The Improvisator

Susan Harrison Character comic

I see a lot of live comedy. In fact that’s an understatement. I live, breathe, eat comedy. I watch it online; I got to gigs above pubs, comedy awards shows, stadium gigs, live at the Apollo, everything. But my favourite type of comedy has to be character comedy (I’m a massive fan of Steve Coogan, Kevin Bishop etc) so I’m always interested to see new character acts on the circuit.

I first saw the diminutive Susan Harrison in “Five More

New 50% Tax Rate For Top Earners Takes Effect

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8604215.stm

As the new tax rate of 50% takes effect here in Britain, many of the country’s top earners will have make contact with their financial advisor to find out just much they will be affected. Yes the over 300,000 top earners in our society will be most affected by this new tax. This may seem a small chunk when you consider the close to 30 million Brits who are registered taxpayers and who pay tax on their income.

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Musicals

Why do so many people hate musicals so much? Well that’s easy: they can get on your nerves, can be long and tedious, and are by their very nature over the top, irritating and exceedingly long-winded. But is that any reason to not watch them? I don’t think so. People have a breast uplift and other things for absolutely no reason, don’t they? The point is that musicals, like anything, can get on your nerves, but some of them are More

CABBAGE FILTH

Everyone has a thing about brussel sprouts. People either love them or hate them, and both are fine. Because the brussel is not a pretender. It knows its place and it stays there out of harms way. It knows it will never be a main-stay vegetable and it is fine with that.

But I am not fine with cabbage. In fact, I am disgusted by it. It is a pretender, a faker, and constantly trying to get into as many More

Rob Broderick Rules!

I want to tell you about one of the London Comedy Circuit’s best kept secrets. Rob Broderick is an amazing improvisational stand up comedian and I’m sure it won’t be long before the rest of the world knows it. I first saw him at the Tooting comedy club Comedy at the Kirk where he was headlining and he absolutely killed the crowd. I’m a big comedy fan and have seen loads of acts ranging from frightened open spots to comedy More

The Sacred

People will always be people, obviously (I mean that not literally, but as the prominent and powerful start of a speech I am about to make): as long as some reputable companies keep producing quality things, there will be others that delight in copying them just for the sake of it.

Take the best blackcurrant drink that exists and will ever be made, for example (I can’t name it here but no problem, it rhymes with “Have you met More

Sock War!

Socks: who is actually responsible for making socks fit comfortably around the human foot? And how is it possible for some socks to be a joy to put on, and other socks to be a total nightmare? I can see how the man or indeed woman on the street, having stumbled across this article, might think ‘this is ridiculous, what problem have I ever had with socks? What is this guy on about?’ But I ask you to have patience. More

Bringing Advanced Thinking

You know that the world-wide-web has got everywhere when even the child on the bus, a child barely old enough to hold his own head up and have hair, I should say, points rudely at your not-quite-new mobile phone and says to his mummy, “Mummy, what is that?” And the Mummy looks at you with embarrassment—not for herself, but for you—and winces. “Oh, that’s just a man with a non internet phone, darling,: she says, turning away from More

Green Screen - the Reinvention of Impro

Do you remember when you were at nursery school and you had to become a tree or a fish or somesuch? Well it was fun and some of the kids got a little bit overexcited! All drama schools have improvisation (impro) classes for their students. Things hadn’t changed much - it was still trees and fish and the like but it was all a bit more precise - cuttlefish/shark/squid/oak tree/willow etc.

However with the ever growing film industry impro started More

The Hulk: To Change Or Stay The Same

I am a massive fan of Edward Norton in his version of The Incredible Hulk, but I don’t know what to think about him reprising his role in the new Avengers movie. As much as he did a fine job, isn’t it a bit dodgy to keep letting the same actor play the same role over and over again? (Not to mention he might make everyone else look bad, since anyone in their right mind has to admit that The More