Yeah baby he’s got it! Bananarama, Pontins and the brutally funny dance-off

In 1987, Dan Watson’s dance routine failed to nab first prize from a panel of pesky bluecoats. He revisits this haunting childhood experience in his new comedy show, VenusGood art often chimes with our own life experiences and gives us cause to reflect…

Continue Reading

David Mitchell and Ben Elton’s Upstart Crow sitcom to become stage show

Comedian will make his West End stage debut as Shakespeare in comedy adaptation promising troubles, twins and a dancing bearBen Elton’s sitcom Upstart Crow, which imagines the beleaguered personal and professional lives of a floridly loquacious William…

Continue Reading

Richard Blackwood: ‘I was in a bubble, thinking I had the Midas touch’

Comedian, TV presenter, pop star … the ‘British Will Smith’ was geared for Hollywood stardom until his life came crashing down. Now, in a powerful play about death in custody, he’s making a fresh bid for stardom ‘People are going to come to the show th…

Continue Reading

Richard Gadd on his stalker: ‘It would be unfair to say she was awful and I’m a victim’

The soul-baring comedian has turned his experience of being stalked into a gripping piece of theatre, Baby ReindeerIt had all ended so well. When Richard Gadd won the Edinburgh Comedy award three years ago with Monkey See Monkey Do, it wasn’t just a pr…

Continue Reading

Cracked actor: stage stars review Boris Johnson’s debut as PM

Impressionist Jon Culshaw, playwright James Graham, comedian Bridget Christie and critic Mark Lawson on the prime minister’s opening week in WestminsterI’ve been doing Boris impressions ever since he emerged as Boris the Menace in Private Eye. He stuck…

Continue Reading

15 of the best Edinburgh festival shows now touring

The festival is over for another year but plenty of its theatre, comedy and dance hits have announced dates around the UKCollapsibleBreffni Holahan gives a searing performance as Essie in Margaret Perry’s corrosive play about a woman’s disintegration. …

Continue Reading

Sexy lamps, time travel and punchy comedy: Edinburgh festival 2019 – in pictures

Our photographer Murdo MacLeod captures more of this year’s eclectic Edinburgh festival shows, featuring everything from black holes to Basil Brush Continue reading…

Continue Reading

Will Adamsdale: Power-hungry puppets ate my comedy career

Pesky meerkats, War Dogs, Basil Brush … The puppets are taking over, says the standup – and they’re sabotaging his Edinburgh showMy reaction time is too slow to be a proper standup. It takes me about two weeks to come up with a decent riposte to a heck…

Continue Reading

When the fringe is no joke: minding your mental health in Edinburgh

Performing at the festival can be a taxing experience. Objectively Funny has created a peer support network that turns attention offstageIt’s lunchtime in Edinburgh’s Old Town and I’ve swapped comedy for something more serious. On stage, psychotherapis…

Continue Reading

It’ll Be Alt-Right on the Night review – fun with friends from the far-right

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghMatthew Greenhough’s buzzy one-man show clashes comedy, factionalism and jazz trumpet into a plea for tolerance between the echo chambersAre we “trapped in separate echo chambers” and can the divides be bridged? Matthew Gr…

Continue Reading