Bruce Dessau
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 237
Showstopper! and Mark Gatiss win Olivier Awards
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical has won the Best Entertainment and Family Show at the Olivier Awards tonight. Mark Gatiss won Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 3rd April 2016Romance & Adventure with Josie Long, Radio 4 review
For those recent converts who have discovered Long through her angry anti-Tory writing this is a throwback to her more innocent dreamy days.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 1st April 2016Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, BBC2, episode 4.5 preview
One thing in particular intrigues me about Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. It felt as if he was doing warm-ups and works-in-progress for this series for at least a year in advance around the UK. I assumed that this was to get every phrase, every comma, every pause in the right place. And then along comes episode 5 and, unless he is pulling the wool over the liberal intelligentsia's eyes and engages plants and stooges like a hack magician, he frequently seems to be winging it here.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 30th March 2016Kevin Bishop to take on Ronnie Barker role in Porridge
Comedian/actor Kevin Bishop is to take on the lead role in a modern remake of prison sitcom Porridge, which originally starred Ronnie Barker as repeat offender Norman Stanley Fletcher.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 28th March 2016Preview: Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, episode 4.4
Conspiracy theorists can have a field day with the fact that in some places episode four was billed as The Migrant Crisis. In fact our stand-up sage-cum-holy-fool is here to guide us through his thoughts on death this time. Did it change or did someone get it wrong? More pertinently, however, the show is a return to top form after a spot of water-treading last week.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 24th March 2016Live review: Jena Friedman, Soho Theatre
Jena Friedman certainly looks like she has plenty of attitude in her surly press shots. And calling her show American C*nt - even with an asterisk - is quite audacious. Onstage, however, she is less in your face. There are only flashes where she justifies her own build-up.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 24th March 2016John Cleese hits out at 'Faulty' show
John Cleese has hit out at Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, the unofficial homage to the legendary TV series written by Cleese and Connie Booth. In an interview he has talked about taking legal action.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 23rd March 2016Preview: Flat TV, BBC Three
Since BBC Three went online it has had identity problems. A show such as Cuckoo might be good but it doesn't seem to chime with the bold new future of online viewing. On the other hand Flat TV, which originated on the web, feels exactly like the programme you might expect an online channel aimed at a young audience to make. In both a good way and a bad way.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 22nd March 2016Romesh Ranganathan nominated for South Bank Award
Romesh Ranganathan has been nominated for The Times Sky Arts South Bank Breakthrough Award. Michaela Coel is also nominated for Chewing Gum.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 21st March 2016Review: Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexei Sayle
The latest volume of Alexei Sayle's autobiography, following Stalin Ate My Homework, takes us through the most exciting - and contrasting - years of his life. At the start he is a penniless student, at the end he is hanging out with Sting and wrestling with his politically charged conscience about success and money.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 20th March 2016