Comedy Reviews
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 reviews: Ciaran Dowd/ Tom Parry/ Suzi Ruffell, Pleasance CourtyardMonday, 05 August 2019
Ciaran Dowd *** Read more... |
Robin Ince, Soho Theatre review - fun among the chaosMonday, 15 July 2019
How to describe a show that by Robin Ince’s own admission doesn’t have a narrative strand, and for which he has written several pages of notes that he gets through only a small section of? Well here goes: he calls the show a mash-up of the two cultures of art and science in a celebration of the human mind, and Chaos of Delight is very well named. Read more... |
Arthur Smith, Soho Theatre review - charming tribute to his fatherWednesday, 10 July 2019
There has been a trend in stand-up comedy in recent years for intensely personal shows, confessional even, but it’s the comic’s life that is usually the one being examined for comedic effect. Read more... |
Frank Skinner, Leicester Square Theatre - mixing some acid with the charmMonday, 17 June 2019
Frank Skinner walks onstage without introduction and a man in the audience gives him a friendly heckle by way of greeting. Skinner is straight on it, engaging him in a brief conversation; his responses are amiable enough but have a few barbs too. Read more... |
Emily Atack, Clapham Grand review - I'm a Celebrity... star's first solo showFriday, 24 May 2019
Most people know Emily Atack from The Inbetweeners, where she played Charlotte, the object of Will's desire. More recently, she found new fans as the runner-up on 2018's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Now she is performing in her first solo comedy show, Talk Thirty to Me. Read more... |
Al Murray as the Pub Landlord, Embassy Theatre Skegness review - comic pulls his punchesMonday, 20 May 2019
Al Murray's Pub Landlord character has been around since the mid-1990s. As such, it's a wonder that Murray has managed to reinvent the embittered, xenophobic loudmouth so many times, but he has – and the EU referendum in 2016 should have, you may have thought, given the character new life or killed him off altogether. Read more... |
Ruby Wax, Brighton Festival 2019 review - how to be humanSunday, 19 May 2019
Once the self proclaimed poster girl for mental illness, Ruby Wax has evolved her stand up act, because, as she puts it, “everyone has mental illness now. It spread like wildfire.” Read more... |
Andy Hamilton, Brighton Festival 2019 review - gently amusing night of reminiscenceTuesday, 14 May 2019
Taking place at the Theatre Royal, Andy Hamilton’s show is entitled An Evening with… rather than a straight stand-up and mainly consists of the comedy writer/performer and gameshow regular answering audience questions. During the first half this is done via raising a hand and shouting out questions; during the second half by leaving pieces of paper on the stage front during the interval. Read more... |
Seann Walsh, Broadway, Letchworth Garden City review - Strictly's bad boy tells his storyFriday, 10 May 2019
Let's start with that kiss – the one that propelled Seann Walsh from “Who?” in last year's Strictly Come Dancing line-up to being the “bad boy” of the series after pictures of his drunken late-night clinch with Katya Jones, his married professional dance partner, appeared in the tabloids. Read more... |
Reginald D Hunter, Princes Hall Aldershot review - underpowered but the laughs come throughMonday, 06 May 2019
Reginald D Hunter drops the n-bomb near the top of the show. He means no offence, he tells the audience, but it's the vernacular where he comes from in Georgia. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
MobLand, Paramount+ review - more guns, goons and gangsters...
A year ago Guy Ritchie brought us the Netflix series The Gentlemen, and now here he is on Paramount+ with his latest romp through the...
Ed Atkins, Tate Britain review - hiding behind computer gene...
The best way to experience Ed Atkins’ exhibition at...
Album: Miki Berenyi Trio - Tripla
I saw the Miki Berenyi Trio play a warmly received sold out set at the Lexington last autumn, at which many of the songs now coming out on ...
The Importance of Being Oscar, Jermyn Street Theatre review...
It’s a greater accolade than a Nobel Prize for Literature – one’s very own adjective. There’s a select few: Shakespearean;...
Album: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Death Hilarious
Pigsx7 have hardly got a reputation for penning tender and soulful ballads, but Death Hilarious is a particularly aggressive and...
Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical excess
That friend you have who hates musicals – probably male, probably straight, probably not seen one since The Sound of...
Misericordia review - mushroom-gathering and murder in rural...
“Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” The Aesop-ian maxim roughly applies to Jérémie Pastor (Félix Kysyl) in Alain Guiraudie's...
Owen Wingrave, RNCM, Manchester review - battle of a pacifis...
It’s quite ironic that the Royal Northern College of Music should have invited, as director of this,...
Apex Predator, Hampstead Theatre review - poor writing turns...
Motherhood is a high stress job. Ask any woman and they will tell you the same: sleepless nights, feeding problems and worry. Lots of worry. Lots...