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‘I had to relearn how to be funny’: comedian Lou Conran on her show about baby loss

July 17, 2017TheGuardian

Lou Conran terminated her pregnancy after five months when she discovered her baby would not survive outside the womb. Now, she is telling her story at the Edinburgh fringe

“Nobody has cried through the previews,” says Lou Conran, “so it can’t be that bad.” The standup, who has supported Sarah Millican and is an Edinburgh festival veteran, is pleased with the warm-ups for her new fringe comedy show, especially as her subject matter lends itself more easily to tears than laughs.

Just over a year ago, when she was five months pregnant, Conran discovered that her baby had a condition she could not survive. After an induced labour, her daughter was stillborn. “An empowering yet painfully funny show about life and ultimately the taboo of death,” states the flyer. Reactions to the concept, she knows, will be mixed. “My mum just said, ‘Oh my god. What are you doing? How on earth are you going to make that funny?’”

On the fringe of fame: star comics caught on camera in their early days at Edinburgh

July 15, 2017TheGuardian

A stash of film shot in the 1990s chronicles the rise of comedy’s big names including Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon and Jo Brand

As the Edinburgh festival prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary, a trove of portraits has emerged, cataloguing the history of some of the most celebrated comedians from its fringe.

The photographs feature Michael McIntyre, Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand and others, from when they were struggling for laughs in the back rooms of Edinburgh pubs. They came to light when the photographer Rich Hardcastle was putting together a book to mark his 25 years in the business.

Related: 25 years of shooting comedians

On stage their whole performance is an amplification of their personality. When they’re off stage they’re sort of normal

Can Daphne and The Pin save Radio 4 comedy?

July 14, 2017TheGuardian

One act offers Badults-style sketches, the other does mindbending meta-gags. Both bring new shows to a station that specialises in self-satisfied comedy

The Pin and Daphne were part of a wave of creative, self-reflexive new sketch comedy that peaked at the Edinburgh festival two or three years ago. Now, both acts have shows on BBC Radio 4. I was interested to hear how their respective shticks transferred to the airwaves, and whether they could resist the tone of self-satisfaction that often afflicts comedy on the nation’s most urbane station.

The Pin’s show is entering its third series, and claims fans ranging from Ben Stiller to David Walliams. Daphne Sounds Expensive – starring the trio George Fouracres, Phil Wang and Jason Forbes – is returning for its second run. I hadn’t listened to either outfit on the radio before, although I know both from the Edinburgh fringe. In neither case can Radio 4 be said to be striking out into bold new territory – both companies are graduates of UK comedy’s most privileged finishing school, the Cambridge Footlights.

Harriet Kemsley: ‘I really enjoy the meninist movement’

July 14, 2017TheGuardian

The standup and podcaster on the things that make her laugh the most, from Sunil Patel to Curb Your Enthusiasm

Katherine Ryan is the queen. I opened for her on tour and she would just kill every night. I was quite young and nervous so she’d introduce me by saying I was with her through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Daniel Kitson review – warts-and-all comedy is crammed with gags

July 13, 2017TheGuardian

Roundhouse, London
Kitson’s observations on everything from rough sleeping to sheep farming are beautifully crafted in a set that – with some polish – should be extraordinary

After a string of solo theatre shows, a new Daniel Kitson standup set is a major event for comedy fans. But is that what Kitson has delivered? Something Other Than Everything is a tightly scripted, technically ambitious piece that blurs the line between standup and theatrical monologue. Whether that’s to be welcomed is hard to judge from opening night, when Kitson repeatedly forgets his lines and confuses his technical cues. A planned 100-minute show sprawls to over two hours. The man’s brilliance is freely on display – but this performance tests the patience.

It can feel as if Kitson has crammed in every standup-worthy observation he’s made in the years since his last comedy show. He’s got too much to say, but recurring themes emerge – our responsibilities to one another; the downsides of progress; the complexities of liberal guilt. “There’s no right thing to do,” Kitson laments, “and no excuse for doing nothing.”

Heard the one about the standup who built lift shafts? Comedians on their previous careers

July 11, 2017TheGuardian

Modelling bras for Asda, giving tours of parliament, proving yourself on a building site … top comics relive their old day jobs

Alex Salmond to star in Edinburgh Fringe show

July 11, 2017TheGuardian

Ex-first minister to host Alex Salmond Unleashed – billed as mix of comedy, music, political reminiscence and chats with guests

Alex Salmond vowed to bounce back after losing his parliamentary seat last month. “You’ve not seen the last of my bonnet and me,” he said, paraphrasing a Jacobite song.

The former Scottish National party leader and ex-first minister of Scotland is aiming to fulfil that prediction next month, though not with a return to frontline politics.

Confronting my own mortality in my 20s has forced me to make the most of life | Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski

July 10, 2017TheGuardian

A spiteful genetic disease has meant regular chemotherapy for the last four years. But it’s also made me appreciate life all the more

• Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski is a journalist and comedian

The chemotherapy ward. Surely one of the most fearsome places imaginable, filled with the ill, the dying, the victims of that universal disease: mortality. This month will be the fourth anniversary of the first of my own, now monthly, visits to Guy’s hospital’s Cancer Centre in the shadow of the Shard in central London. Four years. Obviously most people get chemo for only a few months so this is a pretty rare experience.

The 10 best things to do this week: Lovebox and Painting Pop

July 7, 2017TheGuardian

Frank Ocean tops the bill at the east London festival, while Abbot Hall in Cumbria celebrates Blake, Hockney, Boty and more

Dog-friendly screening
Dog lovers and fans of stop-motion animation rejoice! London’s Picturehouse Central is hosting a special dog-friendly (well-behaved canines only, please) screening of My Life As a Courgette on 9 July. Water bowls and blankets will be provided (for the dogs, obvs).
At Picturehouse Central, W1, 9 July

The 10 best things to do this week: Lovebox and Painting Pop

July 7, 2017TheGuardian

Frank Ocean tops the bill at the east London festival, while Abbot Hall in Cumbria celebrates Blake, Hockney, Boty and more

Dog-friendly screening
Dog lovers and fans of stop-motion animation rejoice! London’s Picturehouse Central is hosting a special dog-friendly (well-behaved canines only, please) screening of My Life As a Courgette on 9 July. Water bowls and blankets will be provided (for the dogs, obvs).
At Picturehouse Central, W1, 9 July

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