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Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, Soho Theatre, London

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:43:40 +0100

It is the first time in London for American comedian Mike Birbiglia, for either work or play. "Why have you never been before?" interviewers have asked him in advance of his two week run, to which he has replied "Have you been expecting me?"

Tea with Terrorists, Brighton Fringe

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:37:35 +0100

Tea with Terrorists is the alarming title of Sameena Zehra’s one-woman show and while she does eventually get round to the extraordinary true story of how she once sipped Darjeeling on her porch with a band of armed outlaws, it’s the ramble around her family tree in the preceding hour that really engages.

General alert: From Staines to Wadiya, I is da man!

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

General Aladeen, ruler of the Republic of Wadiya, is a ruthless, sexist, bigoted tyrant, who regularly proclaims "Death to the West" and counts Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il as his (former) best mates.

Observations: Sheep(s) draw an admiring flock to the West End

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:58 +0100

Sheeps have come up with a novel way to make sure that the atmosphere doesn't dip during their new comedy show. They've prepared a little call-and-response routine, asking the audience to shout out encouragement– "Keep going, Sheeps!" – at key intervals.

Simon Amstell: Numb, Hexagon Theatre, Reading

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:42:07 +0100

A random spurt of smoke from a dry ice machine precedes Simon Amstell's appearance on the stage of the Reading Hexagon tonight. It's a mistake, of course. The wily charms of the 32 year old are not requiring of a pumped pomp, nor of any other obvious theatrics.

You might die laughing – Sacha Baron Cohen's Dictator stages comedy coup

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:00:01 +0100

"Hello, and death to the West!" was the greeting from General Aladeen to the assembled crowds at the premiere of The Dictator last night.

Meera Syal: 'I didn't want to reach 50 and be full of regrets'

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

She is the undisputed queen of Asian comedy. She has a spot in the National Portrait Gallery and puts in guest appearances at royal parties. She even has an MBE, for goodness sake. Yet Meera Syal – household name, successful novelist and scriptwriter, award-winning actor on stage and screen – gives the impression that something is lacking.

Comedy Gig of the Week: Bill Bailey, Leicester Square Theatre, London WC2

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Whisper it, but Bill Bailey's last solo outing, Dandelion Mind, was just a trifle disappointing – his topics and through-lines just a little too free-range, even for a comedian who has built his reputation on marvellous cerebral meanderings.

Heads up: Simon Amstell

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:10 +0100

My Secret Life: Russell Howard, 31, comedian

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

My parents were... and still are, hilarious.

Dara O Briain: Can nothing stop this man's takeover of our TV screens?

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

There is nothing angsty about Dara O Briain: not for him Tony Hancock's self-torture, the gloom of Jack Dee or the lugubrious mordancy of Paul Merton. No, the worst thing O Briain can think to say of himself is that he's a geek. And even that makes him happy, doubly so now that television executives have given him his dream show, all about solving fearsomely difficult brain-teasers and maths problems.

Paul Merton: Out of My Head, Richmond Theatre

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:51:26 +0100

A leading light in British comedy and one of the most-proven funnymen on the planet, Paul Merton is back with his first UK solo tour since 1999, but Out Of My Head is far from the quality you might expect, being weak virtually from start to finish.

'Mock the disabled? Me?': Ricky Gervais on how he has been misunderstood

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

After his "mong" controversy on Twitter, about the whether or not the word is still used pejoratively against people with Down's syndrome, and his recent spat with American fundamentalists when he posed as Christ crucified on the cover of New Humanist magazine, Ricky Gervais might seem set on yet another collision course with his new Channel 4 comedy, Derek. Gervais plays the eponymous Derek Noakes, a kindly but simple helper at a nursing home, who appears to have learning difficulties. Perhaps understandably, Gervais isn't in a diagnostic mood and doesn't specify Derek's condition – if "condition" is indeed what it is.

The Diary: Mike Daisey; Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; Francis Ford Coppola; Liam Thomas; Chortle Awards

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Oopsy Daisey

My Secret Life: Alex Horne, 33, comedian

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The household I grew up in... was very male. I've got two brothers and there was a male dog and two male cats and every family we knew had three boys. Great for us, slightly less great for my mum.

Pedigree chum: Is Alexander Armstrong the poshest man in comedy?

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

More so than Miranda Hart, Stephen Fry and David Mitchell, Alexander Armstrong seems to be the acceptable face of posh comedy. With his comically large ears (a gift from his father), crinkly smile, affable demeanour and (crucially, perhaps) lack of smarty pants, he's the cuddly side of the upper classes in an age when, rather oppressively, toffs seem to be taking over again. Even Armstrong's overgrown Hooray Henry, 'Harry', in those adverts for Pimm's – alcopops for the privileged – is cherishable. Not that he drinks the stuff in public, he says, for fear of wags shouting, "It's Pimm's o'clock" – one of the great advertising campaigns, by the way, that helps explain some of Armstrong's wider appeal. The more you parody the posh, as the creatives at the advertising agency Mother realised, the more accessible they become to other groups.

The Diary: Punchdrunk's Sleep No More; Sweethearts; Jack Whitehall; Anish Kapoor's cannon; Spike Jonze

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Punchdrunk love

Secret Policeman's Ball: Stand-up and be counted

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

London vs New York. Tube vs subway. Broadway vs West End. Get out of my way vs have a nice day. The rivalries between the two cities are long-standing and deeply felt. This week, The New York Times devoted an entire issue of its magazine to London, an honour somewhat undermined by its tongue-in-cheek characterisation of the city as a foggy, gin-soaked metropolis peopled by fun-hating, mealy-mouthed alcoholics and feral youths.

Final farewell to comedian Frank Carson

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The funeral of the comedian Frank Carson took place yesterday in his home city of Belfast. Showbusiness figures from Britain and Ireland attended the requiem mass at St Patrick's Church.

Funny girl: Sarah Millican on comedy, money and marriage

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Heard the one about the grumpy comedian with a big bank account? That's not the set-up for a one-line gag, but the exact wording of a recent newspaper headline concerning Sarah Millican. The report told of the Geordie comic's contretemps with a fan who had filmed part of Millican's gig in Wolverhampton, and then visited Millican's Facebook page to inform her of this fact. Millican apparently accused the fan of theft and "disrespect", whereupon the fan's husband waded in to reprimand the comic for making a big deal out of nothing.

What To Do, See & Buy: Mo Kolours; Stewart Lee; Once Upon a Time in Anatolia; Gay Life Stories; Danish furniture-maker Hay; Soho Food Feast

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Fruit loop

Frank Carson dies aged 85 – after a final one-liner

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Frank Carson, the comedian who became a household name with his catchphrases "It's a cracker," and "It's the way I tell 'em," has died aged 85 after a battle with stomach cancer.

The twisted sisters who finally got their act together

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Andrews, the Nolans, the Minogues. Down the decades there have always been singing sisters. Stand-up sisters? Not so much. The comedy double act is a tricky enough dynamic without throwing the tensions of a sisterly relationship into the pot. Nothing daunted, Sarah and Lizzie Daykin have embraced twenty-odd years of sibling rivalry and used it as the foundation for their dark-hearted duo, Toby.

Exclusive interview with Josh Widdicombe

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:05:05 +0000

Josh Widdicombe is heading for mainstream success. In 2010 he was named FHM Stand Up Hero and last year the rising-star narrowly missed out on the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Best Newcomer award, but despite his achievements, the comedian from Devon is still expecting everything to go wrong.

Watson & Oliver: It's hi from me...and hi from her

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Does the BBC have another Miranda-sized hit on its hands? Or might it even have found the next French and Saunders? The corporation must be hoping so, because it’s launching an unknown sketch duo – female, middle-class and with broad comic appeal – on BBC2 tomorrow, in a new six-part series.

Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches, Soho Theatre, London

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Back in 2005, Laura Solon took the Perrier Award with a cast of acutely observed personalities exploding with monologic pathos.

Silver Comedy Stand-Up of the Year: 'Heard the one about the old ones being the best?'

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

With her tightly curled grey hair, oversized cardie and sweet smile, Julie Kertesz looks like the sort of granny who fishes in her pockets and hands out fluff-covered humbugs. But then she opens her mouth: "I'm 77 years old; what the fack am I doing stand-up for?"

Adam Riches: A comedian who strikes fear into his audience

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

A word to the wise: should you go to see Adam Riches' show, don't sit on the front row. Don't sit on the second, either. The comedian has been known to whip out the front set of seats at the last minute and leave the complacent audience members behind exposed, "just for a little bit of an extra frisson".

Brilliant! The Fast Show's quickfire comics return

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Lovers of The Fast Show will be heartened to know that the release of a second batch of internet-only episodes is due next week.

The hottest ticket in comedy? Comedians' favourite is set to return

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

He has been called the comedian's comedian, a 21st-century raconteur who avoids the limelight by shunning profile-raising TV work. Now Daniel Kitson is returning to stand-up after a three-year absence, sparking a frenzy for tickets to watch him test his fresh material.

Slapstick to serious can be a bumpy ride

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

So what do we think of Miranda Hart's performance so far in Call the Midwife?

Has Billy Connolly lost his mojo?

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

In 2007 and 2010 he came top of Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians. Last week, he was voted the UK's "most influential stand-up of all time" in a poll of his fellow comedians. The public and his peers are agreed: Billy Connolly is a master of his craft; the best there is. As such, you'd expect him – aged 69 and with more than 40 years' experience under his beard – to be able to handle the odd bit of audience banter. But the comedian has "been heckled off stage for [the] second time in a week" on his current tour and has left disgruntled audience members saying things such as: "People pay hard-earned money to see these shows ... he's a disgrace walking off. What a diva."

Being Modern: Arena comedy

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

You see those two tiny dots in the distance? That's you, that is. Well, it was if "you" were Rob Newman and David Baddiel. Oh, how we chuckled at their "History Today" sketches in the early 1990s. How we roared as they took their shtick to Wembley Arena, becoming the first comedians to fill its 12,000 seats. How we wept when we realised we were sat so far from the stage that they might as well have been sarcastic marionettes.

My Secret Life: Jackie Mason, 75, comedian

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

My parents were... fantastic. My father was a rabbi, my mother was a typical Jewish mother who fussed over her children and thought they could do no wrong.

Tom Sutcliffe: The luxurious nature of whimsy

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

I found myself thinking about the low status of whimsy the other day. The place was the Hayward Gallery, which is currently hosting the funniest art exhibition I've been to for some time, David Shrigley: Brain Activity. The precise time was when I found myself standing next to the artist/cartoonist/provocateur as he gave an interview to a journalist at the press view. He was describing (I think) the libretto for an opera he staged recently called Pass the Spoon, which features a manic-depressive egg and a character called Mr Granules. Those details I turned up later, but what he sketched out at the time was a work that included articulate vegetables and a surreally comical version of a television cookery show. And I was immediately reminded of the first episode of Noel Fielding's new television series Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, which featured, among many other things, an animated chocolate finger who seemed to have the character of an aggrieved PE teacher ("You see I can be a character like Mr Clasby too. I can shine!") and an American detective called Sergeant Raymond Boombox who engages in bantering conversation with a wise-cracking knife wound on his arm. It struck me that there is something quite Fielding-esque about Shrigley's imagination or, possibly, something Shrigley-esque in Fielding's comedy. Their world is skewed in similar ways and, as it happens, they both share a similarly cack-handed drawing style.

In the thick of a new satire: Peter Capaldi on his new foray into gentle comedy

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Peter Capaldi is having lunch with me in a chic North London gastro-pub when an eager fan approaches and asks him to autograph a piece of paper in the style of his most celebrated alter ego, the foul-mouthed spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker, from BBC2's acclaimed political satire, The Thick of It. The Scottish actor politely obliges by writing a message replete with asterisks, but still far too rude to be re-printed in a family newspaper.

The Diary: Roman Polanski; BBC Radio; Denmark's best stand-ups; Royal Court

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Go no more a Roman