Sara Pascoe @ Warwick Arts Centre, 7th October 2018

Sara Pascoe: Animal

Sara Pascoe‘s latest show, LadsLadsLads, was unapologetically about the aftermath of a break-up. Originally performed at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, where Pascoe and John Robins both delivered their own shows about the break-up of their relationship, it was much more personal than previous outings but hugely enjoyable, showcasing all of the elements which have made her voice so distinctive – intelligent, often dark, and very open.

There was an intimacy and candidness about LadsLadsLads which was quite a rare feat in a theatre of this size – covering topics such as relationships, sex and family, Pascoe revealed aspects of her life and flaws with a level of vulnerability which isn’t all that common even in stand-up, and imbued these vignettes with layers of great jokes which peeked out of the darkness.

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Review: Richard Herring @ Warwick Arts Centre, 3rd June 2018

Richard Herring: Life begins at 50?

Does life begin at 50? Celebrated stand-up Richard Herring has been pondering this while on tour with his latest show, Oh Frig I’m 50, which ended with this date at Warwick Arts Centre. A sequel of sorts to his show titled Oh Fuck I’m 40, this new offering detailed how the biggest events during the past decade or so have shaped his life now, with the most momentous changes including him getting married and starting a family.

It’s a commonly held view in certain circles that those things can often lead to diminishing returns in the quality of a comic’s output, and while that may have been true in some examples Herring’s recent work has long proved its folly. The first half here was slightly more uneven, with keen observational material not always landing, but glimpses of his recognisable style, though a stronger second half of the show really took proceedings to a higher level.

Review: Danny Baker @ Warwick Arts Centre, 5th May 2018

Danny Baker: From the cradle to the stage

It’s more than 20 years since I first encountered Danny Baker on the airwaves and the experience made an indelible mark. A famed career in front of the TV cameras notwithstanding, it was on the radio where Baker sounded – and felt – most at home, with his hugely popular shows tracing the absurdity of football and everyday life at an almost molecular level. Never had minutiae seemed more vital, or more universal.

In more recent years, Baker’s has turned his enormous skill as a raconteur to books – he’s published three volumes of his autobiography and has hinted on Twitter that there are more to come – and latterly the stage. It’s odd to think that such a masterful storyteller had never graced the boards for a full live tour prior to last year’s Cradle to the Stage outing, but its follow-up Good Time Charlie’s Back has come barely twelve months later.

Review: Mark Steel @ Warwick Arts Centre, 6th May 2018

Mark Steel: Alright?

Mark Steel is angry. That isn’t a new thing, as anyone who’s followed the career of the long-time Radio 4 favourite will know, but on his latest tour Steel wasn’t just irate about the current state of UK and world politics, but also had lots to get off his chest about his personal life too.

Titled Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright, this show found him in a slightly different mode than usual, flitting between exasperation at what’s going on in the world and picking at the things about the modern world which confuse and frustrate him, along with tracing the decline of his marriage.

Review: Robin Ince @ Warwick Arts Centre, 13th April 2018

Robin Ince: Pragmatic Insanity

After taking a break from stand-up for a couple of years, Robin Ince is back on tour with his latest show, Pragmatic Insanity. A lot has changed since his time away from the stage, as he was quick to note at the outset. Yet rather than making up for lost time, he noted that he was going to steer away from Brexit, Trump and the fact that the world is slowly falling apart, given that everyone else had that covered anyway.

Instead, after an opening half-hour or so of Ince’s ambling observations, almost with polite conversation as a form of invective, singer-songwriter Grace Petrie performed support duties with a short set of unusually personal vignettes, a slight departure from her usual, much more politicised material. A regular touring partner of acts such as Ince and Josie Long, among others, it was no surprise that she also shared a gentle humour in between songs.

Review: Mark Thomas @ MAC, 28th February 2018

Showtime from the frontline. Photo by Lesley Martin.

Earlier in the decade, stand-up and activist Mark Thomas performed a show called Walking the Wall – a tale of his “extreme rambling” excursion along the West Bank’s barrier. In his latest tour, Showtime From the Frontline, he recounted his return to the region for a very different type of visit.

Wonderfully aided by Alaa Shehada and Faisal Abualheja, the show detailed his time spent teaching a comedy workshop at the Freedom Theatre in the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp – his co-performers were among the students, and their clowning and acting skills were brought to the forefront here, essaying the different characters among the student cohort and illustrating their experiences.

Review: Alun Cochrane @ Warwick Arts Centre, 25th February 2018

Alun Cochrane: minutiae and mirth

As show titles go, Alunish Cochranish isn’t the most attention-grabbing headline you’ll see, but it is pretty accurate. In fact, it does a remarkable job of signalling what to expect from the Yorkshire-born stand-up – it’s possibly the most ‘Alun Cochrane’ show that Alun Cochrane has ever done.

What that resulted in was an hour of observational comedy – a disjointed collection of stories from Cochrane’s life, performed warmly and in his unmistakably gentle way. After being ably supported by Mike Newall, Cochrane delved into material about sneezing, the prison service, and a host of subjects plucked from everyday life, from which he’d effortlessly wring layers of jokes and relatable whimsy.

Review: Daniel Kitson @ The Y, 14th December 2017

Daniel Kitson: A Show For Christmas

There’s something particularly magical and evocative about stories set at Christmas. Whether it’s the work of Charles Dickens, the ghost stories of M.R. James, Doctor Who‘s festive outings, or anything in between – the snow, Christmas trees and spirit of giving help to conjure vivid ideas of late December and all the joys (and, in the case of James, fears) that come with it.

These seasonal ingredients, along with Santa Claus, were firmly in place in Daniel Kitson‘s A Show For Christmas, though this elegantly crafted story wasn’t quite as traditional as you might imagine. Kitson, who has long cemented his place as perhaps the most revered stand-up and storyteller on the British circuit, first performed the show during a run at Battersea Arts Centre in December 2014, and has since taken it Stateside for a run in New York, but this month marks the first time he’s toured it around the UK, including a stop at Leicester’s Y Theatre.

Review: No Such Thing As a Fish @ Warwick Arts Centre, 2nd December 2017

Quite interesting: The QI elves host the No Such Thing As a Fish podcast

First broadcast in 2003, QI has become something of an institution. The BBC panel show which shines a spotlight on comedians’ knowledge and ignorance has been running since then with Stephen Fry and now Sandi Toksvig at the helm – along with creator and producer John Lloyd – but it’s behind the scenes where a lot of the (Quite) interesting action happens.

Writers and researchers on the hit TV show, the line-up of Dan Schreiber, James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray and Anna Ptaszynski joined together to create the podcast No Such Thing As a Thing, which acts as a sort of spin-off from, and logical extension of, the parent show. With more than 190 episodes under their collective belts, the podcast is fast becoming a staple of the burgeoning comedy podcast scene in the UK, which seems to be undergoing another boom lately.

Review: The Lost Hancocks – Vacant Lot @ Light House Media Centre, 4th November 2017

Vacant Lot: The premiere of two lost scripts from Larry Stephens, written for Tony Hancock

Larry Stephens, who hailed from West Bromwich, will probably be an unfamiliar name to most, but fans of comedy history will be familiar with his work, on famous shows such as The Goon Show and The Army Game.

The writer, who was a close friend of Tony Hancock, is set to be rediscovered by comedy fans thanks to a biography from author Julie Warren, which is currently looking for backers via publisher Unbound. As part of Warren’s research, she came across two scripts for an unmade sitcom called Vacant Lot. It was likely to feature Goons stars Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, and was written as a vehicle for Hancock to star in.