Comedy
Doctor doctor
In a new hour-long monologue, Burn, Alan Cumming examines the life and work of Robert Burns. The biographical material is…
Softly, softly
Grizzled police officers of the old school should probably avoid Channel 4’s Night Coppers for reasons of blood pressure. Like…
On the offensive
Just how edgy and dangerous is Ricky Gervais? There is no one more edgy and dangerous, we learn from no…
Ricky Gervais is guilty of blasphemy
I have long thought that if Life of Brian came out today, it wouldn’t be Christians kicking up a fuss…
Fresh knickers
Last April Fools’ Day, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo wound up their award-winning film review show on BBC Radio 5…
Don’t frighten the horses
Chivalry – written by and starring Sarah Solemani and Steve Coogan – is a comedy drama about post-#MeToo Hollywood life.…
The worst of friends
First the bad news: Nina Stibbe’s new novel does not feature Lizzie Vogel, the engaging narrator of the trilogy that…
Bunker mentality
Phantom of the Open is a comedy-drama telling a true story that would have to be true as no one…
Stolen pleasures
The Duke is an old-fashioned British comedy caper that is plainly lovely and a joy. Based on a true story,…
Beyond a joke
Charlie Chaplin is one of the most famous movie stars ever and is certainly the most famous movie star with…
Clown prince
Never Not Once has a cold and forbidding title but it starts as an amusing tale set in an LA…
Sick jokes
Medics need black humour
(no title)
According to the makers, This is Going to Hurt is intended as ‘a love letter to the national health service’.…
In defence of bad jokes
I was once at a terrific Shabbat dinner where late in the evening one of the other guests suddenly said:…
Sly and saucy
At last, and finally: literary sex is back. The Bad Sex Prize has a lot to answer for in British…
Women beware women
As you may have noticed, it’s something of a golden age for TV shows about how invisible middle-aged women are…
It’s too late to save comedy from ‘cancel culture’
Will comedy become the latest victim of ‘cancel culture’? Dame Maureen Lipman fears as much. ‘Cancel culture, this cancelling, this…
Moomin marvellous
Moomins do not like winter. In one of Tove Jansson’s stories, Moomin’s Winter Follies, young Moomintroll bumps his head when…
Guilt-free hilarity
World-class sex bomb Janie Dee stars in a fabulously silly revival of the American comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha…
The unseen Victoria Wood
For a few years now I have been living with Victoria Wood. That sounds all wrong, obviously, and yet no…
Screwball Austen
Let’s be honest. Jane Austen is popular because War and Peace doesn’t fit inside a handbag. Austen’s best-loved novel, Pride…
Showtime
Until 1881, HMS Pinafore was the second-longest-running show in West End history. Within a year of its première it had…
The dangers of being trans-gressive
I’m accustomed to a sense of urgency in relation to Netflix offerings because the streaming service often buys short-term rights…
If it ain’t broke
At one point in an early Simpsons, Homer comes across an old issue of TV Guide, and finds the listing…
Phantom thread
Blithe Spirit is a comedy with the plot of a horror story. Charles, a middle-aged novelist, lives happily with his…
