Comedy
Veronica Lee
Heckling at a drive-in gig is rather pointless, don't you think? The audience, mostly listening through their car radios, will be unable to hear the interruption, while the comic can deliver a slam-dunk put-down that we can all enjoy. And so it proved at Mark Watson's Carpool Comedy Club as it pulled into Culden Faw Estate, between Henley and Marlow on the Oxfordshire-Buckinghamshire border.The heckler was annoyed at headliner Nish Kumar's political gags, which were as bracing as the unseasonal weather. And whether or not you share them, fair play to the guy for sticking to his beliefs while Read more ...
Veronica Lee
What a pleasure it was to go to the first drive-in date of 2021 as Mark Watson's Carpool Comedy Club, produced in association with The Alfresco Theatre, rocked up in the picturesque surroundings of the Hop Farm, near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. The gigs are a pleasurable affair, held in pretty venues with designer food on hand, far removed from the dark, sweaty enclosed spaces that every comic is now so desperate to get back to in just a few weeks. But I for one have become a great fan of alfresco comedy and hope it becomes a permament summer fixture – and that the British weather plays Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Tiny Revolutions With Tiff StevensonThis gem is now in its second series and the back catalogue is worth searching out, as well as the most recent episode with US comedians W. Kamau Bell and Nato Green. It's a collection of conversations between Stevenson and fellow comics – all of them like her politically engaged – about how and why comedy can be a force for political change. Among her guests are American Desiree Burch, who talks about race and cancel culture; old-fashioned lefty Mark Thomas, who describes how he once set up a comedy club in a Palestinian refugee camp; and Irish comic Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Loyiso Gola, twice nominated for Emmy awards for his satire show Late Nite News, has been a big star in South Africa for some years now but this show should help cement his reputation abroad. UK fans will remember his 2018 appearance on Live at the Apollo, where he guyed the audience with his views on the British and Brexit, among other things.Unlearning, a show written a few years ago but updated for this hour-long Netflix special, is rather lighter on gags than the Apollo material but is entertaining in its own way. In it he weaves a story about living in Apartheid-era South Africa, his Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Comedy promoters Just the Tonic have been keeping occupied during various lockdowns, and are continuing with livestreamed shows until comics can perform live in clubs and theatres again. This show was presented as part of JTT's fortnightly variety show Working From Home – which does what it says on the tin, comics doing their bit from the comfort of their homes livestreamed into ours. As ever, it was a cracking Saturday-night line-up with JTT's owner, Darrell Martin, compere for the evening. Matt Forde kicked off proceedings, appearing as Boris Johnson, complete with a blond fright wig Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Fawlty Towers: For the RecordA special, limited-edition vinyl release of the entire comedy series written by John Cleese and Connie Booth to celebrate the BBC sitcom's 40th anniversary. The 12 episodes offer a masterclass in comedy writing and performance – even if they now come with a trigger warning, that some of humour is “of its time”. Much of the special linking narration for the six white vinyl LPs – by hapless waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs) – is unique to the vinyl version and hasn’t been available since the original pressings. As well as Cleese appearing as harassed hotelier Basil Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Chinese Arts Now was founded in 2005 and aims to produce and present work that explores Chinese themes, stories and art forms in the UK. Its annual festival includes a comedy night (presented in conjunction with Soho Theatre), and this year three comics of Chinese heritage – Evelyn Mok, Ken Cheng and Phil Wang – performed.The event, livestreamed from the comics' homes, was in a novel format; Mok (who was born in Sweden and describes herself as Scandinasian) introduced, and we saw clips of them performing, followed by them discussing the themes in their material.It kicked off with a clip from Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Lockdown has been mostly pants for live performers, comics included. There was that brief foray into open-air performances last summer, made even more fun by some lovely weather (although not always) – and I sincerely hope that promoters and comics will venture outdoors again this spring and summer.But it was social media that created some breakout stars – whether on TikTok, Twitter, YouTube or elsewhere. Comedy couple Rachel Parris (The Mash Report) and actor-comic Marcus Brigstocke, an Edinburgh Fringe stalwart, were hardly unknown before Covid hit but they have become an internet sensation Read more ...
Veronica Lee
The Leicester Comedy Festival, always great fun, was one of the last to be able to run fully in 2020, but this year it's not so lucky. Instead of several hundred events in and around Leicester, the 2021 iteration is an online-only version with many fewer shows of Zoom gigs and interviews.The opening show, First Night Funnies, was, I'm sad to say, a rather disappointing affair, complete with some technical glitches which are, of course, nobody's fault but added to the sense of something being thrown together rather than planned.Sikisa was a lively and friendly host who immediately connected Read more ...
Veronica Lee
There's something in the water, as no fewer than three comics are launching podcasts related to the one thing we can't do at the moment – travel. They're having a laugh, aren't they? Other offerings include escapist fun with superheroes, music collections and a spoof true-crime series.Available on all podcast platforms unless stated Alan Carr's Life's a BeachThe comic invites a celebrity guest each week to talk about their travel adventures, either for work or pleasure. If you enjoyed Carr's television chat show, you love this, and it has added domestic drama as the podcasts are recorded Read more ...
Veronica Lee
It has taken three years for the second series of Back to reach our screens (a combination of the creator being busy, a star being unwell and Covid), but it was worth the wait. To recap for those who didn't see the first series of Simon Blackwell's very dark comedy (now on All4), it concerns Andrew (Robert Webb), who suddenly came back into the life of Stephen (David Mitchell), who is, he says, his long-lost foster brother.Blackwell worked on Peep Show, and one could argue that Mitchell and Webb are playing cleverly constructed versions of who their characters on that show, Mark and Jez Read more ...
Veronica Lee
We're still some way off being able to see live performances in actual clubs and theatres, but here are some more comedy podcasts to keep your laughter quotient healthy in the meanwhile.Available on all podcast platforms unless stated. Office LadiesWhat a super idea this is: best friends and former co-stars on the US version of The Office, Jenna Fischer (who played Pam, one half of the “will they, won't they” office romance with Jim) and Angela Kinsey (Angela, the office stickler for rules and cat obsessive), give the gen on the hit workplace comedy. In each podcast episode they recap an Read more ...