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Sir Ken Dodd, legend of comedy, dies aged 90

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

Stars pay tribute to Liverpudlian comic described as ‘one of the last music hall greats’

Tributes have been paid to the entertainer Sir Ken Dodd, who has died at the age of 90 just two days after marrying his long-term partner.

Dodd died on Sunday in the house in which he was born in the Liverpool suburb of Knotty Ash, his publicist said. His wife, Anne Jones, was at his bedside.

What a wonderful day for sticking a cucumber through your neighbour’s letter box and shouting ‘the aliens have landed!’ Tatty bye Doddy. And thanks . #doddy

Comedy flowed through him like water. RIP Sir Ken Dodd. pic.twitter.com/v0FjVJVe1n

Comedians say case of sued performer is threat to the art

February 23, 2018TheGuardian

Standups say outcome of Louise Reay case could stop people talking about personal lives

Leading comedians, including David Baddiel, have said the Louise Reay case, in which she is being sued by her estranged husband for allegedly defaming him on stage, should not restrict standups from using personal material.

In what has been described as a test case, Reay, whose real surname is Beamont, is being sued for references to her marriage in her show, Hard Mode, at the Edinburgh Fringe and in London last year.

1 WK TODAY! We’re so excited to see these amazing comedians in action on 1 March @UnionChapelUK for You (Still) Can’t Say That! The Big PEN Comedy Gig. Grab yourself a ticket quick-sharp – Book Now: https://t.co/QOtOZuhhpO #comedygig #freespeech #comedy #londoncomedy pic.twitter.com/adSgFW9Hzi

I sympathise with Louise Beaumont: we comedians are truth-seekers | Arnab Chanda

February 22, 2018TheGuardian

Looking for the laughs in painful personal stories makes for interesting subject matter, but emotionally it’s a high-risk path

I don’t really feel comfortable speaking about Louise Beamont’s case, in which Thomas Reay, her estranged husband, is suing her on the grounds that she defamed him in a standup show. Not only have two people’s lives genuinely been affected, but I haven’t even seen the show and, as it’s an ongoing court case, I can’t comment on it too much anyway (being sued sounds super tiring). Also, I’m just a moron comedy writer who never even studied law (I thought My Cousin Vinny was good though).

I can, maybe, try to answer one question, though: where do you draw the line when it comes to writing good comedy versus exposing someone you know or love?

I sympathise with Louise Beaumont: we comedians are truth-seekers | Arnab Chanda

February 22, 2018TheGuardian

Looking for the laughs in painful personal stories makes for interesting subject matter, but emotionally it’s a high-risk path

I don’t really feel comfortable speaking about Louise Beamont’s case, in which Thomas Reay, her estranged husband, is suing her on the grounds that she defamed him in a standup show. Not only have two people’s lives genuinely been affected, but I haven’t even seen the show and, as it’s an ongoing court case, I can’t comment on it too much anyway (being sued sounds super tiring). Also, I’m just a moron comedy writer who never even studied law (I thought My Cousin Vinny was good though).

I can, maybe, try to answer one question, though: where do you draw the line when it comes to writing good comedy versus exposing someone you know or love?

Standup comedian’s husband sues for defamation over ‘provocative’ show

February 19, 2018TheGuardian

Louise Reay says she faces bankruptcy if she loses case that could boil down to judge’s sense of humour

An award-winning standup comedian is being sued by her estranged husband for allegedly defaming him in her show.

The lawsuit, described by a leading lawyer as a test case, relates to a show by Louise Beamont (stage name Reay). Hard Mode was billed as as a “provocative show [that] explores censorship and surveillance”; though one critic described it as being “at its core … about a very recent and raw heartbreak”.

Polski sklep-stick – is Brexit Britain ready for eastern European standup?

February 19, 2018TheGuardian

A wave of comedians from Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Romania are helping to tackle stereotypes about EU immigrants in the UK

It’s not easy being a Polish comedian in Brexit Britain. “I haven’t heard anyone actually say the words, ‘Go back to your country,’” says Mike Topolski, a standup and actor originally from Wrocław in western Poland who moved here seven years ago and is now proudly engaged to “a Geordie lass”. “But I did a gig a couple of months ago in south London and the jokes were not well received at all. I was the only foreigner there and it felt like it was a Brexit crowd. They were just staring at me and I could see them thinking: ‘How are you still here? Should we build a wall or what?’” His signature opener? “Yes, a comedian. But also builder, plumber, electrician and gardener.”

Topolski is one of more than 80 comics in the lineup of the UK’s first Eastern European comedy festival (EEComFest), which opens on Wednesday with 19 shows at venues across London. It features acts from 15 countries, from Bosnia and Moldova to Malta and Slovenia. The festival’s mission statement jokes that this is “another try from immigrants to get control over the United Kingdom and end the British way of life. It will be in London, as it’s the UK city with the biggest immigration problem.” But clearly the aim is the opposite: to use humour to try to improve mutual understanding. It’s like Eurovision, only intentionally funny.

If I say I’m 31 and I live with my parents, in Romania, that is very funny. It’s too late to be living with your parents

The Big Burns Supper – in pictures

January 22, 2018TheGuardian

Dumfries celebrates the birth of Robert Burns with dance, theatre, live art and comedy, turning Burns Night into a festival of contemporary arts Continue reading…

Sophie Willan: who are you calling a northern working-class comic?

January 9, 2018TheGuardian

Her childhood in care, her mother’s heroin addiction, her days as a sex worker … Bolton comedian Sophie Willan is turning the details of her life into dazzling standup

It’s great to have Sophie Willan’s working-class voice in the comedy industry. That’s not (just) me talking, that’s how “loads of people” have greeted the Lancastrian since her standup debut in 2016. “Some people are quite up for being pigeonholed like that,” says Willan. “But I think nuance is important.”

What do onlookers mean when they peg Willan as “northern” and “working-class”? How accurately can those labels describe any of us? Those are the questions posed by her second show, Branded, which tours next month. With it, Willan enacts phase two of her manifesto, as she calls it, to bring authentic working-class voices into the mainstream – while questioning why those voices are momentarily hip again.

Working class may be ‘cool’ now, but ‘they want your identity and your story, but not the personality that goes with it’

Daliso Chaponda: from Malawi to a major UK tour with gags about slavery

December 31, 2017TheGuardian

Daliso Chaponda gets laughs from topics other comedians shun. After a whirlwind year of success on Britain’s Got Talent, he explains why he does it

Jokes about famine and slavery are not the standard fodder of a comedy routine, but Daliso Chaponda revels in crossing the line.

The 38-year-old Malawian was a surprise star of Britain’s Got Talent this year, winning over millions with his cheeky but close-to-the knuckle gags about life as an African in Britain.

People like that I talk about crazy subjects like slavery and colonialism in a way that isn’t guilt tripping

From the time Trump’s tweets disappeared to David Davis’s Brexit diary: satirists take on the news

December 30, 2017TheGuardian

Joe Lycett, Ayesha Hazarika, Gráinne Maguire and Nish Kumar take a fresh look at the year as part of our comedy special

• Read more from the satire special

On 3 November 2017, President Donald J Trump’s Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes. For those moments, the world had no idea what he was thinking or feeling or watching on Fox.

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