When her trainer called muscly women ‘unfeminine’, the standup turned her outrage into a hilarious show full of sweat, barbells, chalk and childbirthJessica Fostekew felt nervous yesterday, very nervous. So she went to lift some weights. “I was at peak…
Continue ReadingCambridge JunctionThe Yorkshire comic’s endearing set about mistakes made in public roars into life with a final, extraordinary revealWho among us, deciding instantly on a course of action, has never made the wrong call? Maisie Adam’s stage is decorate…
Continue ReadingMy sixtysomething mother lacked confidence, but has reinvented herself as Manchester’s answer to Mrs MaiselRuth Linton, my mum, is an eternally overdressed, perennially late, sixtysomething (don’t ask, because she’ll always deduct two years), divorced,…
Continue ReadingThe writer and standup comedian on the things that make her laugh the mostEugene Mirman. He has the most incredibly creative and silly mind. He manages to be warm and joyful but also make astute political points, and even does pranks without being mean…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe New Zealander’s minimalist Only Bones v1.4 combines the spellbinding and ridiculous but ultimately seems unsure what it wants to beNo props. No set. No text. No narrative. Just one light. Those are the rules guiding Trygve Waken…
Continue ReadingHis influence is everywhere – but is the great, groundbreaking comedian being forgotten? Twenty-five years after his death, we reassess his impact The reports of Peter Cook’s death on 9 January 1995 had no difficulty arriving at a consensus about him, …
Continue ReadingHannah Gadsby’s Nanette pushed her peers to interrogate their approach. ‘As times change, it’s right that comedy can become outdated,’ Anderson saysWil Anderson and I are sitting outside a South Melbourne café, our ears burning in the sun. We’re here t…
Continue ReadingHannah Gadsby made butchness cool again. Now a crop of queer comics are channelling their inner bloke – and getting back to boots, quiffs and tachesSarah Keyworth has, she says, a “weird kind of relationship with masculinity”. She appears confident in …
Continue ReadingLIVR allows subscribers to catch up on theatre in 360-degree virtual reality. How does it compare with the fringe experience?I’m having a beer and enjoying an Edinburgh fringe show from the front row. But I’m on the sofa rather than a folding chair, th…
Continue ReadingThe comedian, actor and writer on the things that make him laugh the mostThere’s a sketch in Chris Morris’s Jam where a fight breaks out over some poppadoms and it doesn’t really bear describing but it has me in hysterics every time. Continue reading…..
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