Comedy
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Papadopoulos & Sons
28 Mar 2013
Forgettable, unconvincing Anglo-Greek comedy drama starring Stephen Dillane
Tales of black sheep family members losing the strictures of stuffy respectability have been legion and the forgettable Papadopoulos & Sons has nothing fresh to enliven the familiar formula. Predictable plotting, stilted performances and…
'The fun of it is to be let off the leash' - Harry Hill on his return to stand-up
19 Mar 2013
'There’s a lot of slapstick in it, all this mucking about which tickles me'
For anyone who might think that, surely, at the age of 48, Harry Hill’s stage act will be a little more sophisticated these days will probably want to think again. Sausage Time will feature, unsurprisingly, a 20ft banger, a mattress for the sole purpose…
Richard Herring resurrects his Talking Cock show for The Second Coming
19 Mar 2013
'If you’ve put your penis into a toilet roll filled with jelly, you might not be the only one'
Richard Herring is feeling a bit fragile. Hungover from a Valentine’s Day celebration the night before, he’s also fending off a new cat with a penchant for digging its claws into his thighs. But it’s not pussy I want to talk to Herring about, it’s cock.
Tickling Jock
19 Mar 2013
Billy Connolly, Ronnie Corbett and Stanley Baxter feature in this comedic portrait exhibition
It would be thoroughly glaikit for anyone to criticise Tickling Jock for not including much in the way of the modern Scottish comedian. For this is very much a portrait of the way our nation’s funny men and witty women once were: knee-deep in the music…
My Comedy Hero: Diane Spencer on Kathy Griffin
19 Mar 2013
'To watch Kathy continue to perform and write as she does is highly motivating'
Determination, perseverance and the ability to make people laugh through it all: Kathy Griffin is my comedy hero. Every day during the Edinburgh Fringe 2010 (my first solo show at the most overwhelming festival in the world), I watched a section of…
Sketch trio WitTank embark on debut national tour
19 Mar 2013
Naz Osmanoglu, Kieran Boyd and Mark Cooper-Jones to tour the UK
You know the deal with sketch show acts by now. Whether they are on the telly or live on stage, some of it will be good, a piece or two in there might even be great, while other bits will be barely passable. Three stars. Not so the WitTank male trio…
Five character comedians at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2013
19 Mar 2013
Anna Morris, Al Murray, Phill Jupitus, John Shuttleworth and Bob Doolally among the GICF highlights
Anna Morris Morris caused a stir on the Free Fringe last August with Dolly Mixture, so let’s hope the Glasgow crowd also take to her vibrant brand of audience participation (that’s you told). Among her crew may well be a nervous stand-up comedian, an…
RockNess 2013 comedy line-up announced
15 Mar 2013
Dylan Moran, Jim Jeffries and Daniel Sloss lead this year’s stand-up bill at Scottish music festival
Following 2012’s year’s killer set from Tim Minchin, music festival RockNess once more prove their commitment to laughs as well as dance beats. Foul mouthed comic Jim Jeffries will be reaching out over the taste barrier with his only Scottish appearance…
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
13 Mar 2013
Laughs are lacking in this tale of rival Vegas magicians, starring Steve Carell and Jim Carrey
After competing dramas about competing magicians (The Prestige and The Illusionist) comes the same idea played for broad laughs. Given that Vegas-style showmanship is ridiculously campy anyway, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone has a large…
Identity Thief
12 Mar 2013
Solid comedy road movie with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman
‘You follow the rules? How’s that workin’ out for you?’ bawls Melissa McCarthy’s shameless criminal when straight-laced accountant Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) catches up with her free-spending ways with his money. Seth Gordon’s follow up to…
The Guilt Trip
4 Mar 2013
Heartfelt mother-son road trip movie starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen
Teaming Barbra Streisand with Seth Rogen promises a road trip worth avoiding; setting the diva who produced and starred in a slew of vanity projects including The Prince of Tides and The Mirror As Two Faces opposite the shambolic stoner from Knocked Up…
TV review: Parks and Recreation
1 Mar 2013
Single-camera mockumentary style does this US comedy few favours
There are some who might think that Ricky Gervais has an awful lot to answer for, and of course he does. But maybe we shouldn’t really lay the blame for the rash of recent mockumentary work on TV entirely at his door. Sure, The Office seemed to set a…
My Comedy Hero: Francesca Martinez on Bill Hicks
27 Feb 2013
'He was fearless, original, thought-provoking and elevated stand-up comedy to an art'
Rather unoriginally for a comedian, I love Bill Hicks. He was fearless, original, thought-provoking and elevated stand-up comedy from entertainment to art. I’ve been greatly inspired by his total confidence in his material and the ability to communicate…
Stand-up Sean Lock is much more than just a panel show pundit
27 Feb 2013
Expect a perfect mix of quasi-surrealism, blokey bonhomie and stunning punchlines
TV can sometimes play funny tricks on the mind. There are probably a bunch of people out there who consider Sean Lock to be nothing more or less than a panel show pundit. And while he is invariably the best thing about said quiz/game affairs, this would…
Blancanieves
26 Feb 2013
1920s set silent take on the Snow White story, with seven bullfighting dwarves
It’s going to be difficult to get through a review of Blancanieves without mentioning The Artist, so let’s get it out of the way now. Both films are European, black and white, reduced format silent films in romanticised 20th century period settings.
Much Ado About Nothing
26 Feb 2013
This lo-fi project from Joss Whedon is an elegant adaptation of the Shakespearean play
It’s not classed as one of Shakespeare's hard-to-categorise 'problem plays', but there’s plenty that’s problematic in this mid-period comedy. The traducement, rejection and humiliation of the innocent Hero, for instance – and her capitulation thereto…
Simon Evans to appear at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2013
26 Feb 2013
The former writer of erotic fiction talks about the adrenaline and fashion of stand-up
Law graduate, freelance journalist and writer of erotic fiction, we think (and hope) that Simon Evans has finally found his true calling. The Hove-based comic may have been around the vocational block but he was born to be a stand-up performer. His…
Andrew Learmonth and Bruce Morton team up for The Soft Play Area
26 Feb 2013
The infant-friendly comedy show will run for as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival
Comedian Chris Addison once recalled the gig-ruining actions of a couple who brought their restless toddler to his Fringe show. While their pleas that a babysitter bailed on them at the last minute fell on unsympathetic ears, the Glasgow International…
Alex Horne presents The Horne Section
26 Feb 2013
Horne takes his jazz/comedy hybrid to the airwaves of Radio 4
For some onlookers, musical comedy is still perched on the lowest rung of the funny ladder despite the sterling efforts of Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin and Flight of the Conchords in changing those perceptions. Known mainly for hi-tech stand-up that hinges…
Top 5 musical shows at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2013
26 Feb 2013
David O'Doherty, Vikki Stone, Mitch Benn, Rob Deering and Rubberbandits combine mirth with melody
David O’Doherty It’s possible that Seize the David O’Doherty is quite probably the most deliberately clunky punning title at the Glasgow Comedy Festival, but beneath it all will be a swathe of masterly comedic tunes. And will he be furnishing us with…
Interview: Comedian Andy Parsons - First and last
25 Feb 2013
The Mock The Week regular on The Jam, Jagermeister and Chinese antiques
First record you ever bought 'Town Called Malice’ by The Jam. Last extravagant purchase you made Tropicana Orange Juice. First film you saw that really moved you The Prisoner of Zenda, aged seven. I had nightmares. Last lie you told Saying…
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
25 Feb 2013
Unsatisfying horror, comedy and action combo starring Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is the dunderheaded English-language debut of Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (best known for highly entertaining Nazi zom-com Dead Snow). Despite a promisingly (and characteristically) daft concept it's a film that lacks…
The Bugle - Podcast of biting political humour
25 Feb 2013
Sharp, incisive satirical podcast from Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver
‘Some people were born to create this technology,’ declared John Oliver to his old shock haired sparring partner Andy Zaltzman at the start of The Bugle’s last weekly edition, ‘and others were born to piss it up the wall. You and I were picked by Team B…
Spring Breakers
22 Feb 2013
Harmony Korine's ludicrously bad drama about four girls gone wild on spring break
Incoherent, brash and self-consciously 'arthouse' in execution, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers is an intriguing cinematic spectacle: an awful film that seems aware – nay, aggressively boastful – of its own awfulness. It follows a quartet of…
The History of Future Folk
22 Feb 2013
Charming but slight sci-fi music comedy in the vein of Flight of the Conchords
Cosmic-folk twosome Future Folk started life on the underground New York music scene, playing acoustic guitar-and-banjo tunes with sci-fi lyrics to crowds of bemused punters. The gentle whimsy and a focus on music rather than jokes puts their foot…
