Comedy Reviews

My Hero: Ben Miller on Tony Hancock, BBC One

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Tony Hancock stopped producing the work on which his reputation rests the best part of half a century ago. He still casts a long old shadow. Many years before BBC Four embarked on its series of biodramas, a life of Hancock starring Alfred Molina captured some of that hulking self-disgust. More recently Paul Merton has become a one-man module in Hancock studies, even going so far as to re-enact some of the old Half Hours.

Edinburgh 2013: Tig Notaro/Joe Lycett

Veronica Lee Saturday, 24 August 2013

Tig Notaro, Gilded Balloon ****

“I've been busy. I've been growing my hair out.” Not the the most animated start to an hour of comedy, but that's how American Tig Notaro begins Boyish-Girl Interrupted, one of the most original 60 minutes I've seen at the Fringe, and certainly the most laidback.

Edinburgh 2013: Glenn Wool/ Gary Delaney/ Carl Donnelly

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Glenn Wool, Assembly George Square ****

There are some comics who can always be relied upon to create engaging and funny shows, and the Canadian Glenn Wool is one of them. His comedy appears to be straightforward stand-up – anecdotes are interspersed with one-liners and puns, with occasional interaction with the audience, to create a small world of his own, with more than a touch of the surreal about it.

Edinburgh 2013: John Lloyd/ WitTank/ Romesh Ranganathan

Veronica Lee Friday, 16 August 2013

John Lloyd, Underbelly Bristo Square ****

Edinburgh 2013: Carey Marx/ Sam Lloyd: Fully Committed/ Baconface

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Carey Marx, Gilded Balloon ****

Carey Marx couldn't come to the Fringe last year, because of the small matter of having a heart attack. But, looking on the bright side, the experience has given him his new show, Intensive Carey, in which the comic tells his story without a trace of self-pity and with a keen sense of the absurd.

Edinburgh 2013: Gyles Brandreth/ Airnadette/ Benny Boot

Veronica Lee Monday, 12 August 2013

Gyles Brandreth, Pleasance Courtyard ***

This is an agreeable hour of theatre and political anecdotes that former MP and now BBC presenter Gyles Brandreth tells with great aplomb. He drops a lot of names, but he's very good mimic – John Gielgud, Frank Sinatra, Prince Charles and others make an appearance – and the stories (whether wholly true or not) are very funny.

Rubberbandits, Soho Theatre

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Rubberbandits embody that modern entertainment industry phenomenon – a huge YouTube hit who have moved into the mainstream with ease. The prankster hip hop duo – Mr Chrome and Blindboy Boatclub (aka Bob McGlynn and Dave Chambers) – have notched up more than 25 million hits online and now routinely sell out their energetic live shows, which they perform as if music gigs.

Reggie Watts/Mac Lethal, Royal Festival Hall

James Williams Wednesday, 19 June 2013

The Meltdown Festival has always been a fascinating proposition, getting a living legend in their field to curate their own personal festival line-up, and present all of their idiosyncratic choices to London in the refined and retro-futuristic surroundings of the Royal Festival Hall.

What Would Beyoncé Do?!, Soho Theatre

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 29 May 2013

The idea of the celeb as fictional life coach is not new. In Play It Again, Sam Humphrey Bogart dispenses tips on wooing to Woody Allen’s schlemiel. Eric Cantona offers gnomic pearls to a put-upon Man U fan in Looking for Eric. And then there’s the altogether more category-resistant Being John Malkovich. But they’re all up on the big screen.

Rob Newman, Little Angel Theatre

Veronica Lee Thursday, 23 May 2013

There's a quite a contrast between the 12,000-seat Wembley Arena in 1993 where, with the help of his erstwhile writing and performing partner David Baddiel, Rob Newman “invented” comedy as rock 'n' roll, and tonight's venue, a bijou children's puppet theatre seating 100 patrons. But then Newman - Robert Newman to those who buy his novels - is doing rather different comedy these days.