At the Edinburgh fringe, a different performer takes on the Iranian writer's script each day. I found it a playful but heart-in-mouth experience Continue reading...
Vikki Stone plays 20 instruments and Des Bishop taught himself Mandarin can comedy get any harder? Continue reading...
Bridget Christie walks a brave line, Sara Pascoe is on the rise, and a daring improv musical troupe put on a show of our critic's own devising Tom Lamont's Edinburgh theatre round-up Continu…
Psychics and the school staff room what's not to laugh at? Continue reading...
As Holes opens in London, the playwright talks about the loneliness of standup, his affection for his characters and having a plane-crash comedy open at the time of a real air disasterVery r…
Soho theatre, LondonAdrienne Truscott fights misogyny with hilarious slapstick, audience engagement and she's naked from the waist downHere's a dilemma: if you're a feminist comedian delive…
Miranda Hart's party-popping Everywoman intimacy is perfectly at home in the huge O2I last saw Miranda Hart performing live standup at the Edinburgh fringe in 2004, before her Radio 4 show M…
Tim Key at the Soho theatre is somewhere between standup and experimental theatre " and he's painfully funnyStandup comedy is a broad church, but Tim Key's quirky, experimental and often odd…
London Palladium and touringLes, Sandy and of course Edna are on top form for Barry Humphries's farewell tour as the consummate entertainer shows he has lost none of his brillianceDame Edna …
Leicester Square theatre, LondonFrom high erudition to stag jokes, Stewart Lee is a class actDon't expect an artfully constructed hour with a narrative arc and a coherent finale like the las…
Arts theatre, LondonThe double act's physical comedy is an infectious combination of silly and smartPajama Men " Albuquerque duo Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez " have near-perfected their uni…
Birmingham Symphony HallRussell Brand brings a biblical flood of ideas to his finely balanced standup showIt's hard to think of many people better placed to talk about the cult of perso…
Smart, fast-talking female standups Bridget Christie, Aisling Bea and Luisa Omielan are packing them in on the comedy fringeThe possibility of discovering a new comedy talent at the beginnin…
US comedian Michael Che on his gruelling Edinburgh schedule, writing for Saturday Night Live and being thrown out of home by his motherStandup and writer Michael Che only took up comedy four…
From David Baddiel and Alex Horne to Katie Goodman and Claudia O'Doherty, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best comic turns from the first week of the fringeThere's nothing quite like the sense…
When her husband left her, Sarah Millican's unusual response was to tour Britain trying to make people laugh. The comic tells Stephanie Merritt about her Geordie toughness, the quiet humour …
From Andrew Maxwell and Sarah Millican to Russell Kane and Meryl O'Rourke, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best of this year's Edinburgh comedyAndrew Maxwell's fringe poster is adorned with ro…
Comics cross the line into real life-coaching with tips for gents on undoing bra straps and advice for ladies on keeping their hats onThe increasing popularity of self-help and life-coaching…
Whether it's stripping off or throwing bread, sometimes the only way to respond to an interactive show is to embrace the sillinessFew things chill my blood like the sight of the word "intera…
Magic acts are reinventing the genre with show-and-tells, Facebook mind-reading and a 'young Jack Dee in a dragon suit'Magic shows are benefiting from the recent revival of variety " there s…
What with the heckling, non-sequiturs and scatological glee, a roomful of over-excited kids is more like a group of drunk adultsIn the past few years, the children's section of the fringe pr…
In Comic Strip, Asher Treleaven and Gypsy Wood mix standup with striptease to strike a blow against censorshipComedy and striptease: are they natural partners? We're not used to thinking of …
From Humphrey Ker and the Pajama Men to Vikki Stone and Tim Key, Stephanie Merritt reviews the best of this year's Edinburgh comedyJust as the first solo album by members of a successful ban…
When it covers anything from standup to striptease, isn't it time the Edinburgh Comedy awards introduced some categories?Thirty-one shows into the Fringe and I find myself asking the same ol…
We enjoy the comedy of failure and self-deprecation " so find it hard to believe attractive comics could share our insecuritiesWhen you're watching someone on stage for an hour, particularly…