Sunday, January 31, 2021
Podcast The comic actor’s exuberant 10-part history unpicks the nuts-and-bolts of what makes sketches funny, from overlooked past acts to SNL, and British favourites including the Two Ronn…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36PMFriday, January 29, 2021
Available onlineBanter and live laughter help NextUp’s show – featuring a grumpy Jen Brister, a lovable Sarah Keyworth and more – replicate in-person comedy
“What is this? What are w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:06PMMonday, January 25, 2021
Available onlineSofa-bound audiences help the team behind The Play That Goes Wrong to create spontaneous and funny stories on screen
They cornered the West End comedy market. They made it on…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:48PMThe idea that the artform skews left is widespread, but the prevalence of comedians punching down suggests otherwise
“Three-quarters of BBC comedians are liberals,” scream the headlines;…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMThursday, January 21, 2021
When venues were closed by the pandemic, James Acaster, Maria Bamford and other top comics got to work on a web series to rescue The Bill Murray in London
It sounds like the premise for a si…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:36AMTuesday, January 19, 2021
The BBC’s new comedy series brings together half-hour sets from Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Imran Yusuf and Joz Norris
Netflix, Amazon Prime … Radio 4? It’s not just global content platfor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06PMMonday, January 18, 2021
Southbank Centre onlineThis Zoom gig of eyecatching diversity closed the Unlimited festival and felt like a family gathering with its affectionate mutual mockery
‘‘Disabled entertainment…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AMWednesday, January 13, 2021
Netflix The standup is back with an extended version of his 2018 special Tamborine that better captures the spirit of a live gig
What persistent itch, I wonder, persuaded Chris Rock to revis…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:03AMMonday, January 11, 2021
Available onlineOn top of running a marathon – while doubling as a chatshow host – every day this month, the comedian is reprising old favourites
Eddie Izzard’s last comedy gigs were h…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18AMTuesday, January 5, 2021
Familiar faces Jerry Seinfeld, Patton Oswalt and Jim Gaffigan feature on this year’s shortlist – an award dominated by Netflix specials with nary an indie voice in sight
What do we expec…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AMSaturday, January 2, 2021
Modern masterpiece Jerusalem storms back and Trevor Nunn goes underground with Beckett, while Bob Marley gets a musical and Frankenstein becomes a ballet Continue reading...
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:24AMWednesday, December 23, 2020
The X-rated stories still provoke a titter but this recorded performance is a limp substitute for her rousing original
London Hughes was acting like a superstar when she was performing in a …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AMTuesday, December 22, 2020
Available online This online stream of a 2016 Soho theatre show whips through the young comic’s angst and uncertainty
There’s a moment in Rhys James’s 2016 show Forgives when the 25-ye…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AMTwo years on, the Kettering comic’s show Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 remains personal, painful and electrifying. What will he do next?
In the drear of a socially isolated Christmas, it w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06AMMonday, December 21, 2020
There wasn’t a lot to laugh about as venues closed and gigs were cancelled. But standups still delivered silly, edgy and heartfelt gags. Our critic picks his favourite new material
More be…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18AMWednesday, December 16, 2020
Noël Coward theatre, LondonDescribed as ‘the cure for theatre’ by producer Sonia Friedman, Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden’s debut play is full of heart, pleasing pratfalls and endless fli…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AMMonday, December 14, 2020
From Harry Hill to Helen Sharman, Ince’s Christmas mashup of comedy, science and music – Nine Lessons and Carols for Socially Distanced People – reached dizzy heights
It’s Sunday mor…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:24AMFriday, December 11, 2020
Garrick theatre, London Panto innuendo, outrageous caricatures and death by crispy pancake haunt a riotous Christmas whodunnit
A cast of drag kings and queens have been summoned to a West En…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03PMThursday, December 10, 2020
Available online The Pin’s Alex Owen, Katy Wix and Lolly Adefope are among the cast in a superb series about a delusional wannabe auteur
Where there is sitcom, there is (usually) self-delu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42PMWednesday, December 9, 2020
Available onlineThe I’m a Celebrity survivor and Masked Singer host makes irresistible use of his tabloid sex scandal in this fun set
Standup doesn’t work on TV, they used to say. But no…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AMTuesday, December 8, 2020
The cult show that splices Evil Dead II with Elvis Presley hits is now on video cassette as standups hark back to retro formats
The movie was a sequel to one of the original video nasties, s…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AMSunday, December 6, 2020
Turbine theatre, LondonWith high-end performers, rude jokes and lashes of self-irony, there’s throwaway fun to be had – despite the Perspex screens
For those who associate pantos with fu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AMThursday, December 3, 2020
NetflixPuncturing his country’s national stereotypes stays just the right side of charming in Eldjárn’s twinkly routine
‘First Icelandic standup on Netflix” may be as hollow a claim…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18PMWednesday, December 2, 2020
Natalie Palamides’s drag king show remains both raucous and subtle, as it explores grey areas around consent
There can be sacrifices when live comedy transfers to TV – and I expected the…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AMSunday, November 29, 2020
Comedy duo The Pin have livened up lockdown with their Zoom send-ups. Now their end-of-the-pier stage debut is being hailed as ‘the cure for theatre’. Is that why so many stars are linin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AMFriday, November 20, 2020
Live stream from Sydney, available onlineIf the performer gets in the way of himself and his impressive lyrical skills, the best of him still shines through in a fine set
Reactions to Tim Mi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:03AMTuesday, November 17, 2020
NetflixThe US standup has his say on celebrity culture and Covid, but not the Oscars row, and ends up buffering his own ego in a new special
‘It’s my fucking household, I’m not holding…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:24PMSunday, November 8, 2020
YouTube In character as an offensively aggressive comic, Heidecker weaves dodgy jokes with engaging meta twists, but ultimately a lack of variety spoils the party
Parody hack standup is a ge…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AMFriday, November 6, 2020
Amazon Prime VideoThe American comic largely abstains from telling about his adventures in celibacy in a slick and wry standup special
It’s an odd one, this. American comic Kevin James Doy…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32PMMonday, November 2, 2020
Rose Theatre, Kingston Before live comedy disappears once more, Kane delivers a terrific, barnstorming set sending up the pandemic – and the government’s laughable response to it
On Wedn…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:48AMFriday, October 30, 2020
Some standups see it as their job to provide collective catharsis for the coronavirus, while others see pandemic gags as off-limits – even ones about Trump
“I’ve been getting a lot ou…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42PM 
