Mercury theatre, ColchesterAn uneven new play from Mischief Theatre skews darker than their hit comedies, with jarring tragedy amid the clowningThe Play That Goes Wrong’s Mischief Theatre have taken their spoofs of ham-fisted am-dram to the West End, B…
Continue ReadingWembley Arena, LondonThe standup returns to the UK with a set on morality, sex and religion that often excels but also stalls with casual misanthropyThe last time Louis CK performed major UK gigs, he breathed the rarefied air of prestige standup supers…
Continue ReadingNetflixThe campaigning US satirist covers politics, parenthood and ‘the jurisprudence of jokes’ in a brash set delivered with major brioYou can’t accuse Hasan Minhaj of not packing enough into The King’s Jester, his first Netflix special for five years…
Continue ReadingThe Grammy-nominated US comedian with a nice-guy reputation has warmed up for the pope and doesn’t swear on stage. But since he called out Trump on Twitter, are we seeing a new, spikier side to the ‘king of clean’?When I first wrote about Jim Gaffigan,…
Continue ReadingOld Market, Brighton A thoroughly likable autobiographical show, comparing Suttie’s domestic midlife and her past daredevilry, hits the comic jackpot with its songsWhen Isy Suttie was a girl in Matlock, Derbyshire, she always had “an urge to look for t…
Continue ReadingOld Market, Brighton A thoroughly likable autobiographical show, comparing Suttie’s domestic midlife and her past daredevilry, hits the comic jackpot with its songsWhen Isy Suttie was a girl in Matlock, Derbyshire, she always had “an urge to look for t…
Continue ReadingFelicity Kendal, Tracy-Ann Oberman and especially Joseph Millson are comic gifts in this 40th anniversary version that fits our times almost too well Well, here’s a surprise. Michael Frayn’s exquisite farce – now celebrating its 40th anniversary – has …
Continue ReadingLeicester Square theatre, LondonLess richly structured than his best work, this looser-limbed evening has given the comic wing-spreading room to experiment“Pure. Simple. Classic.” That’s the refrain – a little tongue-in-cheek, would you believe? – in S…
Continue ReadingThe comedian is a karaoke evangelist and had a religious experience watching Maggie Rogers. But which ‘cool band’ does she lie about liking?The first single I ever boughtI don’t know if I bought a single, but I do remember distinctly buying my first ev…
Continue ReadingEven though it affects one in five pregnancies, the loss of a baby is rarely talked about, especially among men. But standups Jacob Hawley and Will Duggan are using comedy to break that tabooIn 2019, the comedian Jacob Hawley was in his mid-20s and thi…
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