Comedy

'It’s a comedy colonic!' - David O’Doherty

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

Jay Richardson meets David O’Doherty, the mild-mannered comic whose musical musings and offbeat observations have won him a legion of indie followers. This year he’ll be feeding his insomnia by entertaining kids and adults alike As an award-winning…

Comedy Shuffle - New Art Club

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

New Art Club are aiming to stretch beyond their usual crowd by injecting some daftness into dance. Kelly Apter finds out how steps and stand-up can go hand in hand.

Best of the rest - Kids shows

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

The Gruffalo. Mouse can scare hungry animals away with tales of the terrifying Gruffalo, but what happens when he comes face to face with the very creature he imagined? Potted Pirates. From the good people who brought you Potted Potter comes this…

Mick Sergeant

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

Touted as the next Steve Coogan, this year marks the first solo show for character comic Lee Fenwick who has previously delighted Fringe crowds as one half of spoof German techno band Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus. For his debut, Fenwick is presenting…

Andrew Clover’s Crazy Kids’ Show

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

Andrew Clover’s show for children came about purely by accident. Last year he wrote a novel for teenagers with an agency booking him to appear at schools to discuss it. Only they booked him into the wrong schools. ‘They sent me to primary schools by…

Animal Olympics - Francesca Beard

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

With her daughters’ stuffed toys and an inspired wit, poet Francesca Beard is bringing the Chinese Zodiac to the Fringe. Her first solo Edinburgh show, Animal Olympics, is ostensibly for kids, telling the tale of the animals racing to work out the order…

Death in Benes - Carol Leifer

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

Having been convinced that playing a Fringe show in the late afternoon is no bad thing, US comic and Seinfeld muse Carol Leifer is now getting excited about her Edinburgh August. Julian Hall makes sure he doesn’t mention the ‘E’ word You may not know…

Omid Djalili

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

There are several downsides to modern fame. Being hassled in the street by ordinary people and getting hunted down by paparazzi when hanging out the washing are just two celebrity negatives. Having chirpy researchers from celebrity TV shows ringing up…

When worlds collide

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

A collaboration between artists and comedians suggests that aliens want to know about supermarkets, science and the Welsh. Mark Fisher hears the spin on The Golden record We were banking on the aliens having hi-tech record players. That way, they’d be…

Saturday’s child - Tina Fey - Baby Mama

17 Jul 2008

America’s newest great comedy phenomenon is Tina Fey. Eddie Harrison uncovers the comic genius in her first big screen adventure, Baby Mama

Profile - Mark Olver

17 Jul 2008

Who’s this fella, then? Having first taken to the mic in 1998, Mark Olver is among that triptych of fine young comics from the west country, which also includes Russell Howard and Wil Hodgson. His style is more conversational than Hodgson’s and less…

Seymour Mace

17 Jul 2008

Ahead of his Fringe show – Testamental: Bible Stories Told By an Idiot – Seymour Mace adds a northern flavour to a series of shows at The Stand in Glasgow. Probably best-known as twins Craig and Steve in Johnny Vegas’ award-winning BBC3 sitcom Ideal…

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

17 Jul 2008

TEEN COMEDY (cert tbc) tbcmin After successfully tackling teenage tomboys in Bend it Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha takes a step into younger territory with this adaptation of two of Louise Rennison’s bestselling books for girls. Looking at life…

Baby Mama

17 Jul 2008

COMEDY (12A) 99min Each generation gets the Mary Tyler Moore it deserves; as creator and star of NBC’s 30-Rock sitcom, Tina Fey has earned herself the right to be 2008’s funny-girl. And even though writer/director Michael McCullers seems intent…

Bloodbath at the House of Death

17 Jul 2008

HORROR COMEDY (15) 88min (Nucleus DVD retail) Out of print for over 20 years, Kenny Everett’s one and only feature film has been unearthed. This horror spoof features a group of monks bumping off anyone who dares enter Headstone Manor, and stars…

Comedy List picks

17 Jul 2008

Raymond Mearns Big man Mearns (who you may have seen in Ken Loach’s It’s a Free World last year) crops up for some top notch compering and a bit of sketch stroke stand-up stuff in Dance, Monkey Boy, Dance. The Stand, Edinburgh, Thu 17–Sat 19 Jul; The…

Edinburgh Fringe - LGBT Highlights

17 Jul 2008

Allan Radcliffe selects the best the Fringe has to offer in comedy, theatre and music

Owen O'Neill

17 Jul 2008

STAND-UP The Stand, Edinburgh, Thu 17 Jul An award-winning playwright, poet and subscriber to the theory that redheads are genetic ‘mutants’ (having conducted the required research for a BBC documentary), Owen O’Neill was one of the first Irishmen…

Tonight’s the night - Saturday Night Live Comedians - Baby Mama

17 Jul 2008

Tina Fey is the latest in a long line of comedians to come through the writer’s rooms of NBC’s legendary comedy show Saturday Night Live. Here’s a few more familiar faces

WALL-E

17 Jul 2008

ANIMATION (U) 103min Can Pixar do no wrong? On the evidence of the CG animation studio’s ninth feature film, the answer is a resounding no. Once again Pixar pushes the envelope in the field it’s been trailblazing since the early 1980s, delivering…

Obadiah Steppenwolfe III

3 Jul 2008

Praise the lord, for Obadiah is back to spread the good news of comedy. First up he'll be 'calming' the nerves of the Red Raw contenders before going hell for leather with his own Thursday madness. 'Allelujah! The Stand, Glasgow, Tue 15, Thu 17 Jul

Will & Greg: A Sketch Show

3 Jul 2008

SKETCH SHOW The Stand, Glasgow, Sun 6 Jul Before the Fringe kicks in along with the attendant confusion of flyers, here’s your chance to take a sneak peak at one of its prime sketch shows. Fresh from some of the minds who brought you last year’s…

Hancock

3 Jul 2008

SUPERHERO/COMEDY (12A) 91min The writers and director of Hancock take a hyper-powered leaf out of the Mystery Men and Return of Captain Invincible school of heroism with Hancock. Will Smith plays a nihilistic superhero who has fallen out of favour…

Kung Fu Panda

3 Jul 2008

COMEDY/ANIMATION (PG) 91min In the words of Carl Douglas’ 1974 disco hit: ‘Everybody is kung fu fighting.’ Everybody, that is, apart from overweight panda Po (voiced by Jack Black). He dreams about joining his heroes, the Fierce Five, in butt-kicking…

Mes amis, mes amours

3 Jul 2008

COMEDY/ROMANCE (15) 106min Mes Amis, Mes Amours resembles a Gallic version of a Richard Curtis movie, set in an affluent, quarter of London and peopled by French expats: it’s less a romantic comedy than a sentimental fantasy of city living among an…

Profile - John Gordillo

3 Jul 2008

Name: John Gordillo Who’s this fella, then? You may have seen the name ‘John Gordillo’ somewhere in your house, but perhaps you just can’t quite place it. No, it’s not the name of a brand new kitchen product (the ‘Gordillo grill’ does have a certain…

On the offensive: if.comedy awards 2007

edfest.tv - video

25 Jun 2008

With a 2007 show entitled So I Suppose This is Offensive Now emboldened by a poster which features our comic host Brendon Burns as, variously, a Zulu warrior, disabled, a guy in a fairy costume and Jesus on the cross, you should know you’re in for a…

Out and about: Stephen K Amos

edfest.tv - video

25 Jun 2008

Amos came out on stage last year and it’s marvellous to see him increasingly weaving tender and masterful material about growing up gay in a British-African household. You’re guaranteed a good time with this talented pro as he imbeds important stuff…

The meaning of life: Mark Watson

edfest.tv - video

25 Jun 2008

Worrying whether a life choice would help with his comedy career was the least of his worries in Mark Watson’s previous existence. ‘I worked in a warehouse just outside Bristol, filing death certificates into boxes. It was unbelievably chilly in there…

Wonderland absurdia: Phil Jupitus & Andre Vincent

edfest.tv - video

25 Jun 2008

Vincent and Jupitus' peculiar mix of Beckett and Lewis Carroll makes a link between two different eras of absurdism and surrealism.

5 Things you might not know about - Francesca Martinez

19 Jun 2008

Martinez first came to the public’s attention as Rachel Burns in Grange Hill and claimed that at her real school she had to use humour to make people accept that even though she had cerebral palsy, she was just a regular kid. She got into comedy when…

Fred MacAulay

19 Jun 2008

STAND-UP Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Jun They say a person’s character is formed by the time they’re seven. According to Fred MacAulay, his was pretty much good to go by age five. ‘Back then I was making up stories and telling lies to amuse…

Teeth

19 Jun 2008

HORROR/COMEDY (18) 93min Vagina dentata is the Latin name for a vagina with teeth, a primal fear which crops up in a number of different cultures and philosophies, now emerging at the centre of this teen flick written and directed by Mitchell…

The List and edfest.tv unite to provide Edinburgh Festivals video content

6 Jun 2008

Over 200 clips from the award-winning edfest.tv will be available at www.list.co.uk alongside related articles and content from The List throughout August.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival fever begins

5 Jun 2008

Fresh from attendance at the Fringe press launch this morning, we can bring you news of a jam-packed programme for August featuring more performances than ever before - 31,320 to be precise - spread across 247 venues throughout the capital and making…

Sex and the City

5 Jun 2008

DRAMA/ROMANCE/COMEDY (15) 145min As Carrie Bradshaw might say – ‘I couldn’t help but wonder how four ageing divas were going to resurrect Sex and the City: The Brand’. Is it possible that Charlotte, Samantha, Carrie and Miranda could pull off the same…

In Search of a Midnight Kiss

5 Jun 2008

COMEDY/ROMANCE (15) 99min Writer/director Alex Holdridge’s dispatch from the frontline of the LA dating scene is exactly what it depicts: a witty, slight affair. Wilson (Scoot McNairy) is a detached single desperate for a date to provide him with a…

Mark Watson - Crap at the Environment

5 Jun 2008

POLITICAL COMEDY (Hodder & Stoughton) When reducing your carbon footprint, the first thing to do is admit that you’re crap at the environment. This is according to stand-up comedian, writer, TV personality and one-man iceberg melter Mark Watson, who…

Priceless

5 Jun 2008

COMEDY/ROMANCE (12A) 104min The best things in life are free, but all seasoned Riviera gold digger Irène (Audrey Tautou) wants is her own credit card from an ageing sugar daddy. Meanwhile, luckless, impoverished bar tender and dog walker Jean (Gad…

Lucy Porter

5 Jun 2008

She may be regarded as one of the most delightful individuals on the comedy circuit, but Ms Porter has shown a different side to her character with her hard-nosed hustling in Celebrity Poker Club and her wickedly-tongued antics in shows such as Lady…

Profile - Wendy Wason

5 Jun 2008

Name Wendy Wason Who’s she then? An Edinburgh lass, she was educated at George Watson’s before heading west to attend Glasgow Uni. She got into acting and took roles in Taggart, High Road and some ads before dipping her toes in the film world with…

Paul Merton's Impro Chums

5 Jun 2008

IMPROVISATION Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 6 Jun The public image of Paul Merton is one of an ad libbing master who can turn the blandest of suggestion or question and turn into improvised gems. Yet this is a man who has plied his comedy trade with…

Superhero Movie

5 Jun 2008

SPOOF/COMEDY (12A) 85min The presence of Airplane’s David Zucker amongst the executive producers and Leslie Nielsen amongst the cast raises hopes that Superhero Movie might offer a classier strain of parody than Date Movie or Meet the Spartans. Alas…

I Served The King of England

22 May 2008

COMEDY/WAR (15) 119min Czech writer/director Jirí Menzel’s adaptation of Bohumil Hrabal’s novel depicts the life of aspiring hotelier Jan Díte (Ivan Barnev) as a non-stop cavalcade of good food and even-better sex enjoyed under the darkening shadow of…

California Dreamin’ (Endless)

22 May 2008

DRAMA/COMEDY (15) 154min Tragically Cristian Nemescu, the 27 year-old writer-director of California Dreamin’ died in a car crash whilst working on the post-production of this richly ambitious film (together with his sound designer Andrei Toncu), hence…

D.A.M. Fine Comedy

22 May 2008

NEW COMEDY NIGHT Gramofon Bistro, Glasgow, Thu 22 May & 5 Jun New comedy nights emerge and disappear in Scotland every year, but to acknowledge a mea culpa, few are noticed by the media. Regardless, undeterred comics are increasingly becoming comedy…

5 Things you might not know about - AL Kennedy

22 May 2008

The A stands for Alison, the L for Louise. She chose to go with the initials as she was keen on a certain degree of anonymity when starting out as a writer and her favourite authors as a kid were JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and EE Nesbitt. She doesn’t come…

Leith Festival

22 May 2008

To commemorate the annual clamjamfry of community celebration way down dockward, we thought we’d treat you to a picture of everyone’s favourite Leither. Okay, everyone’s favourite fictional Leither. We’re not just gratuitously posting pictures of…

Change of Address

22 May 2008

COMEDY/DRAMA (12A) 85min French horn teacher David (Emmanuel Mouret) is improbably picked up by impulsive Anne (Frédérique Bel). She convinces him to come and live in her small Parisian flat. These oddballs are obviously perfect for each other but in…

Matt Groening & Various - Big Brilliant Book of Bart Simpson

22 May 2008

COMEDY (Titan Books) The boast that The Simpsons is now the longest running animated TV series of all time is a bit of a double-edged sword. For as it rolls out episode after episode, into the multiplexes and beyond, the permutations for new plot…