standup comedy
Kate Berlant Is KATE, Soho Theatre review - glorious spoof of actory typesTuesday, 12 September 2023
The show begins before the audience troops into the theatre; the walls of the staircase leading to it are plastered with images of Kate Berlant, its writer and performer; we file past her (sitting by the doorway with a sign saying “Ignore me”) and a... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 review: Ahir ShahMonday, 28 August 2023
Ahir Shah, Monkey BarrelAhir Shah is a fast talker, but then in Ends – which deservedly won best show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards – he has a lot to say. It's a show about multiculturalism, family, identity, fitting in, and encompasses modern... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Janine Harouni / Paddy Young / Ian SmithFriday, 25 August 2023
Janine Harouni, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★Names and identity feature heavily in Janine Harouni’s new show, Man’oushe, itself titled about where her family nickname comes from. Heavily pregnant (the reason why she is ending the show’s Edinburgh... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Olga Koch / Bill O'Neill / Mary O'ConnellFriday, 18 August 2023
Olga Koch Monkey Barrel ★★★★Olga Koch's opening segment deals with bisexuality and her first threesome in some decidedly evocative language. That's what turning 30 does for you, she suggests – allowing her to engage in a more adventurous... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Darran Griffiths / Louise Atkinson / Louise YoungWednesday, 16 August 2023
Darran Griffiths, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★Lots of comics talk about sex in their shows but few do so with such charm and purpose as Darran Griffiths with Inconceivable, his debut hour.The purpose is that it's about the struggle Griffiths and... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Rob Auton / Laura Davis / Matt FordeSaturday, 12 August 2023
Rob Auton, Assembly @Roxy ★★★★ Rob Auton has previously done shows around a theme – the colour yellow, hair, the sky, to name a few - because, he says, he can become a little bit obsessed with a subject. Now, though, he wants to do his most... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Amos Gill/ Lorna Rose Treen/ CrizardsThursday, 10 August 2023
Amos Gill Gilded Balloon ★★★★Amos Gill used to be a human rights lawyer and describes himself as a lefty progressive. But some of his views – or at least those delivered here to great comedic effect – might suggest otherwise. In his hour... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Krystal Evans / William Thompson / Alison SpittleWednesday, 09 August 2023
Krystal Evans, Monkey Barrel @The Hive ★★★★American comic Krystal Evans (now living in the UK) tells us she has a “resting sarcastic voice” but after five minutes in her company you realise she’s just naturally, hootingly funny. Which is a good... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Ania Magliano / Elliot Steel / Alexandra HaddowTuesday, 08 August 2023
Ania Magliano, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★ When Ania Magliano made her Fringe debut last year, her show was rightly garlanded with four- and five-star reviews. She sounded like an original voice on the comedy scene and this year her show, I Can’t... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Ed Byrne / Fiona Allen / Kieran HodgsonMonday, 07 August 2023
Ed Byrne Assembly Rooms ★★★★★ Ed Byrne has frequently referenced his loved ones in previous shows but this new hour is one he would never wanted to have written, as it was prompted by the death of his younger brother, Paul, last year. Its title,... Read more... |
Urooj Ashfaq, Soho Theatre review - assured UK debut by Mumbai stand-upTuesday, 01 August 2023
It's takes a confident comic performing only her second show in English – her second language – to joke near the top of the hour: “I didn't know I wasn't as funny in English.” Urooj Ashfaq also told us she would get upset if the audience didn't like... Read more... |
The Crown Jewels, Garrick Theatre review - star laden comedy fails to sparkleFriday, 28 July 2023
At first, it’s hard to believe that the true story of Colonel Blood’s audacious attempt to steal The Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671 has not provided the basis for a play before. After two hours of Simon Nye’s pedestrian telling of the... Read more... |
