Comedy
Theatre at Glastonbury Festival 2023 - so big and wild a hallucination, you're always left wanting moreThursday, 29 June 2023
And that’s it again for another year. Oh Glastonbury. A fever dream where the time of reality stops as you hop on a ride to a land of magic.Yes, it might be celebrated for its musical marvels (Elton John, surely, the set of 2023 that will make the... Read more... |
John Kearns, Brighton Komedia review - Van Gogh, joining the circus and pooey nappiesMonday, 29 May 2023
John Kearns' comedy is what you might call niche; absurdist, surrealist, poetic – they all apply, underlined by his onstage uniform, or “mask”, of tonsure wig and oversize false teeth. But last year he took part in something very definitely... Read more... |
Phil Wang, RFH review - smut and smartsTuesday, 23 May 2023
Phil Wang has an interesting background: he has a Chinese-Malaysian father and a white English mother, was born in the UK, and spent his childhood in Malaysia before returning to the UK at 16. His comedy has always mined this rich seam, and now in... Read more... |
Dear Billy, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh review - powerful tribute to Scottish prideMonday, 22 May 2023
Anyone expecting to see the Big Yin himself, Gary McNair breathlessly explains as he dashes on stage, should nip out and ask the box office for a refund. It’s an ice-breaking gag that sets the tone nicely for McNair’s fast-moving, often snort-... Read more... |
Hannah Gadsby, Netflix special review - shaggy dog story of marital blissTuesday, 16 May 2023
Hannah Gadsby had a memorable lockdown; it was when the Tasmanian comic got together with producer Jenney Shamash. And it's their courtship that forms the basis for Something Special, the wonderful new show by Gadsby which is now a Netflix special,... Read more... |
Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, Touring review - Bogies, bottoms and other childish funTuesday, 25 April 2023
Judging by the average age of people in the audience, many of those who enjoyed Dick & Dom in da Bungalow when it aired on the BBC in the early Noughties were already adults. There was, though, a smattering of youngsters near their bedtime –... Read more... |
Emmanuel Sonubi, ArtsDepot review - confessions of a former bouncerMonday, 17 April 2023
Emmanuel Sonubi burst on the scene at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, where he was nominated in the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and has since appeared on the BBC's Live at the Apollo and supported Jason Manford on tour. It's easy to see why... Read more... |
Chris Rock, Netflix special review - no holds barred on the Oscars slapFriday, 17 March 2023
Chris Rock knows how to tease. It’s a safe bet that many watching this show are here for one thing – to hear his version of events that took place at last year’s Oscars, when actor and erstwhile rapper Will Smith came on stage and slapped the... Read more... |
Crybabies, Soho Theatre review - sharp sci-fi spoofThursday, 09 March 2023
Crybabies – a sketch group comprised of Michael Clarke, James Gault and Ed Jones – were nominated for best newcomer for Danger Parade, a brilliant parody of Second World War adventure stories, at the 2019 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Their second... Read more... |
Bridget Christie, The Haymarket, Basingstoke review - making the menopause funnyTuesday, 07 March 2023
Bridget Christie is hot. Not in that way, you mucky pups. She’s hot because she’s 51 and menopausal, she tells us – and she’s on a mission to explain why, rather than marking a negative moment in her life, it’s the start of a new age, and a good one... Read more... |
Ricky Gervais, BIC review - nudging the boundaries againMonday, 27 February 2023
Ricky Gervais tells us at the top of the show that there was a backlash to his 2022 Netflix special SuperNature. So big, he says, that it’s become the most watched comedy special of the year. “So I’ve learnt my lesson,” he says with a side-eye to... Read more... |
'Weird Al' Yankovic, London Palladium review - deep dive into his original songsTuesday, 21 February 2023
The most striking thing at the London Palladium for the last night of “Weird Al” Yankovic's mini-tour of the UK was the number of youngsters in the audience. I don't mean young adults, but children, who were there with their parents and even... Read more... |
