Comedy Reviews
Ayesha Hazarika, Soho Theatre review - 'politics is her patch'Thursday, 20 April 2017
What a day to open your political stand-up show, entitled State of the Nation, a few hours after Theresa May had announced a snap election. Read more... |
Our Friend Victoria review – Victoria Wood’s genius is irreplaceableWednesday, 12 April 2017
In the closing credits of Acorn Antiques, wobbling diagonally across the screen, it says the part of Berta was taken by “Victoria Woods”. Has there ever been a lovelier, truer typo? There was only one Victoria Wood, and yet she seemed somehow to be plural. Read more... |
Russell Howard, Touring - 'the passion and anger are real'Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Russell Howard is in typically chipper form, and so he should be. Dismissed by some at the start of his career as just one of the slew of beige twenty-something blokes emerging in stand-up in the Noughties, he has built a solid television career and a huge stand-up following. Read more... |
Peter Kay's Dance for Life, Ricoh Arena CoventryWednesday, 08 March 2017
Peter Kay’s love – and extensive knowledge – of pop music is well known. He has often spoofed misheard song lyrics in his shows, and has released various charity singles over the years. Read more... |
Miles Jupp, London PalladiumMonday, 27 February 2017
Miles Jupp starts by telling us he’s trying to fathom the kind of comic he should be, after he overheard a comment by an audience member at a show on his previous tour: he was nice, the man proffered, but what he said had taken him by surprise. So should Jupp now be full and malice and predictable? Read more... |
The UK Pun Championships, Leicester Comedy FestivalWednesday, 15 February 2017
The UK Pun Championships have quickly become a fixture of the Leicester Comedy Festival, and this year the organisers installed a boxing ring at De Montfort Hall to underline the event's competitive element. Read more... |
Suzi Ruffell, Soho TheatreWednesday, 01 February 2017
Suzi Ruffell tells it straight: she's working-class and proud, but some people might think she's "common", which is the show's title. She has devised a quick quiz for us to check if we're working-class ourselves, and among the amusing tell-tale signs is: did your mum use to freeze milk? A new one on me, but the show is off to a good start. Read more... |
Chris Gethard, Soho TheatreFriday, 27 January 2017
Comedy fans will be familiar with "New York neurotic" – performed mostly by Jewish writers and comics, with Woody Allen being the exemplar. Chris Gethard, however, is from New Jersey, was raised as a Catholic and is not neurotic at all. Read more... |
Mr Swallow - Houdini, Soho TheatreMonday, 16 January 2017
Nick Mohammed doesn't do things by halves as his chatty airhead alter ego Mr Swallow. Forget the scholarly approach of finely researched biographies of Harry Houdini (“boring!”); his “first-ever entirely true auto-biopic” of the magician and escapologist comes complete with conjuring tricks, song-and-dance numbers and a whole lot of laughs. Read more... |
The Great Indoors, ITV2Tuesday, 10 January 2017
The main attraction of this new US sitcom for a UK audience is that two British actors - Stephen Fry and Susannah Fielding – appear in it. The basic premise is that Jack Gordon, a famed reporter, has led a thrilling outdoorsman life, writing about his adventures for the magazine Outdoor Limits. Read more... |
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