Daran Johnson

The best comedy to see in Edinburgh, part two

The tricky subjects of identity politics, consent and mental health make for electric shows.

Fest's vomedy picks

Comedy critic Paul Fleckney picks out the best of the best of the best of the Fringe comedy programme.

50 shows to see at the Edinburgh fringe 2018

Superstar standups, daring dance, Brexit cabaret and a Bon Jovi musical ... Dive into our guide to some of the shows at the world's biggest arts festival.

Live Review: Ricky Whittington & His Cat

The result is a clever up-to-the-minute adult version of a traditional theatrical form with lots of good knowing lines, good subversive humour and good catchy tunes.

Capital panto: Ricky Whittington surveys modern London

A crack cast of millennial comics deliver social satire amid the poo jokes and spoof songs in an alt-panto created by Liam Williams and Daran Johnson.

Ricky Whittington & His Cat review

Ricky Whittington is a modern-day panto that's got everything, not least a sense of raucous fun with intelligent lines mixed with the nonsense, a social astuteness to underpin the big-and-daft comedy, and a tightly directed cast of talented people.

There are seven comedians behind what is by far the funniest of this year's BBC Comedy Feed pilots: the members of sketch trio Sheeps (Liam Williams, Alastair Roberts, Daran Johnson); Ellie White and Natasia Demetriou (who perform together as Mother And Baby); the latter's brother Jamie, and Australian comic Claudia O'Doherty. From this network of comedy talent springs sharp, silly, strange skits that radiate confidence and wit. If the long-floundering Great British sketch show has any chance of relevancy again, this is it.