Marina Hyde confesses how couldn’t tear her eyes away from the Gwyneth Paltrow trial (1m32s); from Camden council care worker to trailblazing icon, we revisit an interview with Paul O’Grady from 2017 (9m34s); and Zoe Williams laments the revival of the…
Continue ReadingO2 Arena, London The controversial US podcaster finds fertile material challenging society’s sensitivities – yet while his standup takes pains to short-circuit offence, fear of emasculation underpins too many of the gags“Talking shit used to be fun,” c…
Continue ReadingThe world of standup has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and assault – and finally some men in the industry are vowing to tackle itWhen US comedian Kelly Bachman found herself performing to a bailed Harvey Weinstein at a New York show i…
Continue ReadingFor years, sexual predators have infested the live comedy scene. But female comedians are demanding action. Is this British standup’s #MeToo moment?‘If this was a normal office where, on your first day, someone higher up than you goes: ‘Here’s a list o…
Continue ReadingThe soul-baring comedian has turned his experience of being stalked into a gripping piece of theatre, Baby ReindeerIt had all ended so well. When Richard Gadd won the Edinburgh Comedy award three years ago with Monkey See Monkey Do, it wasn’t just a pr…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup, who was circumcised as an infant, gets het up in a show where the polemic overshadows the comedyDick jokes are as old as comedy, but few – Richard Herring with docu-comedy Talking Cock excepted – dedicate whol…
Continue ReadingThe procedure left the comedian with sexual anxiety – and a tell-all show at the Edinburgh festivalJournalistic etiquette decrees that any delicate questions are usually saved until near the end of an interview. That doesn’t apply, however, when you ar…
Continue ReadingLeicester Square theatre, LondonOne of the US’s most outspoken social commentators tackles sex and gender in a sparky show that confirms her place in the big league ‘I’ve learned a lot,” says Michelle Wolf at the top of her show, and we all know what s…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonKemsley packs in high-calibre jokes in a tour through the gendered politics of promiscuityIn Nanette, Hannah Gadsby refused to pretend her personal pain was funny – and threw down a gauntlet to the comedy world. But there’s life yet…
Continue ReadingBattersea Arts Centre, LondonTarget’s absurdist show Splosh! – about swimming and his childhood in Houston – cocks a quiet snook at machismoIt’s my dream with this show, says Ben Target, “to send someone in this room – myself excluded – to sleep”. Splo…
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