Comedy Reviews
Nina Conti: Whose Face Is It Anyway?, Brighton Dome review - a melee of jubilant spontaneityMonday, 10 February 2025
“I really am the repository for all your shit,” Nina Conti’s famous Monkey hand puppet tells her. Monkey may have a point. Read more... |
Amy Gledhill, Soho Theatre review - delightfully bawdy take on serious subjectsMonday, 03 February 2025
At the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, Amy Gledhill won best show for Make Me Look Fit on the Poster, ostensibly a cheery collection of stories about the weird and wonderful things that happen to her. But under the guise of feelgood comedy with herself as the butt of many of the gags, Gledhill cleverly weaves in a thoughtful study of female body image and self-esteem. Read more... |
Russell Howard Live at the Palladium review - feelgood philosophy with added smutWednesday, 29 January 2025
This special, available for a limited time only, acts as a sort of appetiser for the next leg of a mega tour that started in 2023, and still has some months to run. The comic played 13 nights in London on the UK leg and the hour-long Russell Howard Live at the Palladium is taken from those dates. Read more... |
Ben Elton, Duke of York's Theatre review - big subjects, big laughsMonday, 20 January 2025
Ben Elton loves a scrap. The Motormouth of yesteryear, who made his name attacking Margaret Thatcher and her policies (and being attacked by the right in turn) now wades into so many frothing hot topics – gender politics, assisted dying and the age divide among them – that one has to assume he loves pushing people's buttons. Read more... |
Chris McCausland, Winchester Theatre Royal review - Strictly winner as cheerfully cynical as everThursday, 16 January 2025
By all accounts Chris McCausland had to be persuaded to take part in the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing, which he won with his professional partner Diane Buswell. It would be a commendable achievement for any non-dancer, but for a blind man it was remarkable, and made a huge emotional impact with viewers who warmed not just to his efforts but also his cheerful demeanour. Now, McCausland is back to the day job as a comic. Read more... |
Gala Preview Show, De Montfort Hall review - Leicester Comedy Festival nicely teed upMonday, 13 January 2025
Europe's biggest comedy festival, which showcases established stars, works in progress, workshops and competitions, kicks off next month, and this gala show certainly whetted our appetites for its 700-plus events. It was hosted by the nimble-witted Maisie Adam. Read more... |
Best of 2024: ComedyMonday, 30 December 2024
Looking back over the past 12 months, it struck me how it has been the shows fashioned from personal stories that have stayed with me. It wasn't simply that the comics could make very good jokes about their travails or embarrassments, but that the material had a strong ring of authenticity. There's nothing wrong with delivering other people's gags (plenty of top-flight performers do it, of course) but when it rings true, it's somehow funnier. Read more... |
Jamie Foxx, Netflix Special review - doctors and divine interventionFriday, 27 December 2024
In April 2023 the actor and comic Jamie Foxx had a stroke and was lucky to survive. In his latest Netflix Special, What Had Happened Was... he tells us about it, and his recovery. It's fitting, he tells us, that the show was recorded in Atlanta, just 400 yards away from the hospital he was taken to by his sister, who knew something was seriously wrong. Read more... |
Ricky Gervais, Touring review - new show, not-so new gagsThursday, 05 December 2024
Ricky Gervais begins by bringing us up to date with the latest “outrage” he has caused; two Netflix specials, SuperNature and Armageddon, upset some people, he tells us, thus giving them even more attention than they might otherwise have had. So now with Mortality he's probably going to upset some more, thus making the Netflix special that will follow its lengthy tour (ending in November next year) even more successful. “Stupid cunts.” Read more... |
Kemah Bob, Soho Theatre review - Thailand, massage and mental healthWednesday, 20 November 2024
Kemah Bob is a regular on television and radio panel shows and well established on the comedy circuit, but Miss Fortunate is her full-length debut. And what a debut; a personal story – ostensibly about the holiday from hell – that manages to riff on mental health, sexual adventure and cultural assumptions. And be funny. Read more... |
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