comedians
Jason Manford, Hammersmith ApolloThursday, 31 October 2013
Mancunian Jason Manford is the kind of chap it would be difficult to dislike. Laidback, casually dressed, smiley and interacting with his audience in a totally unthreatening manner - it's no wonder that that demeanour, coupled with his everyman... Read more... |
The Wipers Times, BBC TwoThursday, 12 September 2013
The last time we saw soldiers going over the top at the Somme with comic baggage attached was the tragic finale of Blackadder. It’s the inevitable comparison that The Wipers Times writers Ian Hislop and Nick Newman were going to face, and though... Read more... |
Big School, BBC OneSaturday, 17 August 2013
Boldly not going anywhere near things like Grange Hill or Teachers, Big School is more like a throwback to the St Trinian's of the 1950s. Co-writer and star David Walliams plays a man known only as Mr Church, Deputy Head of Chemistry at Greybridge... Read more... |
Edinburgh 2013: John Lloyd/ WitTank/ Romesh RanganathanFriday, 16 August 2013
John Lloyd, Underbelly Bristo Square **** John Lloyd is a comedy god to any aficionado of the art form. He has written or produced some of the best radio and television comedy of the past 40 years, including (and these are just brief highlights... Read more... |
Edinburgh 2013: Carey Marx/ Sam Lloyd: Fully Committed/ BaconfaceWednesday, 14 August 2013
Carey Marx, Gilded Balloon **** Carey Marx couldn't come to the Fringe last year, because of the small matter of having a heart attack. But, looking on the bright side, the experience has given him his new show, Intensive Carey, in which the... Read more... |
Family Tree, BBC TwoWednesday, 17 July 2013
Christopher Guest and his group of players have been responsible for some of the funniest, driest comedy films of the past 30 years, including Waiting For Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and, of course, his masterpiece This Is Spinal Tap, in... Read more... |
The Ladykillers, Vaudeville TheatreWednesday, 10 July 2013
The celebrated 1955 Ealing comedy starring Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom was apparently intended as a cartoonish satire of post-war British decline. In 2013, with the Empire long gone and the country struggling in a new age of... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician & Comedian Reggie WattsMonday, 17 June 2013
Equal parts prodigiously talented musician, consistently funny comedian, auteur, theatre performer, free thinker and writer, Reggie Watts is nigh on impossible to pigeonhole. He is a hurricane of furious creativity operating completely in his own... Read more... |
Watson & Oliver, Series 2, BBC TwoFriday, 26 April 2013
You wait years for a female comedy duo to take up where French & Saunders left off, then two come along within a calendar year. Which just about counts as at once. Anna & Katy, who recently had a run on Channel 4, rely for most of their wit... Read more... |
Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea, BBC OneFriday, 12 April 2013
The cup of tea is a national institution that brings comfort and good cheer to millions. So is Victoria Wood. Blend them in a pot and you’ve got a pleasing brew called Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea. It might not have been so. When Wood last... Read more... |
Are You Having a Laugh?, BBC OneThursday, 28 March 2013
How do we know Jesus Christ was a Jew? He was still living with his mum at 33 and she thought he was God Almighty. Are you offended? I sincerely hope not and profuse apologies if you are, but that was the first religious joke I remember from my... Read more... |
New Girl, Series 2/The Mindy Project, E4Wednesday, 27 March 2013
As the second series of Zooey Deschanel-starring US sitcom New Girl gets underway on E4, it’s an interesting exercise to revisit first impressions. I note that when the pilot originally aired, theartsdesk was not as harsh as I was on a show which,... Read more... |
