Bruce Dessau
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 280
Mark Thomas, Tricycle Theatre - comedy review
'Thomas's persuasive performance straddles stand-up and storytelling, with comedy at its heart'
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard, 2nd December 2014TV preview: The Life Of Rock With Brian Pern, BBC Two
You don't often get surprises in TV comedy. But it was a genuinely brilliant surprise when Peter Gabriel pitched up on a segway in the final episode of Brian Pern: A Life in Rock on BBC Four earlier this year. All the critics had been suggesting during the series that Gabriel might be livid if he thought that Simon Day's spoof prog rocker was based on him. In fact he clearly wasn't livid, he loved it.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 2nd December 2014Interview: rarely asked questions - Simon Evans
Simon Evans is one of the country's most stylish stand-up comedians. And I'm not just talking about his bespoke suits.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 1st December 2014Interview: rarely asked questions - Alfie Brown
Q&A with stand-up Alfie Brown.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 29th November 2014TV Review: Live at the Apollo, Episode 2, BBC1
The second edition of the tenth, yes, tenth, series of Live At The Apollo was hosted by Jason Manford, who is about as safe a pair of hands as you can get on TV. And I mean that in a good way. Some comedians are good live but don't seem able to make the smoothest of trnaditions to the small screen. Manford makes comedy on TV look like a doddle.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 28th November 2014DVD review: Harry Hill - Sausage Time
I don't often see live comedy shows twice but I made an exception with Sausage Time. I enjoyed it so much when I reviewed it I returned with family and friends and it didn't disappoint me, even though I knew what was coming.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 28th November 2014TV review: Puppy Love, episode 3, BBC4
Right, I'm sticking with this like a dog with a bone. The third instalment of this dodgy doggy sitcom finds Nana V (Joanna Scanlan) more hard up than ever and Naomi Singh (Vicki Pepperdine) more snobby than ever.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 28th November 2014What do Lewis Hamilton & Lee Evans have in common?
It's nothing to be bashful about if a comedian works with someone else. It is not often that comedians actually buy jokes from a production line by the metre. It is more like a sitcom writers room, with gags and topics being workshopped until something stage-worthy emerges.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 25th November 2014DVD review: Sarah Millican - Home Bird Live
Some live DVDs look suspiciously like the cut-aways to the crowd laughing have been bought as a job lot or found in a skip. Not here. I don't usually comment on the editing in live DVDs but the shots of the Newcastle audience in stitches really show just how funny Millican is and how well she touches a nerve with her fans. Definitely one for your mam this Christmas, whether she gets claggy or not.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 23rd November 2014Opinion: What I won't miss about Lee Evans
The trouble is that his observational humour that was actually quite pioneering back in the late eighties has become mainstream comedy currency. I'm not saying others do his schtick better, but the likes of Peter Kay, Michael McIntyre and Jason Manford all do it just as well. And if you really need someone to do the gags in a working class London accent there's always Micky Flanagan.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 21st November 2014