Comedy
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Stuck In Love
14 Jun 2013
A predictable and pretentious look at romance starring Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly
The debut feature from writer-director Josh Boone, Stuck In Love is a predictable and pretentious look at romance. Focusing on the trials and tribulations of a family of writers, it boasts a decent cast but too often falls for the same plot contrivances…
New trailer and stills for Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
13 Jun 2013
Steve Coogan's comic creation is caught up in a siege in his first big screen adventure
The trailer for Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa has just dropped, giving us the first glimpse of the comedy character’s first big screen outing - and from the trailer it appears he has a lot of work to do. The bumbling Norfolk radio DJ (played by Steve…
This is the End
11 Jun 2013
Star-studded cast play themselves in end of the world film by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
The apocalypse hits during James Franco’s housewarming party. What will the remaining gang of A, B and C-listers (all playing themselves) do to survive? Hard to imagine, isn’t it, how this could be anything other than obnoxious? A bunch of actors…
The Alternative Comedy Experience 2013 UK tour
11 Jun 2013
Stewart Lee brings his merry band of acts back for more
It feels like the festival, looks like the festival and it might even smell like the festival. And yet The Alternative Comedy Experience is done and dusted before the middle of July and off to the cutting room for the bods at Comedy Central to shape…
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013: the best comedies
11 Jun 2013
Frances Ha, Oh Boy and Old Stock among our top picks for comedy at EIFF 2013
Frances Ha This being a film by Noah Baumbach (Greenberg, The Squid and the Whale), you'd probably expect this to be a comedy of the 'bittersweet and poignant' vein rather than, say, all-out slapstick. And you'd probably be right to a certain extent…
Admission
11 Jun 2013
Uninspired academia-set romcom starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd
At first glance Admission could be mistaken for a sure-fire success. Starring lovable duo Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, it combines life-crisis drama with romantic comedy, and director Paul Weitz has some form balancing the two (having directed About a Boy).
Five Things You Didn't Know about David O’Doherty
11 Jun 2013
The Dubliner recorded a song called 'Orange', co-wrote a book about pandas and wanted to play jazz
1 O’Doherty’s original ambition was to follow his father into the world of jazz music but he realised quite quickly (with his dad’s critical words ringing in his ears: ‘you can’t polish a turd’) that it wasn’t really for him. He does credit his old…
Little Howard and the Magic Pencil of Life and Death
11 Jun 2013
Howard Read and his naughty animated alter ego, Little Howard, to perform in Scotland
You can get away with quite a lot when you’re a comedian hiding behind a character. During his appearance at the 2007 Royal Variety Performance, Howard Read was able to be rather naughty in the guise of someone else: his live animated six-year-old alter…
Lucy Beaumont on Radio 4 with To Hull and Back
11 Jun 2013
BBC Radio New Comedy Award winner to invade the waves for a late-night one-off
How wonderfully convenient that this half-hour comedy should kick off with a line from the Housemartins’ ‘Caravan of Love’: ‘Every woman, every man / Join the caravan of love / Stand up, stand up, stand up.’ For fellow Hull-born entertainer Lucy…
Hardeep Singh Kohli mixes food, chat and comedy for 'delicious' show Indian Takeaway
10 Jun 2013
'I’ve invented a couple of dishes... Hopefully it’s more fusion than confusion.’
With interest in cuisine never being higher as witnessed by the rise in the number of food programmes on the box, Hardeep Singh Kohli appears to have landed himself the perfect niche for a live comedy show. His all-conquering Indian Takeaway is a mix of…
My Comedy Hero: Martin Mor on Hovis Presley
10 Jun 2013
Martin Mor praises the late Hovis Presly, the 'only genuis comic' he has ever worked with
My comedy hero is the late great Hovis Presley. Now I realise that a lot of people reading this won’t know who he is, but I would say of all the acts that I have worked with during my career (and I have worked with most of the UK’s big names), Hovis was…
New trailer for Not Another Happy Ending starring Karen Gillan
7 Jun 2013
The Glasgow-shot romcom features the Doctor Who star as an author suffering from writer's block
Following the announcement that quirky indie romcom Not Another Happy Ending will be the closing gala film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, we've just been given a first glance at the trailer. Not Another Happy Ending features the big…
Stand Up Guys
5 Jun 2013
Trio of old-timers Pacino, Walken and Arkin, united in predictable yet humorous gangster drama
While Robert De Niro has been vigorously debasing his art and reputation as a Viagra-popping oldster in The Big Wedding, his Godfather co-star Al Pacino has been alternating cinematic dreck (Righteous Kill, 88 Minutes) with more interesting TV work…
Full programme announced for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013
30 May 2013
New shows from Ontroerend Goed, Michael Nyman and Brendon Burns among highlights
After a month of being drip fed nuggets, the full Fringe feast has been revealed, with a whopping 2,871 shows performed by 24,107 artists in 273 venues across Edinburgh up for grabs. From X-rated puppet musicals and guerrilla style pop-ups to the London…
The Big Wedding
29 May 2013
Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon wasted in this paper-thin romcom
In the opening monologue of The Big Wedding, Don (Robert De Niro) compares marriage to a phone call in the night; ‘first you get the ring, then you wake up’. This line typifies the cynical and not-particularly-amusing brand of humour in The Bucket List…
The Hangover Part III
24 May 2013
The third part in the comedy franchise takes one too many gambles that don’t pay off
The third - and hopefully final - entry in The Hangover series strays even further from what made the original such a surprise success. Darker than its predecessors, this time the action returns to Las Vegas (via Bangkok and Tijuana) but takes one too…
Adam Buxton presents: The Best of BUG
23 May 2013
The comedian’s music video-themed show is still going strong
Who’d have thought there was so much comedic scope in music videos and the inane YouTube comments they attract? But scope there undeniably is, as Adam Buxton has proved with his hugely successful show BUG. A bimonthly event at the British Film Institute…
The Stoker (Kochegar)
17 May 2013
A strange, dark and clever Russian black comedy with an unexpectedly forceful moral message
Edinburgh’s beloved Filmhouse cinema has chosen an unusual and intriguing curio for its first release as a distributor. Directed by the prolific Alexey Balabanov - known for his unflinching but darkly comic fables of the Russian criminal underworld…
'The Comedy Explorers' Alternative Comedy Club' and 'Comedy and Cocktails'
15 May 2013
Jay Richardson talk us through the hot new comedy clubs in Glasgow
The current slow-down in gig attendances, suggesting even comedy isn't recession-proof, puts new nights under pressure to be distinctive. Two ambitious ventures launched in Glasgow recently take diametrically-opposed approaches to persuading punters…
Interview: NYC comedian Judah Friedlander set for 2013 UK dates
15 May 2013
He’s not here to deliver a message. Even if he has a presidential campaign to run
For those familiar with Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock or any number of movies from American Splendor to The Wrestler, you will no doubt picture a slightly doleful-looking dude with much hair, thick glasses and an array of trucker hats. Rather than…
Comedian Helen Arney talks geeks and nerds
15 May 2013
The physics graduate/musical comedian is back with her new dream gig
A quick glance at Helen Arney’s June gig list says everything you need to know about the kind of audience she attracts. Among them are Lab Notes and Call My Genetically Engineered Bluff at the Cheltenham Science Festival, while in Scotland she has two…
Jay Lafferty shares her thoughts on her comedy hero Dylan Moran
15 May 2013
Why Moran's Bernard Black is 'the poster boy for the manchild'
I have always had a thing for dark haired, unshaven, slightly dishevelled gents. I'm a big fan of the sardonic drunk who turns up at parties to roll his eyes and make sardonic quips which is why Dylan Moran is not only my comedy hero but something of an…
Eddie Izzard embarks on 2013 UK tour
15 May 2013
Five things you might not know about the comedian
1. If you happened to be dotting around Edinburgh during August in the early 80s, you may have witnessed Eddie Izzard doing some street performing. In 1991, he was nominated for the Perrier (Frank Skinner won) while his links with the festival now are…
Reginald D Hunter set for 2013 UK tour
15 May 2013
Hitting the trail on the back of fresh controversy
You could say that an extra dollop of spice has been added to Reginald D Hunter’s national tour after a furore that could be described as misguided on almost everyone’s part but the comic himself. When the Professional Footballers Association invited…
Dylan Moran discusses RockNess, stand-up and his next film, Calvary
23 Apr 2013
The Irish comic headlines the comedy stage at RockNess 2013
You’re one of the headliners in the RockNess comedy tent this year – are you much of a festival-goer? I have been over the years – I mean I’ve been to loads of them but it’s generally because I’m on, you know? You can’t really generalise about them…
