The Definitive Guide to Comedy
****1/2 (out of 5) At the end of his first HBO Max special, Trash White, Moses Storm teased a cliffhanger about how he grew up in a doomsday cult. So naturally, I was excited to see and hear that story. After all, I’d put Storm’s 2022 special on my Top …
***** (out of 5) After a sold-out run of her debut show Gutterplum in 2019, Los Angeles clown Courtney Pauroso returns with an all-new production as a sex robot named Vanessa 5000 that’ll reveal more than you could possibly imagine. Her timing couldn’t be more auspicious, thanks to the new …
***1/2 (out of 5) Chloe Radcliffe describes her Edinburgh Fringe debut as “a one-woman show, but a 29-man show.” Or as she also says (which you can read in the show description), she is a serial monogamist who’s very bad at one of those words. But why has she cheated …
**** (out of 5) I like Ike. Of course, I never met Dwight D Eisenhower. But any president who not only predicted but warned against the rising military industrial complex is good in my book. Now I have met Ikechukwu Ufomadu, writer for Showtime’s Ziwe, and writer/performer for Stephen Colbert …
**** (out of 5) Rob Auton is here, once more, for the human experience. After nine previous Fringe runs, which Auton helpfully brings audiences up to speed on in his opening minutes, he has focused on themes with The Yellow Show, The Sleep Show, The Talk Show, The Hair Show, …
****1/2 (out of 5) Hearing John Williams music beforehand certainly enhances the vibe, preparing audience members in this converted classroom setting as they’re about to be taken to improv school. Normally, this talk show is funny enough as it is, what with George Lucas (Connor Ratliff) presiding over the discussions …
**** (out of 5) In 1991, Frank Skinner won the top prize at the Edinburgh Fringe (then known as the Perrier Award), beating out Eddie Izzard, Lily Savage and Jack Dee. Three decades later (plus a year or two for the pandemic), and Skinner has since earned his MBE. And …
Martin Urbano is a comedian who grew up in southern Texas on the border with Mexico, but he’s based now in New York City, where he has found much of his success since being named a New Face for Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival in 2017. That includes performances on …
Kiran Deol is a comedian and actress whose show business career began auspiciously enough when she followed up her college thesis with a documentary short, Woman Rebel, that was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. As an actress, she co-starred in the 2019 NBC sitcom, Sunnyside, and before that, chalked up …
As president and chief distribution officer of Hartbeat Productions, Jeff Clanagan runs Kevin Hart’s LOL! Network — which includes radio programs and podcasts on SiriusXM, as well as short-form content, TV shows and movies with partners such as Peacock, Roku, Tubi, and PlutoTV. He’s also a producer on projects such …
