fri 04/07/2025

Comedy Reviews

Milk and Gall, Theatre 503 review - motherhood in the age of Trump

Gary Naylor

Tuesday, 8 November 2016. Vera is in a New York hospital room giving birth to a son. On anxiously checked phones, the votes are piling up for Hillary, but the states are piling up for Trump. Vera’s world will never be the same again.

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Iliza Shlesinger, Eventim Apollo review - feminism, the internet - and bras

Veronica Lee

Iliza Shlesinger is an American writer, performer and presenter whose film work includes roles in Pieces of a Woman and Good on Paper, the latter which she also wrote and produced. She's also an established stand-up comic, with five Netflix specials to her name. For her latest stand-up show, Back in Action, she was on a fleeting visit to London as part of an international 70-date tour, delayed by COVID, before she performs some dates in the US.

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Dave Chappelle: The Closer, Netflix review - race and class examined

Veronica Lee

Say what you like about Dave Chappelle, but if nothing else he's an equal-opportunities offender, as his latest Netflix special, The Closer, proves. The last of his six specials for the network, all of which have drawn criticism – as well as plaudits – for his uncompromising “I tell it as I see it” material has again provoked ire in some quarters.

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Jason Manford, London Palladium review - lockdown laughs and feelgood fun

Veronica Lee

Tickets for Jason Manford's Like Me went on sale in 2019 but the tour had to be put on hold as events unavoidably detained him at home. "I hope you haven't gone off me in that time – it does happen," he said. He needn't have worried as the Palladium crowd were as delighted as he was to be in a theatre, having a laugh.

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Blithe Spirit, Harold Pinter Theatre review - an amusing, if dated, revival of the Coward classic

Gary Naylor

We’re in an agreeable drawing room with an author, Charles Condomine, who is looking forward to having a bit of fun with a local spiritualist, Madame Arcati, whom he has invited over for an evening séance.

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Anuvab Pal, Soho Theatre review - Empire and Bollywood collide

Veronica Lee

Anuvab Pal may be a new name to some UK audiences (although many will know him from the global satirical podcast The Bugle), but he is well known in his native India.

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Olga Koch, Soho Theatre review - personal, political and playful

Veronica Lee

Olga Koch – born in Russia to ethnic German parents, multilingual and now living in London – might fit into the group that Theresa May once dismissed as “citizens of nowhere”, whatever that phrase means.

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Dead Ringers Live, London Wonderground review - impressionists on great form

Veronica Lee

Here's a treat for those missing Dead Ringers (created by Bill Dare) as it takes a break on Radio 4.

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Edinburgh Fringe 2021: Comedy Allstars, Underbelly review - depleted festival kicks off

Veronica Lee

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, this year's Fringe is a much smaller beast than normal. In the face of Covid restrictions, uncertainty about when they would end and the limitations on international travel, this year many performers are staying away. There are 755 shows at 118 venues across the city, compared to 3,841 in 323 venues in 2019, the last time the Fringe was held.

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Wonderville, Palace Theatre review - magic and illusion family show

Veronica Lee

Variety is a form of entertainment most usually seen on Saturday night television these days, but Wonderville is an attempt to bring it back into the West End.

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