Some truly interesting comedy for you this week. Adam Buxton is at the Duchess Theatre for five nights from April 21 as part of the two-week Invisible Dot season, with his acclaimed show Kernel Panic, mixing puerile humour with sophisticated spoofery, David Bowie skits and inspired takedowns of YouTube comments. I reviewed the show last time round, I bang on about how brilliant it is at every opportunity, and urge you all to see it at least once.
Canada-born stand-up Katherine Ryan first appeared on the UK stand-up scene about six years ago as a slightly ditzy, slightly kooky kind of comic. In the last couple of years though she has started to kick post-feminist butt, exploring what it means to be a modern woman. Her Beyonce routine, in which she champions the singer as a strong role model compared to someone like Miley Cyrus, was a big hit on Live at the Apollo, and showed that Ryan can be sexy and funny at the same time. She drills deeper into women’s issues in her new show, Glam Role Model, which opens at the Soho Theatre on Tuesday.
The comedy calendar is positively peppered with talent shows and star-hunts, but the annual Musical Comedy Awards, sponsored by WeGotTickets, is different to most, specifically unearthing acts that find the funnies in songs. It has now been up and running for six years, so is very well-established in a world of fly-by-night chancers and has a pretty consistent track record. Previous entrants have included Frisky & Mannish and Abandoman and the final is always a good night out, mixing new acts with established special guests.
This year’s final takes place at the Bloomsbury Theatre on Friday, hosted by Horse & Louis, and features David Elms, Bob & Jim, Cribb & Morgan, Laurence Owen and Rogue 5. There will also be an appearance from warped country star Loretta Maine (never seen in the same room at the same time as Pippa Evans) and turns from previous MCA entrants Jay Foreman and Mae Martin. I’m one of the judges and I have seen some of the acts before, but don’t ask me for tips as it looks pretty open to me. All I can say is that the standard is impressively high.
