standup comedy
Leicester Comedy Festival Gala Preview Show review - an entertaining mixed bagMonday, 14 January 2019
Suited and booted, Tom Allen and Suzi Ruffell presented this gala preview to the Leicester Comedy Festival, which is now in its 26th year and starts next month. The comics, who do an occasional podcast together called Like Minded, make an engaging... Read more... |
Hari Kondabolu, Soho Theatre review - from politics to papayasWednesday, 05 December 2018
As openings go, the first night of Hari Kondabolu's standup residency at Soho Theatre was pretty memorable, so get to American Hour in good time as he is trying to pull off the same trick when he can (no spoilers, but it involves quite a bit of... Read more... |
Matt Forde, Purcell Room review - politics plus deft impressionsMonday, 03 December 2018
You might think that, given the upheaval we are living through, political comics would be 10 a penny but, surprisingly, they’re thin on the ground. Regardless of how any rivals he has, though, Matt Forde is surely the outstanding political comic... Read more... |
Dave Gorman, Royal Festival Hall review - PowerPoint king is back with biteTuesday, 27 November 2018
Anyone who has seen a previous Dave Gorman show or his television series Modern Life Is Goodish knows what to expect: a show that's part lecture, part conversation, all pedantry, done with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation – clicker, laptop and... Read more... |
Ayesha Hazarika, Soho Theatre review - feminism examinedMonday, 29 October 2018
As a former adviser to Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband – and a woman who has put her name forward to be a Labour Party candidate at a Westminster election – Ayesha Hazarika certainly knows her politics from the inside. So a show with the title Girl... Read more... |
Ivo Graham, Soho Theatre review - the perils of growing upMonday, 08 October 2018
Considering where Motion Sickness ends up, Ivo Graham's new show begins a million miles away, as he talks about his love of trains and his favourite train company, Chiltern – or “The Chilt”. But don't be fooled by this quotidian fare; what begins as... Read more... |
Nish Kumar, Soho Theatre review - the state we're inFriday, 05 October 2018
Blimey, Nish Kumar is angry. Angry about Donald Trump, angry about misogyny, angry about racism, angry about Brexit – angry about a lot of things. But before anyone could dismiss It's In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves as a checklist of woke... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2018: Rose Matafeo reviewMonday, 27 August 2018
As we enter the venue, Rose Matafeo is playing a game of mini table tennis with a member of the audience. Nothing that follows seems to relate to this “just a bit of fun to start the show” – but, trust me, it's one of the cleverest bits of... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2018 reviews: Rosie Jones/ Marcus Brigstocke/ Alice SneddenFriday, 17 August 2018
Rosie Jones ★★★★There are two versions of Rosie Jones, she tells us; one nice, one not so nice. And who knows which of those would have won the battle of psyches if the comic had not been deprived of oxygen for a quarter of an hour during birth, she... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2018 reviews: Ari Shaffir/ Ashley Blaker/ Janeane GarofaloMonday, 13 August 2018
Ari Shaffir ★★★★★There are some super-talented US comics at the Fringe this year, and Ari Shaffir is among them. The edgy, no-holds-barred New Yorker lays it out there with his show title, Jew, in which he charts why he has left his Orthodox... Read more... |
End of the Pier, Park Theatre review - thought-provoking play about comedy and raceTuesday, 17 July 2018
Les Dennis was once a marquee name on Saturday night television as host of Family Fortunes, but since giving up the light entertainment lark he now plies his trade as an actor, and a very good one at that. If you've not seen it, give yourself a... Read more... |
Bridget Christie, Brighton Festival review - politics through a domestic lensMonday, 21 May 2018
Bridget Christie tells us at the top of the show that she is a heterosexual, able-bodied, privileged white female – so why is she feeling so discontented? As she explains with great verbal dexterity in What Now?, it is living in a post-EU referendum... Read more... |
