Comedy

Paul Merton UK tour with Out of My Head

The stand-up will be joined be Impro Chums Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch and Suki Webster

28 Feb 2012

It’s 14 long years since Paul Merton last embarked on a solo tour of the UK. Since then he has performed with his Impro Chums across the country and at several Edinburgh Fringes. The reason he gave up the former is the same reason he has been happy to…

Craig Hill talks about his comedy hero Victoria Wood

'It’s all about delivery, tight writing and use of language'

28 Feb 2012

There are a few comedians who inspire me because I like their style. One of them is Ross Noble who I think is an off-the-cuff genius; the first time I saw him I thought how is he able to do this, he’s connecting all these subjects as though he knew them…

Five things you might not know about Spamalot

Eric Idle and John Du Prez's Monty Python-inspired musical tours UK

27 Feb 2012

1 The multi award-winning musical production from Eric Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot was ‘lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail.’ I guess Idle can do whatever he wants but an eyebrow was raised by the inclusion of…

GFF 2012 - Opening Gala: Your Sister's Sister

Mumblecore director Lynn Shelton introduces her latest film at the opening of the Glasgow Film Fest

17 Feb 2012

Director Lynn Shelton was at the Glasgow Film Theatre last night to introduce her opening gala feature, Your Sister's Sister. She seemed ecstatically happy to be there, hugging co-director Allison Gardner ahead of the screening. Then, after the usual…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Keara Patricia Murphy: My comedy hero - Billy Connolly

'He destroyed me. No one else comes close'

2 Feb 2012

I first heard Billy Connolly on a record of my dad’s when I was seven. He was talking about welly boots and the Barras and telling funny stories about Jesus being born in the Gallowgate and not Galilee. He created a magical world outside my window that…

5 things you might not know about Tiffany Stevenson

The actress comedian from Talk Radio to Show Me The Funny

2 Feb 2012

1 Tiffany Stevenson began her career in the entertainment biz as an actress and has appeared onscreen in The Office, took a lead role in gritty indie feature Spinning Candyfloss and popped up in Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Dirtee Cash’ video [see below]. 2 Her…

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…

Interview: John C Reilly on Carnage and Terri

The actor discusses his prolific rate of appearances in both higher and lower profile movies

1 Feb 2012

‘I have been a busy boy, haven’t I?’ grins John C Reilly. And it’s true. Last seen as the luckless father in We Need To Talk About Kevin, the Chicago-born actor now stars in Roman Polanski’s Carnage and US indie Terri. Factor in two major upcoming…

Jemima Levick on Steel Magnolias revival

The theatre director aims to retain the humour and tenderness of Robert Harling's original script

1 Feb 2012

‘I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special,’ says Dolly Parton as brassy hairdresser Truvy in the 1989 film adaptation of Steel Magnolias. The country singer led a cast of big name Hollywood hitters that included…

Danny 'DJ Danny' Robins on Adam Ant, Lil Kim and 'Ice, Ice Baby'

The character comedian divulges his eclectic musical secrets

9 Jan 2012

First record you ever bought Adam Ant – 'Prince Charming'. I was precociously young to buy a record and dressed up like him to listen to it. Last extravagant purchase you made A large kebab. It was the size of a man’s arm. I almost lost…

Round-up of 2011: Comedy

Tim Key, Tommy Tiernan, Stephen Merchant, Luke Wright and Jerry Sadowitz make our laugh-list

9 Jan 2012

Tim Key Having netted Edinburgh’s big fat award for comedy in 2009, the former Coward blasted back in August with an absolute corker of a show. Masterslut was a masterclass of interactive improv raised to glorious levels by the most memorable use of a…

Burns Night 2012: Glasgow and Edinburgh highlights

6 Jan 2012

Edinburgh gets its bard celebrations off to an impressive (and prompt) start with Burnsfest at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in association with Scotland’s Winter Festivals (17–28 Jan, times vary). From a ceilidh in the café to performances of the…

Author and satirist Nick Revell on coming back to comedy

The prominent 80s comic has several dates lined up at The Stand

6 Jan 2012

As one of the original voices from the 1980s Comedy Store era, Nick Revell has been round a block or two. Having earned a Perrier nomination in 1987, his stand-up career seemed to be flying, but in 1992 he decided to have a break and concentrate on…

Meanwhile, It's Will and Greg

Will Andrews and Greg McHugh revive their Ugly Kid sketch talents for radio

6 Jan 2012

On first hearing that Will Andrews and Greg McHugh have collaborated for sketch work under the moniker of Will & Greg, the cynical might believe this to be a forced pairing simply to fulfil a US TV show pun. Reflect on this, cynics: the duo’s working…

Kid Canaveral’s Christmas Baubles II - Summerhall, Edinburgh, Sat 17 Dec 2011

Josie Long, eagleowl and more join in Kid Canaveral's annual shindig

6 Jan 2012

The combination of cheap tins and 12 hours of live entertainment could be an endurance test in the wrong hands, but the second annual Fence Records/Kid Canaveral Chirstmas Baubles all-dayer doesn’t exactly feel like a chore. A joyous turn by Fence…

5 things you might not know about Nick Helm

The former 'dinner lady' and 2011 Best Joke of the Fringe winner doesn't get on with Alice Cooper

5 Jan 2012

1 Among Nick Helm’s pre-showbiz jobs have been as a ‘dinner lady’ at a secondary school for boys, counting traffic and working in the café of a garden centre. 2 In 2001, he formed a theatre company called Bad Ash Productions whose oeuvre includes I…

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…

The Sitter

Zippy but unappealing sub-Apatow comedy starring Jonah Hill

5 Jan 2012

(15) 81min After springing to stardom in Superbad, Jonah Hill gets his first lead role in The Sitter, an amiable low-brow comedy from director David Gordon Green which throws Hill’s laid-back slacker persona into a similar underworld of criminal…

The Hot 100 2011 - No. 25: Greg McHugh interview

Man behind Fresh Meat and Gary: Tank Commander

16 Dec 2011

When it comes to arresting openings in new TV comedy-dramas during 2011, it’s unlikely that anything came close to Channel 4’s Fresh Meat. The sight of Greg McHugh, naked from the waist down, blow-drying a row of Peking ducks won’t leave many witness…

Best of 2011: Comedy

The best comedy shows of 2011, including Tim Key, Tommy Tiernan, Stephen Merchant, Luke Wright and J

14 Dec 2011

Tim Key Having netted Edinburgh’s big fat award for comedy in 2009, the former Coward blasted back in August with an absolute corker of a show. Masterslut was a masterclass of interactive improv raised to glorious levels by the most memorable use of a…

Geordie stand-up Gavin Webster on irony, young people and The Stand

Man behind Fringe show All Young People Are C**ts revisits Scotland

13 Dec 2011

When Newcastle comic Gavin Webster brought his show to the Fringe in August, news broke that you imagine would have had him rubbing his hands. Asterisked-up to the max, the provocatively titled All Young People Are C**ts was made heavily topical when…

The Artist

Delightful celebration of the bygone age of silent cinema, starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo

8 Dec 2011

(PG) 100min The Artist has in-built appeal for movie buffs who believe that the arrival of talking pictures was one of the worst things that ever happened to an art form that had found a universal language in the visual poetry of the late silent era.

The best comedy DVDs to give as Christmas presents in 2011

Tim Vine, Tommy Tiernan and Richard Herring among highlights

7 Dec 2011

What does it say about America that ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is among that nation’s top earning comedians? In 2009, Forbes.com placed him third behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, having banked an estimated $30m. In response, an astonished Dunham…

Sir David Jason: Modern comedy is too offensive

TV Gossip

5 Dec 2011

Sir David Jason thinks there's too much swearing in today's TV comedies. The 71-year-old actor - who is famed for playing Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in 'Only Fools and Horses' - isn't a fan of the expletives used nowadays in order to get the audience to…

Five things you might not know about the Pajama Men

Some fun facts about comedy duo Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez

16 Nov 2011

1 The Pajama Men are Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez who met at high school in Albuquerque, while performing in a string of comedy improvisation groups. They got their big break at Chicago’s Second City, the legendary comedy and theatre mecca which helped…

Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty - interview

The British-Iranian stand-up discusses TV, touring and unintentional slapstick ahead of his new tour

15 Nov 2011

There is mounting evidence that Omid Djalili may be the most accident-prone comedian in stand-up. Setting aside the time he knocked his chicken salad onto this interviewer’s shoes in 2002, his onstage falls are fast becoming the stuff of legend. At the…

The Rubberbandits

The musical comedy pranksters are coming to Glasgow, and they've got a horse outside

15 Nov 2011

Last year, they just missed out on the Christmas number one in their native Ireland, with the brilliant ‘Horse Outside’ notching over 8m views on YouTube (see below). And now gangster rap scamps The Rubberbandits are filming a series of online sketches…

Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights

The comedian's TV show is a mix of decent stand-up material and woeful sketches

15 Nov 2011

Curious thing the moral barometer. After the faecal flood which surrounded the original Channel 4 showing of Tramadol Nights this time last year, some judicious cutting has been made to the DVD version. Gone is the Jordan/Harvey routine from episode two…

Comedian Carey Marx on his heroes

Woody Allen, Lennny Bruce, Mitch Hedberg and Louis CK are among the former magician's idols

15 Nov 2011

When I started out in comedy I was a magician and my act largely consisted of pulling vegetables out of people’s ears. I didn’t have any heroes because there is a dearth of vegetable-based magic acts. As I moved into pure stand-up (I like to think what…

Interview: Lorraine Bowen celebrates material world in Polyester Fiesta!

Fabric-loving funny woman and pal of Billy Bragg hits Glasgay!

26 Oct 2011

You may not be aware but this year is the 70th anniversary of polyester. Yup, that’s right- the fabric responsible for some of the strangest, best and undeniably worst looks of the past half-decade is in its twilight years and musician/comedienne…

Bill Bailey's guide to scary film soundtracks

The comedian and orchestra appreciator on what makes for good malevolent music

21 Oct 2011

What’s your favourite score to a scary movie? The Bernard Herrmann score to The Day the Earth Stood Still [1951]. It’s quite futuristic and incredibly orchestral and atmospheric. He uses the Theremin [an early electronic instrument that can be played…

Mark Nelson's comedy hero: Doug Stanhope

One charmingly profane comic praises another

18 Oct 2011

Naturally being Scottish, I have always regarded Billy Connolly as an inspiration and probably the inventor of modern stand-up. Growing up I always loved Jack Dee and Frank Skinner and now as a comedian myself there are comics I work with whom I…

Dave Gorman's Powerpoint Presentation - interview

The Gorman-hunting, Googlewhacker presents latest high-concept show

18 Oct 2011

When Dave Gorman gets a chance to look back on his career, he can be mightily proud to have pretty much single-handedly created a new kind of stage comedy. Even though he’s not sure what it should be called exactly. ‘They were narrative shows which…

Interview - Rob Brydon

The comic actor answers our questions ahead of the release of his autobiography, Small Man in a Book

17 Oct 2011

First record you ever bought Apart from Rupert Bear, Propaganda by Sparks. Last extravagant purchase you made A cashmere scarf. First film you saw that really moved you Barney’s Version. Last lie you told I never lie. First movie you…

Barking - DVD review

Unessential DVD release of the short-lived C4 sketch show featuring David Walliams and Peter Kay

17 Oct 2011

(Acorn Media) Back in 1998, Peter Kay, Catherine Tate, David Walliams, Omid Djalili and Mackenzie Crook were all looking for a big break in their comedy careers. The Fast Show had ended on the BBC the previous year and it would be another 12 months…

Strange Hungers

Glasgow Theatre company Fish and Game's wry send up of gay icons past at Glasgay!

17 Oct 2011

Who were the gay icons of your youth? Wham? George Takei? Rosie O’Donnell... ? Everyone has at least one (perhaps strange) LGBT celeb that they looked up to as an alternative youngster – and what do you get if you combine this wry look at ‘back in…

Five fun facts about Ed Byrne

Some little known facts about the Irish comic's altercations with popes, Perriers and Piers Morgan

17 Oct 2011

Born in the Dublin suburb of Swords, Byrne first got involved in stand-up comedy as a horticulture student at Strathclyde University. As part of the student union, Byrne hosted pub quizzes and karaoke nights which provided him with a taste for showing…

Christmas comedy memoirs roundup

Lee Evans, Johnny Vegas, Jason Manford and Simon Day all have books on the way

17 Oct 2011

With the Christmas market positively saturated these days with stand-up comedy DVDs, publishers have clearly decided it’s time to cash in by launching a batch of memoirs from folk who may (or may not) have made you laugh down the years. Titlewise, Lee…

Monte Carlo

Flat romcom vehicle for Justin Bieber's paramour Selena Gomez

12 Oct 2011

(PG) 108min The star of tween drama Wizards of Waverly Place, but better known as the current squeeze of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez is being relentlessly packaged for fame. Her previous venture, last year’s Ramona and Beezus sank like a stone, and…

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.

Rab C Nesbitt interview

Glasgow's most outspoken resident talks TV licenses, tofu and Brad Pitt

19 Sep 2011

First record you ever bought Bought? You didn’t buy records in my day, you liberated them at parties. To this day the intro to ‘Light My Fire’ can cause me a soiling issue through excitement. Last extravagant purchase you made A TV Licence in…

5 Things you might not know about Alan Carr

19 Sep 2011

1 Carr’s distinctive toothy look was due to a childhood accident when he fell and banged his chin on the caravan-towing bar on a family holiday. 2 Before he got proper famous, Carr had a litany of awful-sounding temp jobs: putting shampoo in boxes…

Reginald D Hunter

Not just a race comic, he insists

16 Sep 2011

One of the prime misconceptions about Reginald D Hunter is that all he does is talk about race and racism. Sure, he may have had the word ‘Nigga’ in several of his show titles, but within a Hunter show will be a plethora of topics and areas touching on…

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry David's groundbreaking sitcom stays at the top of its game for an eighth season

16 Sep 2011

After the high watermark of season seven’s Seinfeld-reunion storyline, Larry David brings us dragging and cringing back into his world of petty obsessions, chronic misunderstandings and friendships permanently teetering on the brink of abrasive…

Carl Donnelly

The comedian tells us about his comedy hero Mitch Hedberg

13 Sep 2011

Picking one comedy hero is much harder than it sounds, especially for me as I don’t seem to have had the standard path to becoming a stand-up myself. Comedians tend to talk about how they grew up listening to Richard Pryor albums but I actually watched…

Twonkeys Castle

Surreal songs and nonsensical stories from Paul Vickers

26 Aug 2011

Opening with a beleaguered attempt to get an audience member spinning a hot air balloon prop around in flying motion, Twonkey's Castle weaves a surreal narrative which feels a bit like being frenetically drunk inside a scary playgroup. Northerner…