Lucy McCormick: ‘I don’t stop until I’ve gone too far’

Transgressive, intimidating and smeared with ketchup, the performer loves to give audiences more than they’ve bargained for – from an X-rated Jesus to a bare BoudiccaLucy McCormick pulls her elbow back and closes her left eye. Whoosh, twang, thud: the …

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Tim Minchin review – a triumphant comeback that is short on laughs

Eventim Apollo, LondonIn his first tour for eight years, the Australian polymath offers up a three-hour spectacular tracing the story of his lifeTim Minchin was “misdiagnosed” as a comedian, he says in his new show, Back. You can see what he means: com…

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Jonny Donahoe: ‘I have very boring dreams – I once dreamed I was making toast’

The actor, comedian, playwright and one half of Jonny and the Baptists on the things that make him laugh the mostI must have watched Dylan Moran’s DVD of Monster, recorded at Vicar Street in Dublin, about a hundred times. It’s storytelling, almost char…

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Stewart Lee: Tornado / Snowflake review – joyously funny

Leicester Square theatre, LondonWith typical deftness, the standup has made his scintillating two-part show a hymn to political correctness and a giddy attack on lefty sensibilitiesWhat is Stewart Lee’s position in the comedy marketplace? And whither h…

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Jenny Slate: ‘For every bit of garbage Trump spews, I’ll write something beautiful’

The standup comedian is used to writing for public performance, but her remarkable book Little Weirds was written as private consolationJenny Slate is sitting in the middle of a storm. She’s safe inside, somewhere on a Massachusetts peninsula, and it’s…

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Count Arthur Strong review – fuzzy logic and cosmic nonsense

Leicester Square theatre, LondonAt every turn, the confused ‘astronomer-in-chief’ gives us something to marvel at – from crap ventriloquism to the films of ‘Dustbin Hoffman’At least in the colloquial sense, Count Arthur Strong has always been a space c…

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Weinstein’s reappearance showed he has no shame. I had to call him out | Zoe Stuckless

There is still a sickening culture of silence and fear around Weinstein. This is how ‘dreammakers’ cling on to their power• Zoe Stuckless is an actor based in OregonI had one of the most surreal nights of my life a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine…

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Scummy Mummies: ‘The number seven is odd. It feels like a loner, a misfit’

The standup duo and parenting podcasters on the things that make them laugh the mostHelen: Smack the Pony’s Dating Agency sketches. So silly, so gross, so desperate.Ellie: My son drew a picture of me that looked exactly like Hitler, and made me laugh f…

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Lou Sanders review – feminism, desire and a 12-month ‘man ban’

Soho theatre, LondonSanders is genial company in her new hour, Say Hello to Your New Step-Mummy, but this isn’t a big-hitting showLou Sanders made a big leap forward with her 2018 show Shame Pig, a tight hour exploring female shame and Sanders’ outre s…

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Ardal O’Hanlon: ‘Comedy never used to be a career – it was for slackers with ukuleles’

The star of Father Ted and Death in Paradise on his ‘unstable’ personality, his revealing new standup show – and the terrifying bomb scare he endured as a childArdal O’Hanlon is too embarrassed to have his picture taken in the restaurant where we’ve ju…

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