They’ve been called ‘a disaster for the arts’ and lambasted for ‘pursuing a heavily woke agenda’. So what actually happens at a comedy workshop? Our writer joins 30 working-class standups determined to break into TV A bunch of comedians are pouring int…
Continue ReadingCarol Sarler, who has died aged 70 with an obstructed bowel, was my friend and sometime journalist colleague for nearly five decades, ample time for me to admire the energy, empathy and bloodymindedness that made her special as both reporter and column…
Continue ReadingThe Fawlty Towers star rails against the government, the BBC and British newspapers in stage appearance for Hacked Off
It was hard to know what to expect of a solo show by John Cleese, organised by campaign group Hacked Off. On 29 June, the comedian tweeted that it would be a “speech” but, by 5 July, he was calling it a “new one-hour comedy show”.
Cleese has experimented with standup as crowd-funding before. The audience for The Alimony Tour helped to pay for his third divorce. The £30 ticket for this event (including entry in a draw for a dinner with Cleese) was bankrolling Hacked Off’s campaign to seek judicial review of the government’s decision to abandon the planned second phase of the Leveson inquiry into journalistic ethics, which would investigate the relationship between the press and police.
Continue Reading