Comedy
Clarkson and the case of the cowardly comedian
‘Outspoken comic Frankie Boyle has called on the BBC to sack “cultural tumour” Jeremy Clarkson.’ Can anyone tell me what’s…
Off the telly
In the world of YouTube and Netflix, generations no longer share a culture
State of independence
Lloyd Evans tours the Edinburgh Festival in search of clues about the outcome of the referendum
Edinburgh round-up
Let’s start with a nightmare. Wendy Wason, an Edinburgh comedienne, travelled to LA last year accompanied by her husband, who…
No dumb waiter
Comedians always like to claim that they started making jokes after childhoods made harsh by poverty; that at a formative…
Is a new art form being born on Woman’s Hour?
In a comic-strip cartoon, beads of water apparently radiating outward from the head of one of the characters indicate embarrassment.…
A comedy of manners
This utterly charming, totally bonkers short novel is something from another age. There are elements of A Handful of Dust…
Flogging a dead parrot
Monty Python was funny once. But a revival is a dreadful idea
Knickers to burlesque
A sense of irony doesn’t make stripping feminist. It just makes it worse to watch
