Comedy

Nude

Non-gratuitous meanderings for art’s sake

21 Aug 2008

Don’t worry, there is no gratuitous nudity in Nude, just two actors flexing and posing their naked bodies in close proximity to the front row. But it’s all done in the name of art, and the context of a life drawing class, in which the reluctant audience…

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy

The Boosh performer's latest TV effort abounds in surrealism but lacks coherence... and jokes

2 Feb 2012

Ahead of his new gaudily-coloured clutter-fest, Noel Fielding admitted that making this solo series left him feeling a bit unhinged. After ingesting just a few minutes of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (E4, Thu, 10pm) only the most avid Boosh fan will…

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

By-the-numbers old age comedy drama

10 Feb 2012

Early in this by-the-numbers comedy drama, a young salesperson eagerly enthuses to retiring couple Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton) that 'the grey pound is very strong at the moment'. We’re quite clearly supposed to see this…

Arrietty

Studio Ghibli takes on The Borrowers and delivers charming results

13 Jul 2011

(U) 94min Over three decades, the Studio Ghibli brand of animated storytelling has become a worldwide phenomenon through beloved classics My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and the recent Ponyo. Although not directed by the studio’s co-founder Hayao…

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…

Five sport shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

15 Jul 2010

From football and tennis to rugby and the Olympics, these shows go for the win.

The best free and cheap things to do in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Visit a library, go for a walk, bake a cake or see some cheap theatre

21 Jan 2011

Beat the January blues with these guaranteed pick-me-ups, suggested by our writers and some friends of The List. They’re all free, or cost just a few quid, so you’ll come out of winter with your bank balance intact and a smile on your face

Electric Man

A patchy, if well intentioned, Edinburgh-set comic comedy

8 Feb 2012

(12A tbc) 98min Shot in Edinburgh on a micro-budget, comic shop comedy Electric Man declares its intentions from the off: this is to be no social realist kitchen sink drama, typical of the UK film industry, but rather a light-hearted love-letter to…

GFF 2012 - Day planner

Our highlights for each day of the Glasgow Film Festival

6 Feb 2012

It can be difficult, when any festival rolls around, to decide which events to skip in favour of others. Searching rigorously through the programme, referring back to the calendar, trying to fit in as much as possible - it's a painstaking piece of work…

5 Things you might not know about - Tina C

30 Oct 2008

Despite appearances to the contrary, Tina C is not a genteel C&W dame from Tennessee but is in fact a strapping gentleman by the name of Christopher Green, a bloke from Derbyshire. To be more map-specific, Green hails from Matlock, a true hotbed of…

Kristen Schaal & Kurt Braunohler

Schaal and pal delve into surreal corners

21 Aug 2008

A warning is gently dispatched: Double Down Hearts will break our minds. Co-written in reverse chronological order by Kristen Schaal, of Flight of the Conchords fame, and Kurt Braunohler, her ‘gift’ of a comedy partner, the play pastiches the melodrama…

Russell Howard

Beat surrender

14 Aug 2008

Russell Howard can't resist a spot of testicular tomfoolery but, he tells Jay Richardson, his new act is less Buster Gonad than Jack Kerouac With his infectious, wide-eyed optimism currently offering a counterbalance to Frankie Boyle's unflinching…

Interview: Zach Braff, writer, director and star of All New People

The Scrubs and Garden State star discusses his new theatre production

2 Feb 2012

‘I’m still Jenny from the block,’ says Zach Braff after a moment’s reflection. ‘Even now I feel a bit underground in the acting world.’ For those who enjoyed Braff (and 20 million viewers around the world did) as the lovable JD in US comedy drama…

Young Adult

A fiercely dark comedy from Juno writer-director team Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman

2 Feb 2012

(15) 94min This reteaming of Juno director (Jason Reitman) and writer (Diablo Cody) is a fiercely dark character comedy that once again demonstrates the pair’s refusal to be limited by genre conventions, no matter how sacred. The set-up is…

Lucy Porter

A set down to its bare bones

14 Aug 2008

While it may have been slightly dispiriting for Lucy Porter to hop out on stage to a less than packed auditorium, there's little in her jovial demeanour to suggest crushed hopes. To spend an hour in Porter's company is akin to having a litre of Jelly…

Interview: Noel Fielding of Mighty Boosh on new sketch show Luxury Comedy

New sketch show explores the comedian's surreal subconcious

6 Jan 2012

Noel Fielding arrives at the Groucho Club in Soho wearing his favourite cape. It’s black with red details – very Ripper chic – and when he sits down, it balloons over the sides of his armchair. By the time the comedian and Never Mind the Buzzcocks…

Angelos Epithemiou's Christmas

The deadpan Greek/cockney comic scorekeeper from Vic & Bob’s Shooting Stars

23 Dec 2010

How will you be celebrating Christmas? Well I will be celebrating Christmas with all my family: my mum Anastacius and my dad Apostolos and my brothers Agamemnon, Aggatheus, Archipelago and Arterius. Although I’ve been trying to get hold of them on the…

Lucy Porter to do a one night only show in Glasgow

Worth a trip to the West Coast as Ms. Porter skips out on Fringe Festival

30 Jul 2010

The Fringe is having to do without lil Lucy for this year, but she clearly can’t keep away from this part of the globe as she pops up for one night only. Her bloke will be here for the month, though, all dressed up and with somewhere to go as Jeremy…

Barry and Stuart

Showing and telling their magical mysteries

8 Aug 2011

Be-suited Aberdonian purveyors of macabre magical comedy, Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod have struck upon one hell of a gimmick. First comes The Show, filled with their favoured brand of slightly gory trickery and presented by the twosome with their…

Paul Foot & Noel Fielding

The comedian answers questions asked by his director.

17 Aug 2010

The List asked the surreal and brilliant Paul Foot to complete our First Word interview. Of course, he couldn’t do it normally, and invited Noel Fielding (who directed his Fringe show) to set the questions. Here are the mind-bending results How long…

Interview: Frankie Boyle

Scottish comedian on taboos, comedians, sectarianism and cancer

9 Jan 2012

In an exclusive Scottish interview Frankie Boyle sounds off on taboos, sectarianism and the tabloids. The following are his own views in his own words. If you don’t like swearing, controversial comedy, or have been offended by him previously, look away…

Film You Instead shot at music festival - David Mackenzie interview

Hallam Foe and Young Adam director on making a film at T in the Park

18 Feb 2011

David Mackenzie, director of Hallam Foe and Young Adam, discusses his new movie You Instead, a rock'n'roll romcom that aims to capture the excitement of T in the Park.

A selection of the best comedy podcasts

Free comedy from Robin Ince, Richard Herring, Andrew Collins and Marc Maron

19 Nov 2010

The explosion in free podcasts has been a boon for comedy fans, delivering intimate interviews, topical improv and experimental sketch shows, all the while plugging audiences directly into the psyches of their favourite stand-ups. US comic Marc Maron’s…

The Nelson Twins

More groans than laughs

17 Aug 2010

God love them, but these ‘garden gnome’ resembling identical twins from New South Wales really struggle to spin the gimmick out long enough for an entire show. It’s only 45 minutes long, and it has its own warm-up act – the expressionless stoner, Luke…

5 Questions: Kristen Schaal & Kurt Braunohler

13 Aug 2009

What five words best describe your show? Encore performance of last year. Can you name a comic who should be more famous than they are now? Stewart Lee should be so famous and so in demand that he is no longer able to make personal appearances.

Dixie's Tupperware Party - Plastic fantastic

A ruder version of Dame Edna

28 Jul 2009

Dixie Longate is not your average type of gal. She may be a street-smart, fast-talking belle these days, but life hasn’t always been so easy. Having thrown off the shackles of her trailer park existence back in 2001, she was saved by Tupperware. A life…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

The Midnight Beast - Book At Us Now

Unfunny pop-parody book designed to cash in on upcoming TV fame

18 Oct 2011

(Coronet) ‘We mock the living hell out of stuff for a living,’ claim London pop parody trio The Midnight Beast. Even in this disposable age, simply poking fun at more talented people can only stretch so far before the game is up. Success rarely…

Jeremy Lion answers questions from kids

The children's entertainer answers the questions that popped into our mailbox

5 Aug 2010

Bumbling children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion has taken time out from being near-permanently soused to explore some pressing environmental issues in his new show. He’s still got time for the kids, however, and was more than happy to answer the questions…

Noel Fielding interview

4 Nov 2009

First record you ever bought It was Motörhead and it was an album called Bomber. I was quite a weird kid. Last time you were chatted up Probably last night. Last lie you told Probably last night as well. I lie every day. First movie you ever…

Tim Minchin - Looney tunes

31 Jul 2008

Not one for being stuck in a pigeonhole, Tim Minchin is a musician, actor, comic and father. Anna Millar meets the man who looks like a scarecrow and is terrifying the world of traditional stand-up comedy

Frankie Boyle

9 Aug 2007

In some ways it would be difficult to imagine an encounter between Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr, what with them being, arguably, the two finest gag tellers in contemporary British stand-up comedy. How, you wonder, can they have a chat when they must be…

Henry Rollins – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Fri 13 Jan

Prolific punk-rocker gets gut laughs on his three-hour rant

3 Feb 2012

Few people can make a decent living out of talking on stage for two hours. Henry Rollins, on the other hand, has it down to a fine art. An honorary punk rock graduate having earned his stripes fronting S.O.A. and Black Flag in the 80s, and later, his…

The Descendants

Star performances from George Clooney and Shailene Woodley in Alexander Payne's latest comedy drama

5 Jan 2012

(15) 115m In Alexander Payne’s first film since his 2004 critical darling Sideways, George Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaii-based businessman and heir to a hugely valuable piece of Hawaiian land. On the eve of him signing a deal to sell the land and…

Fringe 2011 comedy blogs - Catie Wilkins

The little things that add to the theatrical experience

10 Aug 2011

The great thing about the Edinburgh Festival is you never know what will be around the corner. I mean, you can usually take a punt that it will be a herd of flyerers, or some annoying street theatre, but sometimes the real life theatre going on around…

Julian Clary - Lord of the Mince

Intimate, retrospective stand-up from the New Statesman columnist

13 Jul 2009

Offstage, Julian Clary is a man of relatively few words and the ones that he will proffer are certainly not minced. He’s direct but he doesn’t go deep, choosing the trivial over the heavyweight. It’s partly because I need to have two bites at Clary’s…

Wedding Daze

21 May 2007

COMEDY In an excruciatingly embarrassing opening sequence worthy of the notorious warm apple tart shag in American Pie, the star of both somewhat infantile romantic comedies, the charmingly gormless Jason Biggs, proposes marriage to his sweetheart…

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

The devil plays guitar

13 Nov 2006

Tearing modesty a new asshole, Tenacious D describe themselves as ‘the world’s greatest rock band’. The D’s two members, Jack Black (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Kyle Gass (lead guitar and backing vocals), name check among their inspirations Kiss, Dio…

Joost Swarte: Is That All There Is?

Compendium of the Dutch cartoonist’s satirical alternative comics

3 Feb 2012

Apparently so. Or almost so. Is That All There Is? collects virtually all of the Dutch cartoonist’s alternative comics from way back in 1972 to the present day, translates them into English and assembles them, under Swarte’s own supervision, in this…

Late'n'Live Guide to Comedy

The greatest hits of the legendary Fringe bear-pit makes an appearance on TV

2 Feb 2012

‘The performing equivalent of self-harm’ is how Johnny Vegas describes the bearpit hell of the notorious Late’n’Live. Brainchild of the Gilded Balloon’s head honcho Karen Koren, this Edinburgh Fringe staple has been sending chills down the spines of…

Nakedness and nudity at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Naked Busker and lap dancing photography exhibition among highlights

20 Jul 2011

It may get the moral minority’s g-string in a twist, but nudity and Edinburgh go hand in hand. Here are some naked highlights. Pot of Dreams - Jannica Honey & Holly Davidson Photographic Exhibition. The multifaceted human aspects of Edinburgh’s lap…

How to find work at the Edinburgh Festival 2011

How to find a job at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

3 Jun 2011

Thousands of people descend upon Edinburgh at this time of year for the start of festival season and now is the time to begin your search for a job within the buzzing excitement. In a study carried out last year it found that 71% of volunteers had an…

The Muffia

Uncomfortable, unplanned and best avoided

19 Aug 2009

Tight Women is a baffling little number, telling the tale of two market traders fantasising about their own telly show. However, the action is overshadowed by the awkward silence of an audience desperately trying to like and understand the two stars…

An Hour to Sing fo Your Soul - Kevin Bridges' stand-up show

23 Jul 2009

When comics make their Fringe debuts, many of them are hell-bent on working up the biggest theme their minds and mouths can maintain over the course of an hour. Not such manufactured tosh for a guy like Kevin Bridges, the latest in a long line of great…

Reginald D Hunter - Tall tales

31 Jul 2008

Reginald D Hunter is a giant of UK stand-up. But, as he tells Jay Richardson, he’s still trying to escape the sins of his father ‘I have always found Edinburgh intense, in my soul and in my belly. You can’t say there ain’t tension in my shows. It’s…

Abigail Burdess

16 Aug 2007

Coming out in a wheelchair and disarming everybody with her offbeat chatter, Abigail Burdess shows it’s no big thing to break your foot if you’re a comedian. She warms up the audience with her quirky, wide-eyed observations and quotes from her…

House of Windsor

Regal sketches with crowning glories to come

9 Aug 2007

With last year’s debut as the Future, Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas received some rave reviews and an awards nomination before ending the summer being ensnared by one of the country’s powerhouse comedy PR companies. This year that soaring promise will…

Feature - Sean Hughes

Renaissance man

12 Mar 2007

After 40, the old joke goes, everyone gets the face they deserve. Sean Hughes has had the same hangdog expression for years but he maintains that he hasn’t lost the drive which made him a star in his 20s. ‘When I started out I was full of young comic…

Carnage

Polanski's comedy of upper-middle class savagery is fast, funny and filthy

24 Jan 2012

(15) 79mins Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s play Gods of Carnage opens with a playground spat. Set over the opening credits, it’s this innocuous bust-up that drives the bitterly funny four-hander, as the parents of both children try to…

5 things you might not know about... Shappi Khorsandi

Some lesser-known snippets about the British-Iranian comedian

4 Mar 2011

1 Khorsandi grew up in west London in the 1980s after her Iranian family fled in exile to the UK. At the age of 11, she wrote to the Ayatollah Khomeini to ask him not to kill her father, a journalist and comedian whose stock-in-trade was political…

American comic Hailey Boyle set for shows at The Stand

US comic returns after Glasgow Comedy Festival show

30 Nov 2010

Back in March, the America Stands Up! bandwagon rolled into town for the Glasgow Comedy Festival with a Saturday night date at The Stand. While host Scott Capurro gave the crowd a typically catty performance, a couple of the lesser-known acts shone…

Ronna and Beverly's most embarrassing moments in chat

We ask the Edinburgh Fringe sofa beasts: What’s the chat?

29 Jul 2010

1: After situating herself firmly on his lap, Beverly pronounced to the audience that Mad Men’s Don Draper (Jon Hamm) smells like ‘scotch and testicles’. 2: Bombing at the International Jewish Men’s Softball tournament banquet in St. Louis. They…

The sex-themed shows that turn Edinburgh into sin city during August

Pole dancers, prostitutes and rampant bedhoppers at the 2010 Fringe

16 Jul 2010

'Coming back from seeing the second Sex and the City film,’ says live artist Bryony Kimmings, ‘I was absolutely disgusted.’ And she’s not the only one groaning about the latest instalment of this once groundbreaking explicit comedy about the sexual…

Jack Mink

A mesmerising spectacle

19 Aug 2009

Blending improvisation with mime, humour with tragedy, this show is entirely what you make of it. Mink in Victorian-style garb and clown make-up welcomes you to his space and presents a series of hypothetical situations that on this occasion included…

Kim Noble: King of Pain

The former Perrier winner is far from a happy chappy

13 Aug 2009

When Kim Noble last appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe, there was something strangely prophetic about one of the sequences he performed alongside his comedy partner in crime, Stuart Silver. At various moments during their 2004 show, A Man, both would be…

Richard Herring: Hitler Moustache

Reclaiming symbols and raising standards

10 Aug 2009

A few things have gotten under Richard Herring’s skin of late. He’s hated being misrepresented in the press, got hacked off when his precious iPhone was nicked in open public view and truly bristled when the Great British public stood idly by while the…

The Most Important Show of the Day

An interactive wake-up call

10 Aug 2009

Riding the waves of recently popularised characters such as Brüno and Borat, Richard Simms is a pint-sized fitness fanatic in an 80s-inspired get-up of fluorescent shorts and leg-warmers. ‘Are you getting enough SECS (Spoken Encouragement Compliments…

Lesbian Vampire Killers

19 Mar 2009

HORROR/COMEDY Overexposure can shoot down even the most promising career. And while Mathew Horne and James Corden aren’t quite there yet, they need to be careful. A double act since their award-winning Gavin & Stacey, for their first big screen…

Igor

16 Oct 2008

ANIMATION/COMEDY It’s a tough life for hunchbacked assistants of mad scientists. Igor (voiced by John Cusack) ekes out his precarious existence as humble servant to the sinister Dr Glickenstein (John Cleese), an evil genius set on winning the annual…

Festival Books - Mark Watson

Eco-friendly, my dear Watson

21 Aug 2008

According to Mark Watson, saving the planet would, at the very least, ‘look pretty smart on all our CVs’. With an already sterling comedy résumé, Watson takes on environmentalism in his latest book, Crap at the Environment, which through the author’s…

Jim Jeffries

How to lose your crowd in one horrible hour

14 Aug 2008

No one expects fluffy, cuddly material from Jim Jeffries. The Australian comic is infamous for his potty-mouthed, middle-finger-up comedy, and he'll trash anything - cancer, self-harmers, molested children - as long as it gets a laugh. But unlike other…

Spotlight on open mic nights

6 Sep 2007

So you want to share your innermost thoughts with a room full of appreciative strangers, with the added bonus of payment and the chance of a dynamic post-show sexual encounter? Well then, stand-up comedy could be the job for you, provided you’re…

Iain Stirling and Sean McLoughlin

The star signing lets down the team

18 Aug 2011

No offence to the jaunty Iain Stirling, but it’s intriguing to wonder what a solo hour with Sean McLoughlin would have turned out like. CBBC’s Scottish presenter Stirling seems billed as the main event here given his status as compere and closing act…

Rich Hall’s Hoedown

Country and bluegrass gig from the gravel-voiced comedian

16 Aug 2011

There’s a reason Rich Hall has two shows at the Fringe – let’s get that out of the way first. His stand up show is his outlet for the majority of his jokes; his Hoedown set is an opportunity for him to flex his musical muscles, in the company of friends…

Katherine Ryan: Little Miss Conception

Canadian comedian's hits Edinburgh with show about crucial early years

6 Jul 2011

As a little girl growing up in the Canadian smalltown of Sarnia (not a made-up place), Katherine Ryan’s parents put her forward into those pageants that only north Americans are capable of laying on. Yet even at an early age, Ryan showed a healthy…

Edinburgh Fringe Festival comedy shows to look out for in 2011

Margaret Cho, Todd Barry and Imran Yusuf among 2011 ones to watch

9 Jun 2011

Down List way, we’ve just about recovered from the devastating news that there will be no sign this year of Bo Burnham, Jonny Sweet, Tommy Tiernan or Pappys. But if you think that kind of comedic void can be filled by this year’s galaxy of acts, then…

The best upcoming Scottish comedians in 2011

James Kirk, Chris Forbes, Dee Custance, Davey Connor, Antony Murray

7 Mar 2011

Overlooking the cosmopolitanism of Glasgow’s International Comedy Festival, The List invited five of the best upcoming Scottish comedians to the Stand for a light-hearted debate about the psychological trauma of making drunks laugh on demand. James…

Mark Watson on proposing on stage, mastermind and a fear of lightning

Comedian embarks on UK tour

19 Nov 2010

1: Former Cambridge Footlights chap Mark Watson first cropped up in the comedy firmament in 2002. Then, at the tender age of 22, he won the last-ever Daily Telegraph Open Mic award, beating off competition from the likes of Hils Barker, Gary Delaney and…

Holly Burn

Vivid, boundless and contagious

16 Aug 2010

Burn’s awkward, absurd and occasionally hilarious routines are enlivened by recurring delights like the DIY musical theatre of Jason the Very Rich Lion and the kitchen-sink surrealism of super-villain Custard Flanagan. The Newcastle comic offers an…

Q&A: Katy Brand

29 Apr 2010

A former theology student at Oxford, Katy Brand is now a queen of the comedy world, having scooped a captive audience through her ITV2 Big Ass Show. Here, she remembers watching My Girl and squeaking at Jay-Z...

One Man Lord of the Rings

Baffling speeded-up Middle Earth affair

10 Aug 2009

The trend for cutting down and speeding up plays/films/text kicked off with the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and Charlie Ross is a veteran of the subgenre, having brought his One Man Star Wars to the Fringe in previous years. Dressed in a sturdy boiler…

Sarah Millican

Facing up to gender politics and the elements

8 Aug 2009

The unflappable Geordie lass looks a bit intimidating on the Mr Muscle-themed poster for her new show, but a minute in her company reassures us that the butch press campaign is just skylarking. Last year’s if.comedy Best Newcomer is in flying form, with…

First Word: Miles Jupp

30 Apr 2009

First record you ever bought? The first LP I bought was Tony Hancock’s ‘The Blood Donor’. The first piece of music was possibly Starship’s ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’. I think I bought that at a fête when I was about seven, I’m not sure why. I’ve…

Larry Charles: Beyond Belief

2 Apr 2009

‘The controversy of people standing in front of a theatre with placards means nothing to me,’ announces Larry Charles. The Borat director and US comedy colossus, famed for his creative input into genre-redefining TV shows Seinfeld and Curb Your…

Step Brothers

21 Aug 2008

COMEDY ‘Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream’ is the George W Bush quotation which opens new Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers. Such crude expression sets the tone for a sporadically funny but generally gross comedy in…

The Muppets' most memorable moments

A gallery of clips from our favourite frog and his friends

1 Feb 2012

The Muppets have a string of movies to their names already, including The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Great Muppet Caper. Never ones to shirk away from serious film, darling, they’ve also had cameos in…

The Adopted

Quirky, saccharine directorial debut from French actress Melanie Laurent

24 Jan 2012

(15) 100 mins Still only 28-years-old, French actress and musician Melanie Laurent makes her directorial debut with this offbeat family tale, which owes more to her recent performances in US indie Beginners and the sentimental melodrama The Concert…

Queen of quirk Zooey Deschanel stars in formulaic geeky comedy New Girl

The sitcom falls in neatly with The Big Bang Theory, Scrubs et al

5 Jan 2012

Adorkability. ‘Jess Daly’ has this in spades, and it’s the x-factor that led US executives to immediately order up a bunch of extra episodes after New Girl (Channel 4, Fri 6 Jan, 8.35pm) became the Fox network’s highest-rated autumn sitcom debut in a…

Interview: Stephen Merchant on his upcoming UK tour

Comic and writer of The Office returns to stand-up for Hello Ladies tour

21 Sep 2011

During the Edinburgh Fringe of 2001 a quartet of lesser-known comedians took to the Café Royal stage to perform consecutive sets under the umbrella show title Rubbernecker. The first three of these gents were Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr and Robin Ince.

Jay Foreman: We're Living in the Future

Exploration of pop-culture future-shock via acoustic ditty

23 Aug 2011

London stand-up bard Foreman uses the medium of acoustic ditty to explore pop-culture future-shock and his prevailing quarter-life crisis. His observations on technological progress and modern times are agreeable, but he’s better when contrasting his…

Chris Martin

Run of the mill show from the man who definitely isn't in Coldplay

14 Aug 2011

Martin certainly has swagger, but his comedy feels not so much natural but ‘learned’ (with honours from the Whitehall/McIntyre College of Advanced Observational Stand-Up). The initial promise of a show about being alone in a hectic world is ditched for…

Daniel Sloss - The Joker

Ridiculously talented young comedy buck

12 Aug 2011

Daniel Sloss – a charming, elongated Macaulay Culkin doppelganger, and protégé of Frankie Boyle – begins by listing the reasons why people might not like his show. ‘I smile, I swear, I’m happy and I can jump. The ones who won’t like me, they’re the old…

Fringe 2011 comedy blogs - Steve Pretty

He of the Perfect Mixtape discusses music vs comedy and proper Fringe preparation

10 Aug 2011

By 30th July, any sensible Fringe performer would either already be in Edinburgh getting some early promo done, or locked away in a rehearsal room, honing their show, perfecting that topical gag or getting that new set piece extra zingy. So why, last…

Catie Wilkins: A Chip Off the Odd Block

Enthusiastic and wry story about parents

8 Aug 2011

While children can be so cruel, parents are nothing less than a walking embarrassment to their offspring. Especially if they, like the blood-line guardians of Catie Wilkins, are an over-emotional firecracker (mum) and a cold, pedantic robot (dad).

Interview - Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince

Two minds talk science and comedy ahead of their Uncaged Monkeys show at Edinburgh Science Festival

24 Mar 2011

Robin Ince: Am I wrong to sometimes be scared of science idiots? I presented a show about Schrödinger’s cat on Radio 4 [Schrödinger’s Quantum Kittens] and the BBC received complaints that it was broadcasting shows promoting killing cats in boxes.

Doug Stanhope interview: 'I'm a generous, good-hearted, overly polite citizen'

Controversial comedican claims that he’s just a decent American guy

7 Mar 2011

Doug Stanhope’s manager tells The List ‘that the later it gets in the day, the better he is at the interview.’ So at almost midnight, when it’s early evening out in Arizona, Stanhope comes to the phone. ‘Oh he likes me to be drunk,’ he announces…

Borderline Racist

A humorous discourse on xenophobia

19 Aug 2010

We all know what the Scots think of English, what the English think of the French, and what everybody thinks of Americans. This systematic slagging off of your neighbours is a tradition that exists worldwide; in this show, comedian Paul Kerensa explores…

Charlyne Yi

Don’t believe the hype

15 Aug 2010

The Assembly Rooms like their north American female comics to be a bit kooky. Maria Bamford and Kristen Schaal have mined an offbeat seam to glory at this venue over the last few years, but Charlyne Yi doesn’t quite have what it takes to follow fully in…

Lady Garden draw out their secret show

Board Meeting: Lady Garden

13 Aug 2010

Looking particularly floral, Lady Garden catch the eyes of people loitering in the Courtyard this afternoon. It's not just the amazing oufits: these six ladies have been building a reputation as one of the sketch shows that it's worth making an effort…

Jojo Sutherland Goes for the Jocular - in pictures

Board Meeting: Jojo Sutherland

7 Aug 2010

Jojo returns to home territory with her show Jojo Sutherland Goes for the Jocular, where she'll tackle all the grievances that have been driving her barmy over the past year. She'll be taking a lunchtime spot at The Stand, a time of day when a bit of…

Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw set challenge with Fringe comedy show

Champion of new music finds comedy feet

6 Aug 2010

Radio 1 returns to the Fringe following last year’s Scott Mills The Musical. DJ Nick Grimshaw was set the challenge of writing a one-man show, with five weeks to prepare. Here, he explains the show he’ll perform this week. ‘Don’t get me wrong – I…

Fringe show Willy Wonka Explained tracks down the original Veruca Salt

Matthew Hardy and Julie Dawn bring a pinch of Salt to Edinburgh

30 Jul 2010

Everyone reaches a low point in their lives, when it feels natural to seek solace in objects that remind us of happier, perhaps more innocent times. When Matthew Hardy was dumped by two girlfriends (years and continents apart), he couldn’t stop sticking…

The Thick of It's Chris Addison plays Glasgow date

3 Mar 2010

Though these days more likely to be recognised as the perpetually put-upon Olly Reeder from The Thick of It, Chris Addison has actually been a fine stand-up talent for many years. Starting out on the comedy circuit back in 1995 in his home town of…

Susan Calman: The Last Woman on Earth

A warm show from a friendly talent

13 Aug 2009

Susan Calman was once heckled by a guy who said he wouldn’t shag her if she was the last woman on earth. Taking his abuse as a launchpad, the premise of the pocket-sized Weegie’s show is that we’re all stuck in a bunker after a nuclear attack, and she…

Jenny Éclair for one night only

Laughter saves lives at the Hot Pink Breakthrough Balloon Show

4 Aug 2009

Funny lady Jenny Éclair will host the one-night-only premiere Hot Pink Breakthrough Balloon Show to raise money for Breast Cancer. The comedy benefit will be happening on Saturday 22 August from 3pm–5pm in the Debating Hall, in the Gilded Balloon.

Synecdoche, New York: Crisis of faith

14 May 2009

‘How many roads must a man walk down / before you call him a man?’ Is Bob Dylan’s most famous protest song really a surrealist riddle? What’s the road made out of, and will it hurt the tender soles of my feet? That’s the thing about the Jewish…

Sex Drive

8 Jan 2009

COMEDY Determined not to start college a virgin, semi-nerdy teenager Ian (Josh Zuckerman, best known as Young Dr Evil in the Austin Powers sequel Goldmember) drives across country to bed a red-hot babe he met on the internet named Ms Tasty. Fuelled…

Appeal after Virgin Trains ban comedy club ads

27 Nov 2008

The List is perplexed to hear that Richard Branson has banned adverts for Scotland’s largest comedy club the Stand from his Virgin Trains onboard magazine, deeming their logo of a child in a cowboy outfit pointing a toy gun at his own head while…

My Best Friend’s Girl

13 Nov 2008

(15) 99min From Howard Deutch, the auteur behind the seminal teen movie Pretty in Pink starring Molly Ringwald, My Best Friend’s Girl is a 1980s throwback rom-com, updated with scatological language. Dane Cook, so disagreeable in last year’s Good…

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

13 Nov 2008

Forget the salacious sounding title, Zack and Miri is a Kevin Smith movie so it was never going to be a Ron Jeremy skin flick. Indeed, it’s an archetypical Smith movie – an over-sentimental tale in which boy knows girl, boy and girl have relationship…