Ahir Shah

Ahir Shah: Dress review – laughs about life under lockdown

Coronavirus and woke capitalism lead to pleasing, if patchy, polemics in the comic’s latest show

Brian Logan

04, Nov, 2021 @11:17 AM

'It feels good to bring the virus down a peg or two': should comedians joke about Covid?

Some standups see it as their job to provide collective catharsis for the coronavirus, while others see pandemic gags as off-limits – even ones about Trump

Brian Logan

30, Oct, 2020 @3:13 PM

Gagging order: the jokes comedians would have told at Edinburgh

From Flo & Joan to Stephen K Amos, standups share the material they would have taken to the fringe this year

The Guide

01, Aug, 2020 @9:00 AM

Cancelled culture: at-home substitutes for major theatre, art and music events

The Observer’s critics offer creative alternatives to cancelled or postponed arts events

Susannah Clapp, Kitty Empire, Laura Cumming, Michael Hogan, Sarah Crompton and Fiona Maddocks

28, Mar, 2020 @4:00 PM

Star debuts and happy returns: theatre, dance and comedy in 2020

Tom Stoppard gets personal, Cush Jumbo does Hamlet, Hollywood names bring everything from tragedy to comedy … plus dance confronts shame and there’s standup open heart surgery

Arifa Akbar, Lyndsey Winship and Brian Logan

02, Jan, 2020 @9:00 AM

‘Optimists make everything good’: 16 writers and thinkers on what gives them hope in dark times

Here’s hoping for new languages, better technology, solutions to the climate crisis, Samantha Mumba’s new album, a sequel to Hamilton – and the resurrection of hope itself

20, Dec, 2019 @4:12 PM

15 of the best Edinburgh festival shows now touring

The festival is over for another year but plenty of its theatre, comedy and dance hits have announced dates around the UK

Kate Wyver, Catherine Love, Anna Winter, Brian Logan, Mark Fisher and Chris Wiegand

27, Aug, 2019 @5:00 AM

Edinburgh fringe roundup: the sound of fighting talk

Personal stories – of exile, homelessness, illness and existential terror – jostle for hearts and minds with farts and live bread-baking

Rebecca Nicholson

18, Aug, 2019 @7:00 AM

Edinburgh festival 2019: the shows we recommend

Plan your schedule with our roundup of top shows, ordered by start time. This page will be updated daily throughout the festival

Brian Logan, Alex Needham, Catherine Love, Michael Billington, Chris Wiegand, Mark Fisher, Paul Fleckney Anna Winter and Kate Wyver

12, Aug, 2019 @12:40 PM

Ahir Shah: Dots review – humour and poetry in existential angst

The polemical style of his early work may have given way to a more conflicted thinker but the comedy remains emphatic

Brian Logan

06, Aug, 2019 @8:00 PM

Meet the best new comics at the Fringe

From Ben Affleck angst to valley-girl cabaret, the fresh generation of standups and character acts performing at Edinburgh

Harriet Gibsone

27, Jul, 2019 @9:00 AM

Edinburgh festival 2019: 50 theatre, comedy and dance shows to see

There’s a Belle and Sebastian play, a show in a hair salon, Frances Barber performing Pet Shop Boys songs and top comics including Josie Long and Stephen Fry. Here’s our guide to the world’s biggest arts festival

Mark Fisher, Lyndsey Winship and Brian Logan

14, Jun, 2019 @6:00 AM