest titbits, including Natalie Portman rapping, Hot Department and crying over LMFAOThe first time I remember using a computer was my grandad’s chunky desktop. I remember playing a Fin…

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Tom Cashman: ‘Danny Bhoy thinks I’m still mad about Space Invaders. I really hope he reads this’

The comedian and host of Taskmaster Australia on athletics, germs and the skit that was ‘too sexual’ to airRead more 10 Chaotic QuestionsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWhat’s been your most cringeworthy run-in with a celebrity?I was maybe 2…

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‘A huge chunk of men don’t want a funny partner’: the podcast revealing the horrors of dating as a comedian

When Amy Gledhill and Harriet Kemsley both realised the other was newly unattached, the standups decided to create Single Ladies in Your Area, a hit podcast about divorces, dating and unwanted DMsA few months ago, comedians Amy Gledhill and Harriet Kem…

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