"Stewart Lee"

The Alternative Comedy Experience 2013 UK tour

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…

Fall Out Boy lead Kerrang! awards nominations

Music gossip

Fall Out Boy, Bring Me The Horizon and Pierce The Veil lead nominations for this year's Relentless Kerrang! Awards. The heavy metal groups scored four nods each when the UK magazine's shortlist was announced last night yesterday (08.05.13). Fall…

The Alternative Comedy Experience

Stewart Lee curates a series of alternative comedians, but offers little discussion on the genre

Stewart Lee is not sure that he and Comedy Central will have the same hopes for his curated 12-part show. The comic sees it as being similar to a ‘slightly under-attended Tuesday night at an arts centre’; Comedy Central’s ambitions remain unclarified…

Zero Dark Thirty producer: Kathryn Bigelow was 'robbed' by Oscars

Film gossip

'Zero Dark Thirty' producer Megan Ellison thinks Kathryn Bigelow was "robbed" by the Oscars. The director failed to receive a nomination for the 2013 Academy Awards' prestigious Achievement in Directing category, despite being predicted to make the…

Lincoln leads BAFTA nominations

Film gossip

'Lincoln' leads the way at this year's BAFTAs with 10 nominations. Steven Spielberg's biopic about the late US President Abraham Lincoln received the staggering amount of nods when the 2013 awards nominees were unveiled by 'Starter For Ten' actress…

Live comedy DVDs round-up

Featuring Stewart Francis, Stewart Lee, Paul Chowdhry, Kevin Bridges and Dara O'Briain

The live comedy DVD shelves are a veritable league of nations at the moment, even if (as has been noted on these pages before) the Democratic Republic of Women is sorely under-represented. For Outstanding in His Field (●●●), the Canadian one-line…

The Fall - Arches, Glasgow, Wed 21 Nov

Mark E Smith and co deliver set lacking structure but brimming with unapologetic integrity

Mark E Smith is often hailed as the most enigmatic frontman of his generation. Predictably unpredictable, with a biting wit that pours scorn over the most trivial of subjects, generally casting a sardonic sneer down from his perch above, he's certainly…

Five reasons to see Mark Watson

The comedian has previously assumed a Welsh persona and had spats with Stewart Lee and Frankie Boyle

1 For those who haven’t seen him perform in the past five or so years, Watson is no longer Welsh. In that he was never actually Welsh. His accent was purely a stage crutch (or a character tool, if you wish) to overcome his general unease at actually…

Ben Elton - Two Brothers

The erstwhile comedian's Holocaust novel is his most honest and personal tale to date

Infamously labelled worse than Osama bin Laden by Stewart Lee for his lack of moral scruples, Ben Elton now tells his most honest and personal tale to date. Two Brothers features Jewish twins growing up in pre-war Berlin, as Nazi tyranny reigns and a…

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival programme highlights

Scottish Opera, Music Like a Vitamin and director Jack Bond are among the top tips for the fest

‘Walk in my shoes’ is the theme of the sixth edition of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (SMHAFF). This year we’re presenting nearly 300 arts events across Scotland. As before, it encompasses theatre, comedy, film, dance, literature…

Künt and the Gang - Free

Against the odds, a stream of filth can only stretch so far

Word of mouth has certainly worked for Künt and the Gang. Stewart Lee and various amused Facebook and YouTube proponents are among those who have been banging the drum and the tightly spaced seating here just about coped. The first thing of note is that…

Carl Hutchinson: Acceptable?

A pleasingly moody debut from 25 year old Geordie comic

Having spent a mere 25 years on this planet, it might be far too soon for rising Geordie comic Carl Hutchinson to be a grumpy old man. But he gives those fractious celebrity gents a run for their moaning money with his debut hour. Acceptable is an…

The Great Puppet Horn

Shadow puppetry show that leaves the comedy in another room

The Great Puppet Horn showed a devilish side recently by using their vast shadow puppet skills to project an image of Stewart Lee onto Edinburgh Castle. It was not an act of idolatry towards the agitprop comic, but the Horn guys were expressing their…

Tom Bancroft: Trio Red - First Hello to Last Goodbye

Bancroft-led trio's new album subtly showcases folk-infused melodies and a knack for balladry

Led by Scottish drummer Tom Bancroft, Trio Red’s impressionism can be so subtle it’s barely there, but at its best, their thoughtful exploration of space and tiny sonic detail is as emotionally affecting as it is musically intriguing. A mash-up of Joan…

Blurt - Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sun Jul 29 2012

Poet, puppeteer and post-punk provocateur

In the silence, Ted Milton sits behind a microphone centre-stage and blows up a balloon he ties and places at his feet. With a set of carefully placed clips, Milton hangs up a piece of white material too big to be a handkerchief, too small to be a…

Swandown

Experimental filmmaker Andrew Kötting and writer Iain Sinclair swan their way to the Olympic stadium

In a journey reminiscent of his debut feature Gallivant (where he travelled around the coastline of the UK with his daughter and grandmother in tow) the experimental filmmaker takes a swan pedalo from Hastings and pedals it to the site of the Olympic…

Stewart Lee: Carpet Remnant World

Fringe veteran can still hurt stomachs

Stewart Lee’s 2012 Fringe kicked off in typically provocative vein, when his Guardian article (headlined ‘The Slow Death of the Edinburgh Fringe’) delivered an industry-savvy knee to the groin of corporate comedy promoters. While PRs dealt with the…

Documentary Swandown charts journey to Olympic village by swan pedalo

Psychogeographer Iain Sinclair's journey questions worth of Olympics project

In Swandown, acclaimed author and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair embarks on a trip from Hastings to the Olympic Stadium in a swan pedalo. Gail Tolley speaks to him about his absurdist exorcism of the Olympic project.

Garrett Millerick: Sensible Answers to Stupid Questions

Shouty, ranty set about popular culture

The last thing festival audiences want is to sit in a cramped, boiling hot venue and have a comic shout at them. When this is done ironically, it can actually make matters worse, as it masks real and fairly broad anger and contempt. For large…

Bridget Christie: War Donkey

Feminism with a side of toilet humour

If you think a tape of fart sound effects is the last word in quality stand-up, then you may enjoy this show. For everyone else, it’s probably best avoided. And the farts are the best jokes. Lurching between bizarre costumes and soapboxing about…

Trevor Lock's Amateur Sex Tape Theory

A thoughtful treatise on sex tapes is foregone in favour of desperate joke-mongering

It’s not a good day for Trevor Lock. Faced with a particularly quiet audience, he seems flustered, and his material – which is in the main well-written and funny – suffers because of it. Last year, Lock and his girlfriend visited a nudist beach in the…

Rhod Gilbert: The Man With The Flaming Battenburg Tattoo rages at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe

The comedian who makes Basil Fawlty look like a Pilates teacher speaks to the List

You might expect Rhod Gilbert to greet his tenth year on the Fringe with some degree of pride. In a decade, the 43-year-old has risen from So You Think You’re Funny finalist to playing the Edinburgh International Conference Centre via various awards…

Interview: Archie Shepp - Edinburgh date for avant-garde firebrand

The legendary sax-man talks bagpipes, gospel and reggae before his Summerhall show

Archie Shepp came to prominence in the mid-1960s as a leading light of the black avant-garde, playing with Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon and Don Cherry, among others. John Coltrane sponsored Shepp's contract with Impulse! records and invited him to play on…

Daniel Simonsen, Magnus Betnér and Carl-Einar Häckner represent Scandinavia at Fringe 2012

Decent weather, proper coffee, the joys of education, enlightenment and engaging with your fellow human being. Just some of the benefits of spending time away from the UK. But what’s the point of learning another language now that so many fine foreign…

Chuck Berry named American Music Master

Music Gossip

Chuck Berry will be honoured as an American Music Master by the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. The hall inducted Chuck - one of rock music's early pioneers - in 1986, and he will now be the subject of a week-long celebration of his music. This will…