Tuesday, July 13, 2021
She sometimes said she’d rather be a hairdresser but Aherne’s cheeky early appearances in the pubs and clubs of Manchester led her to TV fame
In the early 90s, Manchester’s cultural re…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AMWednesday, June 9, 2021
Joyce Grenfell inspired her, she wrote her own musical at school and a fringe theatre show with Julie Walters paved the way to TV fame. As Victoria Wood’s Talent returns, we revisit her ea…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AMFriday, April 9, 2021
The format should give comic talents a time to shine. So why don’t our flagship shows reflect the diversity of comedy in 2021?
Panel shows have been a pillar of British comedy for decades.…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AMTuesday, March 16, 2021
The popularity of internet comics has ballooned in the past year, and talent agents are taking notice. But will viral lols translate to a long-term career?
Whether it is Munya Chawawa as the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:03AMWednesday, February 24, 2021
Our series exploring the stage origins of hit comedies continues with the cult hospital horror show that scared up audiences to become a fringe sensation
Garth Marenghi, serious horror write…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54AMMonday, February 22, 2021
Live comedy’s lack of regulation has enabled sexist and predatory behaviour but a group of female standups have ambitious plans to overhaul the industry
Irish comedian Ruth Hunter started …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:18AMThursday, January 28, 2021
In the first of a series exploring the stage origins of hit comedies, the actor remembers creating the delusional letting agent at Bristol University
“For a lot of series one, I don’t li…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48AMTuesday, January 12, 2021
There has been a huge comedy boom on the gaming platform, enabling acts such as Bilal Zafar to gain creative control and reach new audiences
A Bonjela-addicted football manager berates his p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMFriday, December 11, 2020
Carmen Ali and Siân Docksey are among the comedians who riff on their experiences as strippers. The pandemic has revealed both industries to be precarious – but they’re looking out for …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32AMThursday, October 29, 2020
The world of standup has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and assault – and finally some men in the industry are vowing to tackle it
When US comedian Kelly Bachman found her…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AMTuesday, October 13, 2020
In the UK’s most southwesterly county a burgeoning standup scene thrives everywhere from remote village halls and old bakeries to the cliffside Minack theatre
A cliff edge, an old bakery …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24PMFriday, September 4, 2020
Pun fights in boxing rings, nine-year-old standups and a 19-day joke-a-thon … anything goes in vibrant, diverse Leicester, finds our writer as she continues her comedy tour
It is the home …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AMWednesday, August 5, 2020
For years, sexual predators have infested the live comedy scene. But female comedians are demanding action. Is this British standup’s #MeToo moment?
‘If this was a normal office where, o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:36AMSunday, July 12, 2020
Comedians’ old YouTube skits are enjoying a revival in lockdown. And now standups are returning to online video – to push its possibilities even further
At a house party in the north-eas…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AMWednesday, July 1, 2020
It’s the only place in the world where jokes about local councillors work. But is Belfast’s sharp-tongued comedy circuit becoming less hostile to outsiders?
Patrick Kielty’s first Belf…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48AMTuesday, June 2, 2020
How do you make audiences laugh in a town that hates show-offs and loves to hassle performers? Our writer gets some hot tips as she continues her comedy tour
In 2005, you could fit the whole…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:42AMTuesday, May 26, 2020
From care work to shelf-stacking, many standups have taken up jobs to survive lockdown – highlighting how privilege has created a two-tier system in comedy
On 16 March, when Boris Johnson …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54AMSunday, April 19, 2020
Wit and four-letter artistry have made Glasgow a comedy stronghold – and with the clubs shut, the laughs are going online
Glaswegian comedians haven’t always been complimentary about the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:12PMTuesday, April 14, 2020
The Mash Report has always turned tough topics into comedy. As it returns in lockdown, host Nish Kumar and standups Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Tom Mayhew talk about satire’s role in a crisi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AMSunday, March 8, 2020
Amateur nights, ‘chaos energy’ and jokes about yeast … Our writer continues her UK comedy tour and discovers Mancunians’ appetite for the alternative
It’s Manchester’s first ever…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:32PMTuesday, February 4, 2020
We’re brutal, awkward, daft and surreal, say the rising stars of Tyneside’s booming comedy scene. Our writer braces herself for a gag-heavy night on the toon
Anyone who’s had a night o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36AMMonday, January 13, 2020
When her trainer called muscly women ‘unfeminine’, the standup turned her outrage into a hilarious show full of sweat, barbells, chalk and childbirth
Jessica Fostekew felt nervous yester…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:36AMWednesday, November 20, 2019
Larry David took the role of “Larry David” onscreen. But how close are such characters to real life? Three comics starring as versions of themselves reveal where they draw the line
Fans …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:18AMTuesday, August 20, 2019
Performing at the festival can be a taxing experience. Objectively Funny has created a peer support network that turns attention offstage
It’s lunchtime in Edinburgh’s Old Town and I’v…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33PMWednesday, December 20, 2017
Once the domain of aspiring performers, improv courses are increasingly being attended by students experiencing mental health problems“Your heart’s beating faster, you feel all these eye…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AM 
