Paul Merton is on a one-man mission on to bring silent cinema to the masses. He’s back on the road with Silent Clowns, the live show he first toured on the back of his popular BBC Four programme of the same name. Merton introduces a feature length silent movie and a couple of shorts which […]
Read MoreI wrote for the British Comedy Awards magazine between 2006 and 2010, including the 2008 edition where I interviewed Michael McIntyre. To read the 2008 magazine click here: bca.digitaleditions.co.uk/britishcomedy2008/
Read MoreA little bit of politics On the eve of the local elections, Julian Hall takes a look at political comedy Legend has it that when a Nazi officer confronted Picasso with a print of Guernica and asked him: ‘Did you do this?’, Picasso replied: ‘No, you did.’ Whether true or not the exchange defines political […]
Read MoreWas Lenny right? Julian Hall on the future of black comedy The recent speech by Lenny Henryabout the lack of diversity in TV raised some uncomfortable and contentious questions about the lack of black comedy talent. Claiming that talent scouts weren’t digging deep enough for new stars, Henry said: ‘Do they go to the Hackney […]
Read MoreInterview with Chris O’Dowd for SW magazine, before he went ‘global’.
Read MoreFirst Night: Ricky Gervais, Madison Square Garden, New York Near-the-knuckle Gervais pushes US boundaries By Julian Hall Outside New York’s Madison Square Garden Theatre, ticket touts were having difficulties pronouncing Ricky Gervais’s name. “Want tickets for Ricky Gerva?” they inquired, hesitantly. Inside, however, most people knew exactly who they had come to see and they […]
Read MoreGet a BA in comedy: Make them laugh… Heard the one about the BA in comedy? No, really, it exists, because making people laugh, in pubs and clubs and on TV, is big business now. By Julian Hall Last weekend, I did something funny. Bizarre, even. I dropped in on a vocational comedy course that […]
Read MoreLaughter Lines, article about the comedy heritage of the Central Trains region. The Connect region can lay claim to some infamous comedy hotspots. The Independent’s comedy critic Julian Hall gives a run down of some of the best. Let’s start with Liverpool – in the north-west of the Central Trains network – long renowned for […]
Read MoreAs soon as the comedian Hal Cruttenden steps on stage you know that you are in safe hands. Safe, of course, doesn’t have to mean boring. Cruttenden, a comedian since 1996, has spent enough time on stage to make stand-up look easy. Working as the warm-up act for Rob Brydon, the star of Gavin and […]
Read MoreComedian Arthur Smith has been strutting his stuff at the Edinburgh Fringe for nearly 30 years. On the eve of the city’s festival season he talks Julian Hall about his long association with the Scottish capital-and offers some tips on how to make the most of your festival experience. Last year, 2.6 million people descended […]
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