Bruce Dessau
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 293
Preview: Is it comedy or art or both?
I've always been partial to a bit of art, I've always been partial to a bit of comedy and I've always been partial to a freebie, so Fancy Meeting You Here is right up my street. This is a free roving comedy show, hosted by Americans Dave Hill (not the one from Slade) and Carl Arnheiter, which takes audiences on idiosyncratic tours of cultural landmarks.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 24th April 2014Simon Munnery opens Fylm School
Maverick comedian Simon Munnery is expanding his Fylm project from next week, hosting screen-based comedy nights in which other performers will also try out his innovative technique of sitting in the audience and having his performance projected onto an onstage screen.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 23rd April 2014News: Further Daniel Kitson finds
When I wrote my story about uncovering some early Daniel Kitson footage recently I was contacted by Karel Beer, who has been putting on comedy nights in Paris at his Laughing Matters club for nearly twenty years. "We have hours of Daniel on video performing here in Paris," he told me. And so yesterday I headed over to Paris and met up with Karel in a bar just off the Bastille before retiring to his flat to enjoy some prime cuts of Kitson.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 18th April 2014Russell Kane, Queen Elizabeth Hall - comedy review
There may be three Russells but there is definitely only one Russell Kane.
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard, 17th April 2014Why are we so obsessed with the dark side of comedians?
A few years ago I wrote a book about the history of comedians, homing in on the "sad clown" phenomenon and wondering why so many comedy greats from Grimaldi to Hancock and beyond seemed to be troubled souls offstage. At the time I thought the idea was quite original. But the TV world was obviously thinking on the same lines.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 17th April 2014Tommy Cooper - Flawed Genius
Thomas Frederick Cooper, born on 19 March 1921 in Caerphilly, Wales, was not born big. In fact the midwife said he was a weakling.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 15th April 2014Interview: Jason Manford on Tommy Cooper
It's become a cliche that the audience are laughing before he spoke, but they actually were.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 15th April 2014Controversy as Girff Rhys Jones made uni chancellor
Comedian Griff Rhys Jones has become unwittingly embroiled in a row at Cardiff University over his appointment as the University's new Chancellor.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 14th April 2014Stewart Francis announces major 2015 tour
Stand-up star Stewart Francis has announced his biggest UK tour to date. The UK-based Canadian's Pun Gent tour will start on April 16, 2015 at the Epsom Playhouse and finish with three nights at the Bloomsbury Theatre from June 11.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 11th April 2014Rare Daniel Kitson footage unearthed
A few weeks ago, however, I was tipped off about a TV documentary that featured Kitson when he was pretty much totally unknown. It was a late night Channel 4 series called The Other Side and in 1999 it produced an episode called Edinburgh Madness which went to the Edinburgh Festival in search of "the fringe of the Fringe". The one hour programme featured a number of performers who have either never made it big or knocked the comedy game on the head. Except, that is, for 22-year-old Daniel Kitson, who has done pretty well, despite being described in the blurb as "the Bernard Manning of the millennium".
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 9th April 2014