‘Make them laugh – or they’ll kill you’: my riotous play about a dangerous drinking game

As her play about toxic secrets and old friends hits the stage, the host of The Guilty Feminist podcast explains how studying Wilde and Shaw showed her the subversive power of laughterI’m a feminist, but … I went to university in 1997 and in those days…

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‘Our red line is: are they funny?’: free speech comedy clubs and the battle over onstage offence

Graham Linehan and Dapper Laughs walk into a club … It sounds like the setup to a bad joke, yet platforming comics who may cause offence is a winning formula. But can a night run by a GB News host claim to be anti-establishment?It is a blustery eveni…

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Netflix takes down Patriot Act episode about Saudi Arabia, but leaves it up on YouTube

If you think Donald Trump’s response to Saudi Arabia has been weak, then what do you make of Netflix? The streaming giant recently capitulated to the Saudi royals, pulling an episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj that questioned U.S. policy to…

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Netflix takes down Patriot Act episode about Saudi Arabia, but leaves it up on YouTube

If you think Donald Trump’s response to Saudi Arabia has been weak, then what do you make of Netflix? The streaming giant recently capitulated to the Saudi royals, pulling an episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj that questioned U.S. policy to…

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Bridget Christie: ‘I don’t do jokes about my personal life. Just my husband, my kids and my polyps’

The comedian Louise Reay is being sued for allegedly defaming her estranged husband on stage. So should standups keep their private lives to themselves?

I’m not a confessional standup. I don’t know what I am. On the whole, I haven’t mined my personal life or relationships for comedy. Yet. Who knows what direction my work will take in the future? There is still time. I am only 46.

Not that I don’t love confessional standup. I do. It’s given us some of the most groundbreaking, pioneering comedy we’ve had and it’s hard to imagine what standup would look like now if Richard Pryor had never existed. It’s just not something I’ve felt hugely comfortable doing. I’ve told the odd routine about my “husband”, “children” or “upbringing”, but they’ve generally been lighthearted, hugely exaggerated, or untrue, and even then it makes me feel uneasy and anxious.

We should be able to express opinions however we choose – through words, mime, origami or baking

Related: Standup comedian’s husband sues for defamation over ‘provocative’ show

When I stumbled across Naked Attraction and saw six vaginas on display, I knew I was out of step with the modern world

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Where in the world is Kathy Griffin, and what is she thinking

A brand-new extensive interview with Kathy Griffin appeared today in The Hollywood Reporter, putting her on its cover as A Comic In Exile. The profile headline? “Can a Comic in Exile Come Back?” For starters, she’s not exiled. THR met her for lunch in Santa Monica and visited with her in her Bel Air mansion. […]

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How sensitive will Canadian comedy audiences (or bookers) get?

Just when you thought it was safe to tell jokes in Canada… Wait. You thought it was safe to tell jokes in Canada? Don’t let the extravagance of Just For Laughs fool you. For all of the “ethnic” and “nasty” shows at JFL Montreal each July, there are comedy bookers and audiences so sensitive they’re […]

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When news silences satire: Why firing a Kathy Griffin today weakens Anderson Cooper tomorrow

When the media takes down a comedian, we all lose. When the hubbub of Twitter firestarters and talking heads are starting… MORE

When news silences satire: Why firing a Kathy Griffin today weakens Anderson Cooper tomorrow appeared first on The Laugh Button.

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NBC will air an unedited N-word on “The Carmichael Show”

The internet is truly abuzz with this week’s news that NBC will not edit a racial slur in an upcoming… MORE

NBC will air an unedited N-word on “The Carmichael Show” appeared first on The Laugh Button.

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