Mark Muldoon
- Writer, Freelance
- Columnist, British Comedy Guide
- Senior Operations Coordinator, Dot Dot Dot Property
London
Comedy columnist: @BritishComedy. Judge: @GlastoFest Emerging Talent Competition. Judge/talent scout: @ComedyAwards
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Articles by Mark Muldoon
Nish Kumar and Phil Wang: how the new tours are shaping up - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
It's said that newspapers do well in opposition. As in, the Daily Mail can expect to have a successful few years when Labour are in government. The Guardian, conversely, tend to have a more sustainable business model when the Tories are in power. Can the same be said of our comedians? If so, consider the plight of firebrand lefty Nish Kumar, two years into a Labour term.
Mark Thomas’s favourite family tradition? Mosh pits
Comedy / 21 September 2026 Interview Getting to know the politically-charged comedian as he embarks on a new tour celebrating 40 years in the game Mark Thomas has now been in stand-up comedy for 40 years. It’s a career that’s secured the activist comic his own series on both Channel 4 and Radio 4. He’s worked undercover in the arms trade, and he’s temporarily stopped thousands of Kurds from being displaced in southeast Turkey. He’s perhaps earned the right to celebrate completing his fourth decade.
Sam Campbell, plus Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Is Milton Keynes ready for Sam Campbell? That's the question being posed on a sleepy Sunday evening. Even the venue is straightforwardly-named tonight: the Milton Keynes Theatre doesn't feel like a close match for Campbell's ultra-eccentric comedy. It's a large, modern, sleek building. Meanwhile, the audience - perhaps a little more middle-aged than you might expect - is able to get a drink in the foyer before the show, from the not-exactly-achingly-alternative 'Facilities Management Solutions bar'.
Pepsi MAX presents Reading 2026: as it happened
Festivals / 1 September 2026 Review Charli XCX, Raye, Fontaines DC and Dave – all the best from the weekend's action Reading festival has been running, by some measures, since 1961. Long-since twinned with its partner event in Leeds, they’ve made a fair bit of noise this time round about starting a new era: Reading and Leeds 2.0. A genre-agnostic collection of six big name British and Irish headliners have been booked.
Edinburgh Comedy Awards reaction + late night chaos roundup - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
The nominees for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards were announced yesterday. There's been a few odd decisions from that Fringe institution in recent years, and unfortunately you might be inclined to think that 2026 represents another such example.
Rhys James, Celya AB, Spencer Jones, Li Jin Hao - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
Our live comedy columnist drops another Fringe report, this time featuring Sadia Azmat, Rhys James, Spencer Jones, Li Jin Hao, Celya AB, and Sophie Power's show CVNT. This column has already considered the comedians who have been working on SNL UK this year, and the impact doing so may have had on their Edinburgh Fringe shows. In short: sounds like a big workload, not surprised the shows are a bit of a mixed bag as a result. What, then, of Rhys James?
Ania Magliano, Phil Ellis, Reuben Kaye, Ed Night - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
This - you may or (more likely) may not be interested to know - is the 95th edition of this 'comedy diary'. It feels only reasonable to forewarn you that it features the highest calibre of shows yet. Higher than any of the previous 94 editions. Which makes sense - think how seminal Windows 95 was as an operating system. There's clearly something special about the 95th edition of things.
Paddy Young, Tom Lawrinson, Stuart Mitchell, Free Fringe highlights - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
I hear murmurings that Paddy Young may be experiencing some difficult Fringe audiences, following his triumphant screen breakthrough on SNL UK. Many an alternative comic has had to contend with a shift in their attendees, following small screen success. If that's the case, good on Young for not changing his act one little bit. Indeed, he has fun with it: "it's not like SNL, is it?", and playing with the expectations these new fans may have.
Daniel Kitson, Sophie Duker, Adam Riches + Andrew Doherty - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
Of course, every Fringe has its themes. Topics that just keep on recurring. This year, David Walliams is coming up quite a lot. The many different behaviours of toxic men are being picked over. (For legal reasons I would like to point out that the last two sentences are separate and unrelated statements.) You wonder if Captain Tom and JK Rowling will ever not be the subject of punchlines. One of the most popular topics for comedy this year, however, is comedy reviewers.
Joseph Morpurgo, Demi Adejuyigbe, Katie Norris, Rob Copland - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
Joseph Morpurgo made two brilliant, phenomenally critically-acclaimed Fringe shows in 2015 and 2017. In an interesting move, last December he revived the 2015 show, at London's Soho Theatre. Watching it again was a fascinating reminder of how standards continue to be raised in live comedy: what was thrillingly good in 2015 now felt like the kind of show that would get a decent smattering - but perhaps not a tidal wave - of audience and critical acclaim. Then he seemed to disappear for eight years.
Alfie Brown, Dan Tiernan, Lara Ricote, Sean Morley - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Across the UK comedy scene, Alfie Brown may well be the comedian whose shows develop most substantially, between the start of their respective tours, and the end. Both his previous two shows were significantly more average affairs at first: 2024's post-cancellation epic Open Hearted Human Enquiry was solid but awash with grief when it debuted at the Fringe. It was genuinely phenomenal by the time it reached YouTube.
Elf Lyons, Bella Hull, Geoffrey Asmus, Celia Pacquola - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
A few days ago Elf Lyons issued a warning to reviewers on her Instagram Stories: "don't you dare say it's a breakup show. I will come for you". Eeek.
Mike Bubbins says “come get me” to Strictly Come Dancing
Music / 18 June 2026 Interview The man, the myth, the Mammoth... we get to know the Welsh comic ahead of his new UK tour Ideas Man Mike Bubbins seems surprised at the speed of his success. He’s perhaps best known for writing and starring in BBC sitcom Mammoth. “I remember being blown away when the pilot came through, because lockdown got in the way of stuff. We didn’t have a massive budget. You’ve got to pinch yourself. There was a scene last year where I’m riding a speedboat across Cardiff Bay.
Alternative comedy special 2! Jordan Brookes, Sam Jay, Bebe Cave - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Jordan Brookes - the longest ever reigning Edinburgh Comedy Award winner - is back! (Basically, he won the prestigious prize in 2019, and then there was a whole pandemic thing which stopped anybody else winning it for a couple of years). It's something he's egged successfully as a fun marketing angle. And that's not the only enjoyably playful aspect of the marketing of his new show, The Part of You That's Always Screaming.
Alternative comedy special! John Kearns, and is Gutter the UK's weirdest comedy night? - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
I don't know how your couple of years have been, but if they've been as bad as John Kearns's, I'm very sorry. His last tour, 2023's The Varnishing Days, charted far more optimistic waters. Now he's temporarily back living with his parents, with his four year-old son sometimes along for the ride. Does misery make for great comedy? You might find yourself considering the question, if you're keeping up with his work. That last tour didn't have enough comic firepower to sell Kearns's alternative charms.
Billy Connelly said two words to Fred MacAuley – he’s still haunted by them
Comedy / 11 May 2026 Interview Get to know the Scottish comic ahead of his World Cup live special with Ally McCoist The late 90s was an important era for Scottish football. First, there was the 1998 World Cup, the last time the country competed in the tournament. But from 1997 to 1999, there was a TV chat show that also ran, featuring comedian and broadcaster Fred MacAulay and former Rangers striker and A Question of Sport team captain Ally McCoist. Well, all of them are set to return.
Jen Brister, Aisling Bea, Riki Lindhome, Jamie Hutchinson - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Jen Brister starts her huge Hammersmith Apollo show with what you might call 'trademark rage straight out the gates': a tirade against those groups that put up England flags across the country. More recently, her audience has ballooned largely thanks to our old friend social media, and so she now finds herself able to play large venues like this. But as she notes, Brister has been in the comedy game for 27 years now. Rage has tended to be the default setting.
Musical Comedy Awards 2026
Review of the final at Bloomsbury Theatre, London For anybody who attended the Musical Comedy Awards final in 2025, it may put your mind immediately at ease to learn that the event has recovered from what amounted to a technical disaster last time round. Attendees of this year’s ceremony won't be able to complain that the evening lacked technical proficiency, whatever else they thought of proceedings. Four heats and two semi-finals have led us to this stage: the Bloomsbury Theatre.
Vittorio Angelone, Roy Wood Jr, Mike Wozniak, Shane Todd - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Some comedians reach the career landmark of playing the Hammersmith Apollo and seem to appear indifferent about the fact. Not so Vittorio Angelone. You'd struggle to find a stop unpulled during his first show at the venue. You get the impression he had multiple "wouldn't it be cool if..." thoughts, and decided - presumably to the substantial annoyance of his accountant - to do all of them.
James Acaster, Ross Noble, Olga Koch, Dan Tiernan - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Is that James Acaster on stage? Or is it "the UK's number one James Acaster impersonator Craig Simmons"? If that conceit doesn't exactly sound like comedy gold, you're advised to wait until it's been thoroughly explored. As his new tour show unfolds, this one idea will neatly create room for Acaster to lacerate himself (yet also occasionally self-aggrandise as well). In amongst it, he'll dovetail neatly into big topics like climate change, Elon Musk and a dispirited takedown of Keir Starmer.
King Gong: comedy at its most brutal
Comedy / 25 February 2026 Review Think you can last five minutes on stage at The Comedy Store? You can’t. But watching others try makes for one of London’s best nights out King Gong describes itself as “London’s most brutal open mic night”. Reader: this is not marketing waffle. Budding comics are challenged to try and last five minutes on stage, but really, most don’t make it past 90 seconds. This is an audience that will turn on you the moment they sense you’re not champion material.
Russell Howard, Josh Johnson, Joanne McNally, Kate Berlant - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Russell Howard and Joanne McNally are two names for whom many comedy fans have perhaps already made up their mind. Maybe you consider Howard too mainstream for your tastes? Or possibly, in McNally's case, she's the opposite gender to the comedians you typically enjoy? Well, in both cases, it might be worth reevaluating.
Alasdair Beckett-King isn’t sure if he sold Vic Reeves a chess set
Comedy / 10 February 2026 Stuck In A Lift King Of Crumbs Alasdair Beckett-King talks dead poets, Prince Harry and elliptical trays ahead of his new stand up tour Depending on who’s asking, Alasdair Beckett-King might describe himself as “a fairly tall IC1 male from the north east of England” or “a legendary comedian and writer, in that there is little historical evidence that he exists”.
Glenn Moore, Lorna Rose Treen, Sam Nicoresti, Rachel Kaly, Katie Norris - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Chasing a full-time career in comedy? Join BCG Pro Much has been written about pop music's transformation over the last couple of years, with its newer crop of stars - Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo and the like - being more interesting, messier, more fully-rounded, nuanced personalities than their recent predecessors. Much less reported on, however, is how something pretty similar has also been happening in comedy. Pity then, the plight of your Rhys Jameses and Glenn Moores.
Alice-India: See You In Hell
Alice-India gives off ‘Catholic energy’, but she’s actually just a people pleaser. She recently went through a break-up. She used to work in marketing, but now works in a ‘posh school’. Still reading? You may already suspect that Alice-India is unlikely to become your new favourite comedian. There’s just not all that much to make her a compelling character worthy of investing in.
Geoffrey Asmus, plus where are the jokes about Gaza? - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
Comedy writer? Stand-up comedian? Looking to progress? Join BCG Pro At music festivals this summer, it's been extremely common to hear acts express support for Palestine. Anybody coming from Glastonbury to the Fringe might wonder where the support from the artistic community evaporates off to. It's extremely rare to hear mention of Gaza in any Fringe shows. Do comedians not feel weighed down by the same moral obligation as musicians?
Heidi Regan: Jekyll and Heidi
Heidi Regan has stood out ever since winning the BBC New Comedy Award in 2017, a justified victory she followed up in 2018 with a debut show which took its main inspiration from analysing shark B-movies, whilst intertwining such observations with occasional stories from her personal life. There have been three more shows since, where Regan has perhaps seemed a little unsure of whether to focus on her personal life, or just have knockabout fun with similar popular culture themes.
Jo Caulfield: Bad Mood Rising
Our friends across the media landscape have questions to answer regarding the career of Jo Caulfield, who reliably pulls sizeable audiences every Fringe, receiving a regular stream of giddily keen reviews from the few critics that do visit, yet still plodding along each year very much not under the media’s watchful eye. Is this good old-fashioned entertainment industry ageism? A result of neophilia - an industry innately focused on the search for new names: previously unheard-of next big things?
Eric Rushton: Innkeeper
There’s an inarguable boldness to asking a guy on the front row ‘what’s your favourite thing about sex?’ at 3.30pm. (‘The way it feels’ was the response, in case you’re wondering.) Yep, Eric Rushton has incorporated a new lothario swagger into his comic persona. All of which works comedically because, I’m sorry to report, it’s coming from someone with an otherwise pretty dweeby demeanour.
Ed Night: Your Old Mucker
Ed Night is back to a decent work rate again, having taken a five-year gap before his 2024 Fringe show, The Plunge. Having amassed a following of 58k on Instagram – largely for his sketches with Paddy Young – perhaps he figured it was time to find out if that converts itself to a decent audience for his live shows. The Plunge was his finest hour, a performance that showed he’d developed a fully commanding stage presence.
The Comedy Arcade [2025]
The art of keeping formats simple is an important one, and The Comedy Arcade understands this. A tiny bingo ball dispenser sits on stage. As numbers are called by host Vix Leyton, each number corresponds to a question for the guest panelists to all answer. And that’s largely that. The questions are the Route One sort you might find dating apps asking you: ‘Worst job you’ve ever had?’, ‘What are your instant red flags?’, ‘Name your burning grudge?’.
Hasan Al-Habib: Death to the West (Midlands)
Don't be fooled by the title of Hasan Al-Habib’s debut hour, Death To The West (Midlands). He’s very much an outwardly proud Brummie. And it’s arguably a timely moment for a show about Birmingham, too. Weeks after Ozzy Osbourne’s emotional farewell to the city, B-town is enjoying a cultural moment. All of which follows Joe Lycett’s loud championing of the city. Did Lycett succeed in creating civic pride in Birmingham? And if so, what’s next?
Ian Smith, Joe Kent-Walters, Lou Wall, Sharon Wanjohi - Mark Muldoon's Fringe Diary
Comedy writer? Stand-up comedian? Looking to progress? Join BCG Pro Welcome back to the world's biggest trade fair for extroverts. Hundreds of comedy shows throughout August, and at the end a couple of awards will be handed out for best show and best newcomer. For the first few days the aim was simple: try and guess who the front runners for these awards seem to be, then get along and take a view. Overall frontrunner so far? Probably Ian Smith.
Latitude Festival and Sara Pascoe's new tour - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Comedy writer? Stand-up comedian? Looking to progress? Join BCG Pro Latitude Festival has undergone a curious transformation in recent years. Whereas it used to reliably book what we'll call 6 Music-adjacent headliners - Portishead, Alt-J, The National, that kind of thing - nowadays they firmly opt for Radio 2-coded acts, which, in 2025, means Sting, Snow Patrol, Elbow, Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx and Kaiser Chiefs. Notice anything else about that list?
Taskmaster Live at Glastonbury was chaotic but still a treat for fans - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Greg Davies, Alex Horne, James Acaster, Kerry Godliman, Lou Sanders, Richard Blackwood and... Basil Brush? The first ever Taskmaster Live was one of Glastonbury Festival's hottest tickets. Plus: Nish Kumar and James Acaster's DJ set at that same festival; four time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Kieran Hodgson; former youngest MP Mhairi Black points out Westminster's many ludicrous flaws; and can angry clown Furiozo succeed in being hilarious whilst also tackling the subject of toxic masculinity?
Glastonbury 2025 - The Worthy Awards
Glastonbury Festival Pilton, Somerset 25-29th June 2025 Mark Muldoon presents his absolutely fictional Glastonbury awards ceremony, whilst discussing Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, The 1975, Beth Gibbons, Wolf Alice, Taskmaster and much more. Welcome to The Worthys, Glastonbury Festival’s very own award ceremony. If the Oscars are the pinnacle of the film calendar and the height of prestige, think of The Worthys as more like the East Yorkshire Double Glazing awards.
Polygon 2025 - Festival Review
Polygon Festival Crystal Palace, London 2-4th May 2025 Mark Muldoon spends a weekend listening to “360° spatial audio” at Polygon’s first ever UK festival. Polygon appeared to have bullish expectations for their first ever UK festival, a “360° spatial audio” event. “You won’t believe your ears” their website proudly trumpeted.
Greg Davies and Dara O Briain's tours rated - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Love British Comedy Guide? Support our work by making a donation. Find out more During a DVD commentary (remember those!) Dara O Briain once commented "it's nice when life presents you with a fully-formed stand-up comedy routine". He couldn't have known then the remarkable path his life would take in his 50s, and how it would end up presenting him with two extremely high quality, entirely fully-formed 40ish minute stand-up comedy routines.
Cancer comedy special! Richard Herring, Mark Steel, Miles Jupp - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Please donate to help support British comedy at all levels. Thank you. Find out more If you live in the south east of England, it was possible to go see three comedy shows about cancer last week (not sure why. Might be Thames Water's fault?). In fact, for two of them you didn't even have to leave Leicester Square Theatre. One such show was Miles Jupp, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour (which, to be clear, turned out to be benign) back in 2021.
Ben Elton, Rachel Fairburn, The Sisters Fig - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Please donate to help support British comedy at all levels. Thank you. Find out more Fair to say there's been critical acclaim for Authentic Stupidity, Ben Elton's first tour since 2019. Some reviewers have praised how he has stuck largely to his liberal roots as he's reached his mid-60s, which certainly isn't the comic direction many of his peers have chosen to take.
Eddie Kadi, Andrew Mensah & Gbemi Oladipo, final ever Sunday Special - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Please donate to help support British comedy at all levels. Thank you. Find out more Everybody's been talking about heckling over the last couple of weeks, haven't they. It's unlikely you've missed the widespread coverage afforded to the incident, where Peter Kay kicked two audience members out of his Manchester gig when they wouldn't stop shouting out (understandable), opting to aim some pretty vitriolic comments in their direction whilst doing so (less understandable).
Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright and the end of Greenwich's Sunday Special - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Episodes of the revered television show Inside No. 9 had a habit of revealing themselves to be a love letter to television itself. Perhaps makes sense, then, that Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's hotly-anticipated stage show version would end up displaying a similarly strong affection for theatre. A large proportion of the show is given over to comedy.
Andy Zaltzman, Abby Wambaugh, Jack Skipper, Kate Cheka, Two Hearts - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Andy Zaltzman has been on the Bloomsbury Theatre stage for less than two minutes before he starts attempting to passionately convince us of the merits of cricket. "Give the people what some of them partially want", he would later joke. Reassuring, perhaps, for anybody worrying that a profile-boosting stint on Taskmaster might tempt him to realign his comic persona at all.
The Rest Is Entertainment Live, One Man Musical, Mike Rice - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Announcing the first ever live iteration of The Rest is Entertainment at The Royal Albert Hall, co-host Richard Osman stated "we've tried to keep the ticket prices as low as we can". To which fans may reasonably respond: have you though? Cash-strapped audience members could, if they wish, pay £30 for standing tickets right up the top of the venue.
A Christmas Carol (ish), Grace Campbell, Zainab Johnson - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Well, you have to feel for Nick Mohammed.
Natalie Palamides, Tom Lawrinson, Josephine Lacey, Andrew White - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
If you're not familiar with LA clown Natalie Palamides, her rise has been quite something to behold. She won Best Newcomer in Edinburgh back in 2017 with her first show, Laid, a brilliant hour about a woman who lays an egg every day, but has to choose between raising it, or eating it. Outrageously, as we speak it's no longer available to stream on Amazon Prime, which almost ranks as the worst thing Jeff Bezos has done in the last month.
Fern Brady, The Weirdos, Anirban Dasgupta, Andrew Doherty - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Congratulations are in order for Fern Brady, who has been steadily increasing the size of her tour venues over the course of the last decade. Now, aided by a popular turn on a TV show you may have heard of called Taskmaster, that gradual rise has reached the grand surroundings of London's Hammersmith Apollo. Brady deserves our thanks as well as our felicitations for opting to play the Apollo, as it's London's best large venue, and that's not even a close competition.
The Horne Section, Maisie Adam, Rhys Nicholson, Ed Night - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Even if you're ambivalent about the man himself, you have to sometimes step back and admire the work ethic of Little Alex Horne.
What we thought of 'Taskmaster: The Live Experience' - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Immersive brand experiences are all the rage nowadays. It was presumably only a matter of time before Channel 4's Taskmaster got in on the act. It's easy to get the impression that the company behind the show, Avalon, are keen to extract all the financial value possible out of prized-assets like this show, though, in fairness it also feels likely that Little Alex Horne and Co. care deeply about the brand, and don't want it tarnished with some easy knock-off immersive offering.
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, Chris Cantrill, Katie Norris - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Dunno if you've heard the gossip about how much money can be made in theatreland. Ever-reliable podcast The Rest is Entertainment entered the discussion recently, speculating that the two co-creators of a certain successful West End musical, "one of the very very few that isn't based on IP or a movie" are each making a six-figure sum a week. I'm guessing the show in question is Six, though feel free to make your own speculations.
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