Comedy Reviews
Michael McIntyre, Brighton Centre review - observational everymanMonday, 30 October 2023
It takes some chutzpah to do a substantial section of a comedy show in 2023 (and touring until mid-2024) that deals with your pandemic woes, but that’s Michael McIntyre for you – he has never been short of confidence. Read more... |
John Robins, touring - high anxiety can be funnyFriday, 20 October 2023
Recovery from alcoholism is now standard fare in stand-up comedy; so too are living with ADHD, OCD, depression and anxiety. It's the last of those conditions, combined with becoming sober, that 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner John Robins has fashioned into a striking and affecting show, Howl, which I saw at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury. Read more... |
Peter Kay, O2 Arena review - comeback show is worth the waitMonday, 18 September 2023
In 2017, Bolton comic Peter Kay had to cancel his planned tour because of “family circumstances”. But then, when he announced last year that he was back in the saddle, the tickets for Better Late Than Never sold like the proverbial. Well into what has mushroomed into a mega tour continuing until 2025, I caught him at the O2 Arena. Read more... |
Kate Berlant Is KATE, Soho Theatre review - glorious spoof of actory typesTuesday, 12 September 2023
The show begins before the audience troops into the theatre; the walls of the staircase leading to it are plastered with images of Kate Berlant, its writer and performer; we file past her (sitting by the doorway with a sign saying “Ignore me”) and a long word-salad statement by her; and then, before she appears, we watch a film on the onstage screen in which – in arty black-and-white, quoting Stanislavsky and Oscar Wilde – Berlant preens and pouts and Looks Very Serious. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 review: Ahir ShahMonday, 28 August 2023
Ahir Shah, Monkey Barrel Ahir Shah is a fast talker, but then in Ends – which deservedly won best show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards – he has a lot to say. It's a show about multiculturalism, family, identity, fitting in, and encompasses modern history on two continents, so he has a lot to pack in. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Janine Harouni / Paddy Young / Ian SmithFriday, 25 August 2023
Janine Harouni, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Olga Koch / Bill O'Neill / Mary O'ConnellFriday, 18 August 2023
Olga Koch Monkey Barrel ★★★★ Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Darran Griffiths / Louise Atkinson / Louise YoungWednesday, 16 August 2023
Darran Griffiths, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ Lots of comics talk about sex in their shows but few do so with such charm and purpose as Darran Griffiths with Inconceivable, his debut hour. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Flat & the Curves / Shamilton! / I Wish My Life Were Like a MusicalMonday, 14 August 2023
Flat & the Curves, Pleasance Dome ★★★★ Flat & the Curves – Katy Baker, Charlotte Brooke, Issy Wroe Wright and Arabella Rodrigo – perform a gig-style musical comedy show with risqué material about what it means to be a modern woman. And there's a generous side helping about the inadequacy of men, too. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Rob Auton / Laura Davis / Matt FordeSaturday, 12 August 2023
Rob Auton, Assembly @Roxy ★★★★ |
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