Mathew Tansini writes as if he knows a lot about comedy. His convictions are such that, if you knew less about comedy than Tansini, you might well be taken in. But to know less than Tansini you would need to be from a place that doesn’t understand stand-up comedy, like Afghanistan or the Isle of […]
It is a curious thing that, while 95 per cent of stand-ups are on-message with the Guardian’s brand of sympathetic socialism, Brian Logan has little sympathy for stand-up. His reviews are grumpy, condescending and keen to make it clear that it is HIS time everyone is wasting. Sometimes his opinions are so bombastic that they’re […]
Bernard O’Leary is the main man at the Skinny, and it’s interesting to see how his approach differs from that of the other review grandees. For example, while Chortlemeister Steve Bennett was furious with Ellis and Rose’s Jimmy Savile: The Punch and Judy Show – pretty much accusing the hapless duo of wasting his precious […]
Sam Turner only reviewed three things on the Fringe’s comedy roster for 2013, but he made a decent fist of it nonetheless. He’s not always crystal clear; for example he tells us that Adrienne Truscott “brings classics like the banana peel up to date in tremendous fashion while reinventing the art of projection comedy”. What’s […]