Comedy Reviews
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and supportFriday, 14 November 2025
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Sarah Silverman, Netflix Special review - finding the funny in losing a parentTuesday, 17 June 2025
Death can be a powerful driver for comedy, as countless stand-ups and sitcom writers will affirm, but it has to be sensitively handled. Dark humour can be, forgive the pun, life-affirming, and an excuse for the tears, whether of pain or pleasure, to flow. Read more... |
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Dara Ó Briain, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review - master storyteller spins a family yarnMonday, 26 May 2025
Dara Ó Briain’s has described his previous show So… Where Were We? – in which he describes his search for his birth mother who gave him up for adoption when he was a baby – as his Philomena, while his latest, Re: Creation, is his version of Elf, in which a grown man travels across the world to find his birth father. Read more... |
Mr Swallow: Show Pony, Richmond Theatre review - magic tricks and mayhemTuesday, 20 May 2025
Nick Mohammed invented his Mr Swallow character – camp, lisping, with an inflated ego and the mistaken belief that he has creative talent – more than a decade ago, but he reached a new audience with his appearance as the good guy-goes-bad-then-good-again Nate in the lovely television comedy Ted Lasso. Read more... |
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Zoe Lyons, Touring - midlife, without the crisisTuesday, 13 May 2025
Zoe Lyons knows her audience; as a few shoutouts confirmed, many of them are long-time fans, and have had lives with similar highs and lows along the way, and she delivers stories about her life that reflect theirs too. And so it proves with her latest touring show, Werewolf – which I saw in the cavernous surrounds of Earth Hackney – as she talks about finding contentment in middle age. Read more... |
Greg Davies, Brighton Dome review - chocolate bars and errant bumholesTuesday, 22 April 2025
Greg Davies doesn’t spare himself in his new show, Full Fat Legend, his first tour in seven years after having been busy being mean to celebrities on Taskmaster on Channel 4, and showing his acting chops on the BBC’s dark comedy The Cleaner, among other projects. In a busy 90 minutes he talks about his dodgy prostate, pointless masturbation and his errant "bumhole”, among many other unflattering – but very funny – stories. Read more... |
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Marcus Brigstocke, Touring review - modern manhood laid bareWednesday, 09 April 2025
The title of Marcus Brigstocke’s latest show, Vitruvian Mango, is, like the man himself, rather clever. He appears on stage with a mocked-up version the Da Vinci drawing it references with his naked body replacing the artist’s model to illustrate the theme of the show, which I saw at the Alex in Faversham. His version of Da Vinci’s image of the perfect male form is, he attests, “sweeter, softer, seasonally available and, when ripe, delicately perfumed”. Read more... |
Matt Forde, Touring review - politics, poo and ViagraSaturday, 08 March 2025
Matt Forde gives a warning: “Don’t heckle the disabled – that’s a hate crime.” What an opener for his latest touring show, The End of an Era, which I saw at the Oxford Glee Club. To explain: in 2023 the back pain that Forde thought was sciatica turned out to be spinal cancer. Major surgery that included severing nerves in his nether regions followed, and post-surgery he now uses a stoma bag and self-catheterises. Thankfully Forde has recovered. Read more... |
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Help to give theartsdesk a future!Saturday, 01 March 2025
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com. It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic team of arts and culture writers went ahead with an ambitious plan – to launch a dedicated internet site devoted to coverage of the UK arts scene. Read more... |
Harry Hill, Wilton's Music Hall review - madcap comic on terrific formMonday, 24 February 2025
Harry Hill reminds us at one point during his latest touring show that he’s 60, but there’s no let-up in the energy he brings to New Bits and Greatest Hits, a pleasing mixture of old and new material showing he still packs a punch on stage. Read more... |
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