Comedy

Cultural Life: Shappi Khorsandi, comedian

Friday, 16 September 2011

' I love The Soho Theatre in London'

Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies, The Hexagon, Reading (Rated 3/ 5 )

Thursday, 15 September 2011

Last year Stephen Merchant described himself as a "mediocre" stand-up and, based on the quality of the various warm-up gigs he'd performed by this point it was hard to disagree.

Alan Carr: Spexy Beast, Brighton Centre, Brighton (Rated 3/ 5 )

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" plays Alan Carr on to the stage tonight, the opening night of his first tour for four years. However, the fanfare proves to be in vain, with the bespectacled comic laying on a ride with lulls and peaks mostly too shallow to either thrill or bitterly disappoint.

Riches lives up to his name with comedy prize

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Veronica Lee: A show of 'barely controlled chaos' wins the £10,000 award – and guaranteed fame – for Adam Riches at the Edinburgh Festival.

Benet Brandreth, Gilded Balloon
Seann Walsh, Pleasance
Andrew Maxwell, Assembly, George Square
The Rob Deering Experience, Pleasance, Baby Grand
Andrew Lawrence, Pleasance, Cabaret Bar

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Brandreth the Younger has daddy's diction – but not his jumpers, thankfully

The Diary: Daniel Kitson; One Day tour; National Museum of Scotland; Stuart 'The Brand' Baggs; www.fakefringe.com

Friday, 26 August 2011

The Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards: the Nominees, Various venues, Edinburgh

Friday, 26 August 2011

The shortlist meeting for the awards this year was record-breakingly lengthy and no wonder, what with a rather unwieldy list of eight newcomer nominees. Many of the buzz acts made the cut, and of the main six nominees (Adam Riches, Andrew Maxwell, Chris Ramsey, Josie Long, Nick Helm and Sam Simmons), four have already been reviewed on this page and Simmons is covered below.

My Edinburgh: Andi Osho, comedian

Friday, 26 August 2011

This year my Edinburgh show is drastically overrunning, sometimes by as much as 60 minutes. One night it ran from 6.40pm until midnight. Let me explain. At the end of every show, I try to get an audience member to go on a date with me and whilst I don't think of the date as a part of the show, the beady eyes spying on me and my "quarry" suggest otherwise.

Sam Simmons: Meanwhile, Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh (Rated 2/ 5 )

Friday, 26 August 2011

Before coming to Edinburgh, I caught up with Simmons's last Fringe show, Fail, in London. Unfortunately, that title and this show are interchangeable. Essentially, Meanwhile is Simmons's home-made Twitter feed with two devices at work. Simmons attempts to answer questions put to him through various mediums while a female voice interjects with an activity going on simultaneously somewhere else in the world. At this point, Simmons jumps around to act out someone in Germany getting annoyed with their flatmate – or some other scenario.

The 'best' joke at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, according to 3,000 fans

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Adam Sherwin: He is a vitriolic stand-up who screams at his audiences – and today he has something to shout about after winning the best joke award at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.