Comedy Reviews

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support

Tom Birchenough Friday, 14 November 2025

We are bowled over!

Eddie Pepitone, Special review - return of the curmudgeon

Veronica Lee Saturday, 26 July 2025

There aren’t many comics like Eddie Pepitone any more – the veteran comic’s shtick harks to back an earlier age, pre-suitable for TV and Netflix specials. As the New Yorker says drily in his latest special, The Collapse, he was never going to be considered as a host of either a reality programme full of beautiful people or a smarmy late-night chat show.

Summer Laugh review - five comics gear up for the Fringe

Veronica Lee Monday, 30 June 2025

Appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe has long been an expensive gig for comics. But while stand-ups may need only a microphone to ply their wares at the world’s biggest arts festival, the costs they have to bear – among them venue charges, accommodation and marketing – don’t come cheap, and are growing year on year. Many people attending the Fringe are unaware of its financial eco-system – but the majority of performers there are self-funding.

Kieran Hodgson, Soho Theatre review - a love affair soured by Trump

Veronica Lee Monday, 23 June 2025

Kieran Hodgson is known to television viewers from Two Doors Down and to online fans for his spoofs of TV dramas; but comedy fans know him best for his high-concept stand-up shows, which draw heavily on his personal life.

And so Voice of America, his latest live offering, follows in the same vein, charting as it does his lifelong love affair with America, formed years before he actually set foot in the 50 states.

Sarah Silverman, Netflix Special review - finding the funny in losing a parent

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 17 June 2025

Death can be a powerful driver for comedy, as countless stand-ups and sitcom writers will affirm, but it has to be sensitively handled. Dark humour can be, forgive the pun, life-affirming, and an excuse for the tears, whether of pain or pleasure, to flow.

Dara Ó Briain, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review - master storyteller spins a family yarn

Veronica Lee Monday, 26 May 2025

Dara Ó Briain’s has described his previous show So… Where Were We? – in which he describes his search for his birth mother who gave him up for adoption when he was a baby – as his Philomena, while his latest, Re: Creation, is his version of Elf, in which a grown man travels across the world to find his birth father.

Mr Swallow: Show Pony, Richmond Theatre review - magic tricks and mayhem

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Nick Mohammed invented his Mr Swallow character – camp, lisping, with an inflated ego and the mistaken belief that he has creative talent – more than a decade ago, but he reached a new audience with his appearance as the good guy-goes-bad-then-good-again Nate in the lovely television comedy Ted Lasso.

Zoe Lyons, Touring - midlife, without the crisis

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Zoe Lyons knows her audience; as a few shoutouts confirmed, many of them are long-time fans, and have had lives with similar highs and lows along the way, and she delivers stories about her life that reflect theirs too. And so it proves with her latest touring show, Werewolf – which I saw in the cavernous surrounds of Earth Hackney – as she talks about finding contentment in middle age.

Greg Davies, Brighton Dome review - chocolate bars and errant bumholes

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 22 April 2025

Greg Davies doesn’t spare himself in his new show, Full Fat Legend, his first tour in seven years after having been busy being mean to celebrities on Taskmaster on Channel 4, and showing his acting chops on the BBC’s dark comedy The Cleaner, among other projects. In a busy 90 minutes he talks about his dodgy prostate, pointless masturbation and his errant "bumhole”, among many other unflattering – but very funny – stories.

Marcus Brigstocke, Touring review - modern manhood laid bare

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 09 April 2025

The title of Marcus Brigstocke’s latest show, Vitruvian Mango, is, like the man himself, rather clever. He appears on stage with a mocked-up version the Da Vinci drawing it references with his naked body replacing the artist’s model to illustrate the theme of the show, which I saw at the Alex in Faversham. His version of Da Vinci’s image of the perfect male form is, he attests, “sweeter, softer, seasonally available and, when ripe, delicately perfumed”.