Comedy Reviews
Edinburgh Fringe 2017 reviews: Kiri Pritchard-McLean / Dad's Army Radio Hour / Elliot SteelMonday, 14 August 2017
Kiri Pritchard-McLean ★★★★ Appropriate Adult has an unlikely subject for comedy – Kiri Pritchard-McLean's work with vulnerable teenagers. But it proves rich territory as she recounts her relationship with one in particular, 15-year-old “Harriet”. Don't worry, it doesn't pose an ethical issue, as the comic, rather than the child, is the butt of the jokes – of which there are plenty. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2017 reviews: Tiff Stevenson / Jarlath Regan / Urzila CarlsonThursday, 10 August 2017
Tiff Stevenson ★★★★ Read more... |
Russell Brand, Touring review - grandiloquent performer in reflective moodFriday, 30 June 2017
Were ordinary folk to plunder their lives for comedy, most of us would be sadly lacking in any topics worthy of analysis, let alone laughs. But Russell Brand, who every few years appears to reinvent himself – from drug addict to stand-up comic, from sex addict to husband, from anarchist to social campaigner, to name a few reboots – can in no way be described as ordinary. Read more... |
Jeremy Hardy, Brighton Festival review - expert raconteur shows political biteThursday, 18 May 2017
Jeremy Hardy is very happy to mock his audience and they love it. One of the biggest laughs of the night is when a punchline refers to us as a collection of “middle class white people”. Being Brighton, he goes further, explaining how tolerant the city is but that everyone’s frustrated as they have no-one to tolerate. Any immigrants, he explains, take one look and head down to Devon “... Read more... |
Ricky Gervais, Touring review - chatty and relaxed riffingFriday, 12 May 2017
Ricky Gervais enters the stage after recordings of some the great (and not so great) men of history – including Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King and Adolf Hitler. And then there's a portentous introduction – are we then going to hear some deep philosophical insights tonight? Well not so much, more chatty and relaxed riffing, with some of his most personal material yet. Read more... |
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... |
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