Comedy Reviews

Nina Conti Clowning Around, BBC Four

Tom Birchenough Monday, 16 March 2015

Ventriloquist Nina Conti, along with her wisecracking sidekick Monkey, has emerged as one of the sharper comedy acts of the past few years but Nina Conti Clowning Around was an uneasy, far from comic film.

Comment

The 2,000 Year Old Man, JW3

Veronica Lee Monday, 16 March 2015

Well, here’s an interesting endeavour. The 2,000 Year Old Man was a series of improvised sketches performed in the 1960s by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. Brooks played the old guy, talking about all the great names in history – Jesus, Joan of Arc, Napoleon and many more – he has known in his long and eventful life. Reiner was the straight man, lobbing the questions that Brooks would then riff on.

Dracula! (Mr Swallow - the Musical), Soho Theatre

Veronica Lee Thursday, 19 February 2015

Nick Mohammed's show has had a slight change of title since it debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, where it was called Mr Swallow - the Musical, and garnered warm reviews for its shambolic silliness.

Comment

Kim Noble, Soho Theatre

Veronica Lee Saturday, 07 February 2015

The Soho Theatre's lawyer was in the night I saw Kim Noble's new show, and that's no surprise as it pushes a few boundaries – public decency and legality being just two. In many ways it's typical of Noble's output as it plays with the audience's perception of real and imagined events, blurs ethical lines and dares us to be offended.

Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, Manchester Arena

Veronica Lee Monday, 02 February 2015

Due to unfortunate circumstances I am unable to give a star rating to this show; 15 minutes into the second half a cast member collapsed on stage and the performance was cancelled. At the time of posting Ted Robbins (extreme right in the picture below) was recovering in hospital, in a stable condition, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Dara Ó Bríain, Touring

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 26 November 2014

It's always an education to see a comic – now a part of the British comedy establishment – performing a gig in his own backyard.

Noel Fielding, Eventim Apollo

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Many of the audience for An Evening with Noel Fielding were still in nappies when the comic first plied his trade as one half of The Mighty Boosh with Julian Barrett, which started life on the Edinburgh Fringe in the late 1990s and quickly became a cult hit.

John Bishop, Touring

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 11 November 2014

It's a conundrum for some in the industry how John Bishop, so beloved of the BBC, which has given him several vehicles to parlay his Liverpool-lad-made-good comedy, can still, as a multimillionaire, perform his smiley Everyman persona with such conviction and be met with such affection - as indeed he was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham where I saw his Supersonic arena tour.

Comment

Jim Davidson, Sands Centre, Carlisle

Veronica Lee Monday, 03 November 2014

Well, here’s a first; I was taken to a comic’s dressing room to be checked out before I could review his show. There was a mix-up over tickets for Jim Davidson so the front-of-house manager asked him If he would give the OK to let me in. “He wants to see you,” he said.

Lee Mack, Eventim Apollo

Veronica Lee Thursday, 23 October 2014

The last time I saw Lee Mack live, my companion and I were literally in pain because we were laughing so much. It's perhaps unfair to expect a repeat of such a wonderful, life-affirming experience - live comedy is an ephemeral art, after all - but the comic doesn't appear to be even trying to achieve the same effect on his audience in his latest show, Hit the Road Mack, and this time we both left disappointed.