standup comedy
Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion, Cow Piece/ Akram Khan, Vertical Road, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 13 October 2010
The annual Dance Umbrella festival is mostly for the dance industry to talk to itself, I’ve come to feel, with a timetable so closely packed that only Londoners, and specifically those in the tight roaring circle of the know, will get to sample much... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Comedian Ben EltonSaturday, 09 October 2010
Ten years ago Ben Elton (b 1959) would have needed no introduction. When still very young he became the mouth of a bolshy new generation of alternative comedians, as they were then known. Saturday Live - later Friday Night Live - was consciously... Read more... |
Ross Noble, Edinburgh PlayhouseThursday, 07 October 2010
Call a comic surreal and you hand him or her a licence to be as self-indulgent as they desire. Think of Vic Reeves, who long ago started believing that the mere proximity to one another of words like "bacon", "kazoo" and "Manama" was sufficiently... Read more... |
Alun Cochrane, Soho TheatreFriday, 01 October 2010
It will come as no surprise that a critic should instantly become a fan of a comic whose debut show at the Edinburgh Fringe (for which Alun Cochrane received a Perrier Award nomination) was a show titled My Favourite Words in My Best Stories. Anyone... Read more... |
Jason Byrne, Leicester Square TheatreWednesday, 29 September 2010
It takes a very talented comic indeed to warm the main room at the Leicester Square Theatre, a venue that is situated beneath a Catholic church and which, vampire-like, can suck the life out of even the most buoyant of audiences. Fortunately, Jason... Read more... |
Sunday Night Comedy, Lyric HammersmithSunday, 26 September 2010
Nowadays, stand-ups who can fill the Enormodome grow on trees. But once upon a time, before comedy was the new rock’n’roll, that sort of thing didn’t happen. Then David Baddiel and Rob Newman played Wembley Arena. It feels like a long time ago.... Read more... |
Rich Hall, Autumn Tour 2010Sunday, 19 September 2010
Mindful that Dara Ó Briain ticked off one of my colleagues for revealing a punchline of his in his show, I can lumber without fear into reporting Rich Hall’s outing at the Wilde Theatre, Bracknell, as punchlines aren’t really what his comedy is all... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Patrick Monahan/ Asher TreleavenThursday, 26 August 2010
With the charm-cum-cheek of a naughty schoolboy, Patrick Monahan is an instantly likeable presence whose latest show, I Walked, I Danced, Iran, is a lop-sided but very funny hour-and-a-bit of observational comedy. Monahan is a veteran of several... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Sarah Millican/ The Phantom BandWednesday, 25 August 2010
When Sarah Millican won the If.comedy newcomer award two years ago, it was with one of the most accomplished shows I had ever seen at the Fringe - by newbie or veteran - and now the South Shields stand-up has made critics reach for the superlatives... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Greg Davies/ Apples/ Carl DonnellyTuesday, 24 August 2010
Comic Greg Davies has made us wait for his solo debut - he’s in his early forties, appeared at the Fringe as part of sketch group We Are Klang for a few years and more latterly has been starring in The Inbetweeners on Channel 4 as Mr Gilbert. Before... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Rob Rouse/ Daniel Sloss/ Teenage Riot/ Mark Nelson/ The Fitzrovia Radio HourMonday, 23 August 2010
Rob Rouse is one of those hugely likeable comedians guaranteed to make you laugh and so it proves with The Great Escape, prompted by his family’s recent move to the Peak District, an expertly crafted autobiographical narrative with lots of fresh... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Kevin Eldon/ Lovelace: A Rock Musical/ Jeremy Lion/ Susan CalmanSaturday, 21 August 2010
He may call it Titting About, but Kevin Eldon’s show, his first as a solo performer (at the grand age of 49), should be made compulsory viewing for young comics. For this is a man who has learned his craft, the value of good writing, of stage... Read more... |
