The self-deprecating star has won two Edinburgh awards but remains a niche concern. Will a recent breakout turn on Taskmaster and a huge nationwide tour bring his absurdist comedy to the mainstream?In 2014 John Kearns became the first – and thus far th…
Continue ReadingThe US comedian on heckling, why she gravitates towards silly people and the best and worst advice she’s ever been givenWho did you look up to when you started out?In the open mic comedy scene I was coming up in, I loved my friends Maria Bamford, Zach …
Continue ReadingThe comedian and Australia’s Got Talent star shares her choice cuts from the web, including Stephen Colbert, ‘Hong Kong’s Monty Python’ and a controlling pandaGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailMy name is He Huang. I was born and raised in Chin…
Continue ReadingThe comedian on supermarket petrol stations, working with his wife Lucy Beaumont and the comedy heroes he fell in love with in the 90sHow did you get into standup?Sadly, by leaving the town I grew up in [Lancaster] and my family. I hope things are diff…
Continue ReadingAmerican comedian whose influential BBC TV show mixed sitcom and standup material Kelly Monteith, who has died aged 80, was one of the first American standup comedians to get his own show on British television. Titled simply Kelly Monteith and running …
Continue ReadingThe former TV executive on life lessons from Joan Rivers, paper-plane heckles and a ‘perfect day’ doing Live at the ApolloBefore becoming a full-time comedian, you were a high-profile TV exec and producer. Are there any transferable skills from this wo…
Continue ReadingThe US comedy sensation is making up for lost time after Covid with a new show – still self-obsessed, but ‘a bit darker’ – and an opportunity for us to observe a quintessentially millennial comic grow up in publicAs long as there has been standup, comi…
Continue ReadingHe used to upload sketches to YouTube while folding jeans in a shop. Now he gets chauffeur-driven through Hollywood. As his celebrity-studded new gameshow hits primetime, the comic shares his view from the topThe first time I interviewed the comedian –…
Continue ReadingMatthew Holness’s fictional horror author is on the road reading from his novel – prepare to be terrified at the tills while we dream of his full return to the stageWhen is a show not a show? When it’s a book tour, of course. Time was when book tours w…
Continue ReadingOnce an under-the-radar live comedy jewel, Mohammed’s alter-ego impresario is hogging the spotlight in two new stage shows. Is the character destined for TV?Any assessment of the best character acts of recent years – Colin Hoult’s Anna Mann, Zoë Coombs…
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