Comedy
Veronica Lee
At this time of year you can't move for productions of A Christmas Carol, Dickens' seasonal morality tale. Some are brilliant, some so-so, but this one by the power-crazed impresario Mr Swallow, whose ambition always exceeds his talent, is a joy.Nick Mohammed – deservedly brought to an international audience as the nice-then-nasty Nate in Ted Lasso – appears in A Christmas Carol-ish as the vain, preening Mr Swallow, trying to underpay everyone on stage. In the opening scene his sidekick, Mr Goldsworth (David Elms), discovers Mr Swallow has forgotten to buy the rights – so it's no longer Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Tom Ward does his audience research at the top of the show, asking fairly mundane questions about their ages and where they live before he poses an unexpectedly pointed “Who is in an open relationship?” It's the beat before “They're aware of...” that makes it a killer joke.There are several of those in Anthem, his new show – and first UK tour – that was a hit at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, which showcases Ward's offbeat observational comedy. He has been on the comedy circuit for a few years but his television appearances are becoming more frequent; if you can't immediately place the name, Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Sara Pascoe comes on stage to tell us there has been a small wardrobe malfunction. She's made an effort and is wearing something glitzy, but it restricts her movement in one direction and gives too much in another. Should she go and change into something comfortable but a bit grungy?This confidence is typical of Pascoe's approach – it makes her sound like one of us and we're just having a chat – with the comic doing all the talking obviously. Much of the first half of Success Story is taken up with Pascoe, as she says, "Just me talking about myself" – about achieving a modest amount of Read more ...
Veronica Lee
If anyone in the audience at the Eventim Apollo was expecting Jerry Sadowitz to rein things in after the spot of bother he ran into at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, then they were quickly disabused.The Pleasance had cancelled the second of two planned shows of his latest show Not For Anyone at the festival after complaints by venue staff about the comic exposing his penis during one gag and the use of the P-word to describe the man who has become our new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.No Sadowitz member on display at the Apollo – playing the biggest venue if his career – but plenty appearances Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Confidence, says Helen Bauer, is a good thing. As a woman who casts herself as the leading lady in any situation, including funerals, she has oodles of it – as well as bucketloads of energy in a show that starts with a declaration of intent: “I'm going through a very confident phase and I think you should be there for me.” The audience is on board straight away, such is the force field she exerts from the moment she walks on stage.In Madam Good Tit Bauer talks about some of the things she's supposed to be as a modern woman (she has just turned 30) – including being self-aware and body- Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Although PowerPoint has been around since 1987, and several comics have incorporated it into their shows, it's Dave Gorman who remains king of the form. And here he is again in PowerPoint to the People, an amiable evening in which he, as ever, delves into the nooks and crannies of modern life that the rest of us might overlook, and charts a delicious long-form joke for the audience to enjoy long after they have seen the show.He starts by telling about his lockdown which, two years on, could seem lazy; but not with Gorman, who constructs wonderfully elaborate stories that are never hack and Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Some people learned how to make sourdough bread during the pandemic lockdown, while others discovered the joy of Zoom quizzes. Dara Ó Briain, on the other hand, wrote this brilliant show, So... Where Were We?, his most personal yet.He starts with referencing the lockdown, but what follows isn't a slew of hack observations that have been sitting on the back burner for two years. Rather, in describing the agonies of homeschooling, it's to make a subtle point about how differently Irish and British people view our shared history, or when he talks about the knee surgery he underwent last year, it Read more ...
Veronica Lee
It has been a long time since Harry Hill went on tour – 2013 – so one can assume that many of the youngsters in the multi-generational audience hadn't seen him perform live before, but were there because they know him from his deliriously funny television work, much of it available online. I hope they weren't disappointed – but I suspect, judging by the lack of laughter around me, that at least some were.Hill is an endlessly inventive comic, and he had a slew of props on stage to deliver his gags – most of them utterly daft and beyond explanation – and a lot of Pedigree Fun is brilliantly, Read more ...
Veronica Lee
A dead pigeon. A dead squirrel. A dead fox. Lots of maggots – very much alive. I might be describing your worst nightmare (throw in a rat or two and it would be very close to mine) but this array of wildlife forms an important part in Kim Noble's latest show, Lullaby for Scavengers. I warn you, it takes a strong stomach to sit through it – and I have to confess I had to shield my eyes at several points. The show comes with a content warning for a reason.It's an intricately plotted multimedia show, where Noble operates the equipment with the help of said dead squirrel (perhaps one that he Read more ...
Veronica Lee
It's a pleasure to see Rob Rouse back doing standup, as these days he's as well known for his acting – he plays the idiot savant Bottom in BBC's Upstart Crow, the theatre version of which is opening shortly in the West End after its 2020 premiere run was truncated by Covid.Rouse performed his latest comedy show, No Refunds, at the Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe last month and it's now possible to catch up with it on comedy streamer NextUp, which is running Rewind the Fringe, a week in which it is showing live recordings of shows at the 2022 festival.Rouse, wearing a shirt a little on Read more ...
Veronica Lee
The Dave Edinburgh Awards went abroad this year – Australian Sam Campbell won for best show at the Fringe, while American Lara Ricote won best newcomer.Campbell won against strong competition from Seann Walsh, Liz Kingsman, Delightful Sausage, Alfie Brown, Colin Hoult and Larry Dean, while among those on the newcomer list were Leo Reich and Josh Jones. Those who missed the Queenslander's ultra-silly and goofy hour, Comedy Show, at the festival may be waiting a while to see it as he has yet to announce any more UK dates, but Ricote has just announced she is appearing at Soho Theatre in London Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Joseph Parsons, The Mash House ★★★Joseph Parsons is wearing a Bristol City shirt for Equaliser, which is about being a gay man who loves football. Actually, he loves most sports – he's the kind of guy who will set his alarm to watch curling live at the Winter Olympics on the other side of the world – but football is his game and City are his team. The trouble is that for a big chunk of his life, gay men have often felt unwelcome in football (and, still, no gay Premiership footballer has come out).This is a coming-out story of sorts, as Parsons describes his closeted teenage years and his Read more ...