Arnie, Dolph and me: Musclebound, the show working out pleasure, pain and bodybuilding

Growing up, Rosy Carrick was fascinated by Schwarzenegger, Lundgren and other shredded 80s screen stars. Now she is exploring what they helped her realise about her sex lifeIs there a gap between our private desires and the ones we are brave enough to …

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‘I experienced everyday sexism while reading Everyday Sexism’: how Katie Arnstein turns anger into laughs

She started out doing panto tours of northern garden centres. But Arnstein is now emerging as a thrilling performer, turning the shocks of her life – sexual harassment, her mum’s cancer – into bracing solo showsKatie Arnstein greets you at her theatre …

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Mark Steel: ‘I have cancer and it feels like there’s a leopard in my house’

The comedian was booked in for a biopsy after noticing a neck abnormality. Standups are used to leaving audiences jolly but he could not share his diagnosis without causing worryI felt an actual breeze flutter, blowing my hair. The consultant had told …

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Richard Lewis announces Parkinson’s diagnosis, retires from stand-up

Comedian Richard Lewis has had a rough few years. From a back surgery to a shoulder surgery, Lewis has talked… MORE
Richard Lewis announces Parkinson’s diagnosis, retires from stand-up appeared first on The Laugh Button.

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Angela Barnes: ‘Comedy’s the only job I’ve had where I don’t feel like a failure’

As she tours her latest show, the sanguine standup talks about trolls, deafness and finding joy through performingAs a BBC regular Angela Barnes is used to triggering the anti-Auntie trolls, be it her political views, voice, appearance or – in one biza…

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Michael Akadiri: No Scrubs review – medical comedy is upbeat and politically punchy

Pleasance theatre, LondonA doctor himself, the standup delivers breezy tales along with on-the-nose points on how black medics are viewedAll standups operating in the space between medicine and comedy now do so in the shadow of Adam Kay’s all-conquerin…

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Janey Godley is a comic with the common touch – her final tour is as much communion as standup

Not Dead Yet addresses the return of Godley’s ovarian cancer. But mostly it is a celebratory farewell from a performer who has welcomed the crowd into her remarkable lifeNot Dead Yet is Janey Godley’s last tour, she has announced. She was diagnosed wit…

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‘Addiction can be funny’: the standups tackling drugs, booze, psychosis and self-harm on stage

Rich Hardisty cut himself, Harriet Dyer numbed her pain with drugs. A new wave of comics are working out their issues in their acts. But is it really helping them? And should we be laughing?The first and maybe only rule of comedy is that it has to be f…

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The Long Run review – going the distance with love and laughter

The Vaults, LondonKatie Arnstein’s captivating show about her mum’s treatment for cancer lies somewhere between storytelling and standupThe crowd carries you along in a marathon, says Katie Arnstein towards the end of this winning show about family and…

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‘I dressed my colostomy bag as Boris Johnson’: the standups unleashing comedy on life-threatening disease

From bowel cancer to Parkinson’s and dementia, the Edinburgh fringe is full of jokes about serious illness. What’s in it for the comedians – and their audiences?Standup comedy must have been the furthest thing from Sarah Mills’ mind as she awaited some…

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