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Articles by Veronica Lee
Joseph Morpurgo: Highlander 70, Soho Theatre review - inventive found comedy
What a delightful show this is: a big hit at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe and now enjoying an extended run at Soho Theatre, Highlander 70 is an inventive piece of found comedy. The found element is a US high school year book from 1970 that Morpurgo says he bought at a car boot sale. In an energetic one-man show he recreates what he imagines was the eventful last day at high school in "East Virginia" for one pupil, David Moon.
Catherine Bohart, Soho Theatre review - OCD, oversharing and overthinking
The title of this hour, like much of Catherine Bohart’s comedy, is inspired by her family. They have been one of the constants in the Irish lesbian OCD comic’s (her description) shows and Borrowing Trouble is no exception. It’s her father’s phrase to describe her tendency to worry about things that may never happen, and it’s one of the many happenings in Bohart’s life that she discusses with great honesty. She is, she admits at the top of the show, an oversharer, despite her attempts not to be.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 review: Chris Cantrill
Chris Cantrill is one half of the delightfully mad sketch duo The Delightful Sausage alongside Amy Gledhill, who have rather set up camp in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, The Delightful Sausage having been nominated for best show in 2019 and 2022, and then Gledhill winning best show in 2024. Now Cantrill – also previously nominated in 2024 – completes the set by winning with his solo show, Rewilding. And deservedly so.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 reviews: Max Olesker: Making the Cut / Adam Riches: The Captain
Max Olesker: Making the Cut ★★★★ Pleasance Dome Most Fringe fans will know Max Olesker as one half of sketch duo Max and Ivan, but this is his Fringe debut as a solo performer. In it he tells how he, a man who had grown up in a liberal Jewish household, had to convert to Judaism in order to be with the woman he loved. It’s a terrific tale, well told.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 reviews: Tom Read Wilson / Katie Norris / Hannah Byczkowski
Tom Read Wilson ★★★★ Gilded Balloon Museum Tom Read Wilson has been playing his trade as an actor and singer for while but reality TV is where he has made his biggest impact – including as runner-up in the 2025 series of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! A-Z of Me is, remarkably, his Edinburgh debut – or deflowerment, as he puts it – which he performed in a limited run in the Scottish capital. He runs through the alphabet, starting with A for, well, alphabet, giving us its etymology.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 reviews: Matt Forde / Spencer Jones / Larry Dean
Matt Forde Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ Matt Forde is one of those comics Fringe-goers can rely to present a well-prepared and funny show, and Project Holy Moly is no exception. It’s perhaps not his strongest offering to date but that can be forgiven, as much of it must have been written since Andy Burnham was chosen as leader of the Labour Party and moved into Downing Street in July.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 reviews: Susie McCabe / Sid Singh
Susie McCabe Assembly George Square ★★★★ Glaswegian Susie McCabe has established a loyal following at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past few years, and in Coming of Rage she updates them on the past two years of her life. It’s not been a barrel of laughs. She suffered a heart attack in 2024 (which she talked about her in previous show) and is now divorced from her second wife, but much of this hour is about the death of her father.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 reviews: Max Fulham's Monkey Business / Endometriosis: The Musical
Max Fulham’s Monkey Business ★★★★ Gilded Balloon Teviot Rarely do I delve into the rich world of children's entertainment at the Edinburgh Fringe, but sometimes a scheduling snafu can pay dividends. I went to Gilded Balloon Teviot expecting to see a comedy play, but it wasn’t on that day. A quick scoot through the brochure revealed this show starting at the same time, so I took a punt, and I’m very glad I did.
Edinburgh Fringe 2026 review: Olga Koch
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Marty Gleeson, Soho Theatre review - off-kilter, fey and fun
Earlier this year Marty Gleeson was the first Irish woman to win best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for her debut hour, Dog Ear. The fact it has a director – fellow comic Abby Wambaugh – is a clue that this might be a theatrical performance as much as it is stand-up comedy. And so it proves as Gleeson, a fey and instantly likeable presence on stage, leads us into her world – part flights of fancy, part autobiography, part pure wackiness.
Ania Magliano, Touring review - SNL UK star back on the road
Ania Magliano has built a solid body of work over the past few years with her thoughtful, self-reflective shows (gaining an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination on the way), and a following boosted by her appearances on Taskmaster and SNL UK. After her television sojourn she’s back to stand-up with Peach Fuzz (which I saw at Soho Theatre), another walk through her life, this time her relationship with her body.
What's on TV tonight and this week: Tilda Swinton: The Wildcards, The Traitors US, and more
What's on TV tonight? Tilda Swinton: the Wildcards Sky Arts/NOW, 9pm Tilda Swinton's remarkable ability to disappear into a role often finds her being described as a chameleon. Certainly, her distinctive physicality has proved adaptable, allowing filmmakers to reshape her through styling and make-up. Yet as this scrappy profile explores, Swinton's talent for fluidity does not only apply to her screen presence. It has defined her entire career.
Wanda Sykes: Legacy, Netflix Special review - truth bombs and Trump dancing
Wanda Sykes is a comic, actress and writer who has written for Chris Rock and appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Good Fight and, more latterly, Netflix series The Upshaws. But standup fans know her for her on-the-money political humour, and in this Netflix special she doesn’t disappoint. Sykes opens Legacy by reminiscing about her time at Hampton University in Virginia.
John Kearns, Touring review - finding the funny in life's travails
The last time I reviewed John Kearns, he mentioned being the father of a young child. Three years on, life has changed for the comic: he has separated from his partner of 12 years and is living back home with his parents. It’s a story that emerges through Tilting at Windmills, his most personal show yet.
John Kearns, Touring - finding the funny in life's travails
The last time I reviewed John Kearns, he mentioned being the father of a young child. Three years on, life has changed for the comic: he has separated from his partner of 12 years and is living back home with his parents. It’s a story that emerges through Tilting at Windmills, his most personal show yet.
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WHAT'S ON TV TONIGHT? Death Valley BBC One, 8.15pm; all episodes will be available today on iPlayer This wonderfully silly cosy crime series returns for a second run, with vainglorious former TV detective John Chapel (Timothy Spall) frozen out by his erstwhile reluctant partner in crimebusting, DI Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth), after getting together with her mum.
Scott Bennett, Touring review - Everyman at large
Scott Bennett is a busy guy at the moment, touring as he is with not one, but two shows; Blood Sugar Baby, a personal piece of storytelling about a family medical ordeal, and Stuff, which is presented more in his usual strand of Everyman comedy. In truth, I thought I was going to review the former at the Leicester Square Theatre, but I ended up going to the latter – and I’m glad I did.
Harry Enfield, Touring review - 40 years of arsing about
As a catchline for a tour, “40 years of arsing about in comedy” is a grabber. That’s how Harry Enfield describes Harry Enfield and No Chums!, and it certainly shows that he is still, well, arsing about to great effect as he casts an eye over his life and career The show is a collection of anecdotes about his life and some of the characters he has voiced in television programmes such as Spitting Image, or created for shows such as Saturday Live and Harry Enfield & Chums.
Sarah Millican special review - a midlife catch-up
Sarah Millican is at an age where she is pausing to reflect and in Late Bloomer, her most recent show – shown as a special on Channel 4 and Netflix outside the UK and Ireland – she ruminates on what the teenage Sarah would have thought of middle-aged Sarah. The former was shy and bullied, the latter is super confident and a hugely successful comic. How did she get from there to here?
Phil Ellis, Touring review - daft, unchallenging fun
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Tarang Hardikar, Soho Theatre review - inside a comic's mind
Tarang Hardikar is a gentle soul, who talks a lot about his inner monologue and growing up in Pune in India, where he was a little boy lost in his own world, who loved to create pillow forts and do mathematics. In If I’m Not Wrong, which had a debut run at the Edinburgh Fringe last month, Hardikar muses about seemingly disparate things – an encounter with an immigration officer, his inability to draw a straight line and the origin of coconuts among them.
Simon Amstell, Arches London Bridge review - celebrity crushes and shocking Baz Lurhmann
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Bridget Christie, Marlowe Theatre Canterbury review - friendship, family and farting at bus stops
We’ve become so used to Bridget Christie taking on big themes – sexism and the menopause among them – that a show more akin to observational comedy comes as a bit of surprise. Then again, while her friends, dating and the woes of parenting form the solid base of Jacket Potato Pizza, she layers it with some politics too. It’s political comedy – nicely laden with sarcasm – that Christie starts with as she talks about Melania Trump.
Russell Howard, London Palladium review - silliness laced with seriousness
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Mark Simmons, Touring review - maestro of the one-liner
Mark Simmons is, in the nicest possible way, an old-fashioned comic, in that he tells jokes. Puns, one-liners, slow-burners, delayed payoffs as well as visual and physical gags, he’s got them all, lots of them, and they’re all rather good. His craftsmanship has been recognised by colleagues and audiences alike; he was voted UK comics’ comic in 2022 and in 2024 won Dave’s best joke of the Edinburgh Fringe for "I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it”.
Gerry & Sewell, Aldwych Theatre review - tragi-comic caper set in North East
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Leicester Comedy Festival 2026 Gala Preview - teeing up next month's events
Maybe it was the cold weather. Maybe it was the disparate list of comics on the bill. Maybe it was a host (Fatiha El-Ghorri) who said that she might be a bit rusty this soon into the new year. But whatever it was, the gala preview for the Leicester Comedy Festival, which runs next month, didn’t quite fire on all cylinders. But let’s start with the positives.
Lenny Henry, Touring review - family memories and familiar tales
Lenny Henry’s latest foray into live performance takes him back to his comedy roots, after several years doing theatre and television work. Still at Large, which I saw at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, is part stand-up, part storytelling as he talks about his life and career. He starts by bringing us up to date with what has been happening since he last toured – including winning a BAFTA and being knighted by the late Queen.
Best of 2025: Comedy
It wasn't exactly a stellar year for comedy but there were plenty of shows that shone brightly and have stayed with me, even if the Edinburgh Fringe – for so long the highlight of the comedy year – increasingly disappoints. Where once comics based their working year on appearing at the Fringe each August, building an audience year by year in increasingly bigger rooms, many younger comics now build their audience much more quickly on social media.
An Evening With The Fast Show, London Palladium
It’s good to have the old gang back together in An Evening With The Fast Show, more than 30 years since The Fast Show debuted on the BBC. And if many in the audience attending with parents, or even grandparents, weren’t yet born during the sketch show’s run from 1994 to 1997, they are testament to its longevity – and how good catchphrases can live for ever. Catchphrases were the show’s stock in trade, along with memorable characters, fast edits and lots of sketches in each episode.
Tim Key, Wilton's Music Hall review - the woes of hitting middle age
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Emma Doran, Leicester Square Theatre review - domestic life laid bare
The Irish diaspora in London were out in force for Emma Doran’s appearance at Leicester Square Theatre. Her online work and her appearance on Amazon Prime Video's LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland has gained her a huge fanbase in Ireland and beyond – although she did ask if the English in the room had been dragged along by an Irish pal. In truth they were probably fans anyway - and would surely have been at the gig’s end.
Janine Harouni, Soho Theatre review - families and surviving them
Write about what you know, they say. And just as her previous show was about imminent motherhood (she performed the show while heavily pregnant) now Janine Harouni brings us This Is What You Waited For, which is about – you’ve guessed it – being a parent. The American comic, however, doesn’t deliver a mushy paean to her toddler son, although he certainly provides a lot of comedy, not least about his big head and the bragging rights she gets for having birthed him.
Bryony Kimmings, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review - captivating tale of the cycle of life
Bryony Kimmings’ new show – her first in five years – was created to celebrate the opening of Soho Walthamstow, the previously neglected Art Deco beauty that’s now one of London’s shiniest venues. She uses every bit of its vast stage to great effect and even manages to get a chunk of the audience on it for its witty epilogue, of which more later.
Bryony Kimmings, Soho Walthamstow review - captivating tale of the cycle of life
Bryony Kimmings’ new show - her first in five years – was created to celebrate the opening of Soho Walthamstow, the previously neglected Art Deco beauty that’s now one of London’s shiniest venues. She uses every bit of its vast stage to great effect and even manages to get a chunk of the audience on it for its witty epilogue, of which more later.
The Free Association launch review - strong start for improv company
It’s always good to welcome the opening of a new arts venue, and sadly it doesn’t happen too often in the current economic climate. But bucking the trend is The Free Association, an improv comedy troupe who have been plying their trade in various upstairs rooms in pubs for several years and have now found a permanent base in southeast London.
The Free Association launch - strong start for improv company
It’s always good to welcome the opening of a new arts venue, and sadly it doesn’t happen too often in the current economic climate. But bucking the trend is The Free Association, an improv comedy troupe who have been plying their trade in various upstairs rooms in pubs for several years and have now found a permanent base in southeast London.
Nick Helm, Touring review - brash comic shows his vulnerable side
Comedy is strange old thing; it’s supposed to be funny ha-ha, but the laughs can often come from a dark place, as evidenced by Nick Helm’s latest show (which I saw at the Arts Depot in London). His mental health has been a backdrop to previous show, but No One Gets Out Alive is his most personal yet as he references the end of an important relationship some years ago, and charts how his television breakthrough proved to be a false dawn in his career.
Kerry Godliman, G-Live review - she's livid but delivers the laughs
Kerry Godliman is livid, she tells us. Spider webs catching in her hair, the state of the world, her teenage children; you name it, they – and much, much more – irritate her. But she’s hoping it’s a temporary state, as she puts her current maelstrom of emotions down to the fact that she’s going through the perimenopause. And while it may not be a barrel of laughs for her, it provides plenty in Bandwidth.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Cat Cohen / Lachlan Werner / KC Shornima
Cat Cohen, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★★ In Broad Strokes Cat Cohen paints a fascinating picture of events leading up to the stroke that could have killed her. Thankfully three years on she is now fully recovered – and from near tragedy comes this superb show. The hour is her trademark mix of standup and music (with Frazer Hadfield on piano) and Cohen delivers it in her usual deadpan, knowing style.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Emmanuel Sonubi / Joz Norris
Emmanuel Sonubi, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ This show – Life After Near Death – is not about dying, it is about living, Emmanuel Sonubi tells us. Well, actually it’s about both, as in his case he nearly died of heart failure but, thankfully here he is. A physically imposing figure, the comic – an ex-nightclub bouncer – certainly looks good, but then he has always been fit. But not fit and healthy, as we learn he had a taste for big nights out that would include “party sugar”.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Eric Rushton / Bella Hull
Eric Rushton Monkey Barrel ★★★★ Everything about Eric Rushton is lo-fi. His delivery, his movement about the stage, his interactions with the audience. Even the subject matter of this show - mental health, lost love - is low-key. Yet with his deadpan delivery and finely wrought gags, he commands the audience and delivers a lot of laughs. He tells a personal story, although one or two set-ups may have some comedic licence.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Lily Blumkin / Shamik Chakrabarti
Lily Blumkin Gilded Balloon @ Patter House ★★★ Lily Blumkin has always planned to be a big-time comic, she tells us. So when her parents downsized and asked her to clear out her childhood bedroom, she went through her stuff – photographs, toys and other oddities – to curate the future museum dedicated to her life and work. That bit of chutzpah is the neat construct of Nice Try, in which the Brooklyn-based Daily Show writer and performer tells us the story of her childhood.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Desiree Burch / Andy Parsons
Desiree Burch, Monkey Barrel ★★★★ Desiree Burch is a bundle of energy as she comes on stage and gives us a warning about the subterranean venue she’s in. It’ll get hot, the Taskmaster favourite tells us – but maybe that’s just her as she going through the perimenopause, and in The Golden Wrath she’s going to tell us all about it. She starts by running through the differences between the various generational groups in the room.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Lily Phillips / Ayoade Bamgboye
Lily Phillips, Monkey Barrel ★★★★ Lily Phillips is keen to tell us at the top of her show that she’s not that Lily Phillips. There’s no OnlyFans content in Crying but, dealing as it does with her experience of having a baby, it’s graphic in a different way. So strap in. She tells the story from conception to childbirth and also talks about IVF and being part of a National Childbirth Trust group – or a “diverse group of white, middle-class women”, as the comic drily describes it.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Jacob Nussey; Phil Green
Jacob Nussey Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ Write about what you know, comics are told, and in Primed - his Fringe debut - Jacob Nussey does just that. He describes to great comic effect what it was like in the three years he worked in an Amazon warehouse. It’s not as bad as everyone thinks, he says, but his descriptions suggest otherwise, delivered though they are with a generous dollop of gags and smart observations.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Rob Auton; Saaniya Abbas
Rob Auton Assembly Roxy ★★★★ The stage is littered with 30-odd large white cards bearing words such as “love”, “believe” and “push”. Rob Auton comes on stage and tells us he’s CAN, a former motivational speaker, and in the following 60 minutes of CAN (An Hour-Long Story) we hear his tale. As ever with Auton, he draws us in, peppering the story with lots of clever gags and asides, and even the odd groaner.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Monstering the Rocketman by Henry Naylor / Alex Berr
Monstering the Rocketman by Henry Naylor, Pleasance Dome ★★★★ Henry Naylor doesn’t hold back in his latest Fringe offering, an entertaining monologue in which he examines The Sun’s treatment of Elton John in the 1980s, an era when tabloids reigned supreme in the UK media – and trust in them started to erode.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Alison Spittle / Christopher Macarthur-Boyd
Alison Spittle, Monkey Barrel ★★★ Alison Spittle is fat, she tells us at the top of the show. But not as fat as she used to be. And that’s the premise of BIG, in which she describes why she has been overweight since she was eight years old and what led to the recent weight loss – “about an XL Bully’s-worth”.
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Rhys Darby / Alex Stringer
Rhys Darby, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ Rhys Darby, the New Zealand actor and comic best known as Murray Hewitt in Flight of the Conchords, is back at the Fringe after nearly a decade away with The Legend Returns. It’s an elaborate tale about the march of AI – “Fuck, that horse has bolted” – which, true to form, he tells with great warmth.
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