Comedy Reviews
Alexei Sayle, Oxford Playhouse review - return of the political bruiserMonday, 24 February 2020
It has been seven years since Alexei Sayle last toured, with radio shows and books detaining him elsewhere, but he's back with a bang. As he walks on stage, he immediately starts railing about the “Eton boys running the country”; instead of hailing the school for having produced 20 prime ministers, “it should be in special fucking measures.” Oh, we've missed him. Read more... |
Simon Evans, Blackheath Halls review - a big reveal worth waiting forMonday, 17 February 2020
Simon Evans is a comic known for pithy observational humour, and an often acerbic take on politics, with occasional bits of biography thrown in. Read more... |
Jen Brister, Soho Theatre review - parenting, privilege and porn under scrutinyThursday, 13 February 2020
Jen Brister loves her five-year-old twin boys, she is at pains to tell us, even when they have a major meltdown and, like Little Lord Fauntleroys, refuse to eat broken biscuits. Read more... |
David Baddiel, RST, Stratford-upon-Avon review - taking on the trollsMonday, 10 February 2020
David Baddiel is a keen Twitter user, commenting on matters of the day, making witty observations about this and that, or simply chatting to his 650,000 followers. But he does seem to attract trolls, whose idiocy he frequently confronts – and his new show, Trolls: Not the Dolls, was inspired by some of those interactions. Read more... |
Jayde Adams, Soho Theatre review - witty celebrity takedownMonday, 03 February 2020
No more glitzy and glam musical shows for Jayde Adams, the comic tells us at the top of the hour. Now, after a few years in the business, she wants to be taken seriously (or seriously enough to host Crazy Delicious on Channel 4), so the sequinned Spandex has gone into storage – “no more camel toes” – and she's popped on jeans and a black turtleneck. Read more... |
Matt Forde, Soho Theatre review - Brexit and beyondFriday, 24 January 2020
Matt Forde sets out his stall in Brexit: Pursued by a Bear from the first line: “We meet in diabolical circumstances.” These aren't good times, he says, with two major leaders in the Western world whose relationship with the truth is merely that of passing acquaintance. Read more... |
Flo & Joan, Soho Theatre review - entertaining wit and whimsyMonday, 20 January 2020
Musical comedy siblings Nicola and Rosie Dempsey (Flo and Joan were their grandmother and great-aunt's names) get along very well – even being mistaken for lovers by one Paris hotel who gave them a double bed – and certainly their chat between songs, where they politely interrupt each other and finish each other's sentences, is testimony to that. Read more... |
Frank Skinner, Garrick Theatre review - a masterclass in owning the roomThursday, 16 January 2020
When Frank Skinner did a London run of new material last year, the show was billed as a taster of a longer touring version. Read more... |
Leicester Comedy Festival Gala Preview Show, De Montfort Hall review - mixed bag in mixed billMonday, 13 January 2020
A mixed bill rarely pleases all comedy tastes – whether in style or content – and so it proved at the launch of the Leicester Comedy Festival, which starts next month. In a line-up of eight comics that had few star names, the best came last – but more of that later. Read more... |
Best of 2019: ComedySaturday, 28 December 2019
It was a year in which we welcomed some big, big names back on stage, including Ben Elton, Clive Anderson and Jack Dee. Read more... |
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