Jan Ravens

Jan Ravens Discusses Her New Show 'Difficult Woman'

Jan Ravens' debut Edinburgh show Difficult Woman will be at the Gilded Balloon - Dining Room for the month of August so we caught up with her to find out a little more about the woman behind the microphone.

Jan Ravens profile

In real life Jan Ravens is far from difficult and has been a great supporter of our quest to promote new female comedy talent.

Laugh a minute: Edinburgh festival's 2017 comedy lineup

Sara Pascoe looks at life after a breakup, Trygve Wakenshaw brings his baby on stage, and Alexei Sayle, Ruby Wax and talkshow king Craig Ferguson all return to the fringe this year.

Jan Ravens interview

Impressionist extraordinaire on Saturday jobs, Springsteen and sunglasses.

Karen Koren: ready for a feast of Fringe fun

The deadline for registering shows for this year's Edinburgh Fringe is tomorrow at midday.

Review: Funny Women Awards Final 2016, Koko

If we wanted to get all political about it Funny Women shouldn't exist. Comedians are comedians, why should gender even enter into it? But it does and the Funny Women organisation is clearly tapping into something. This year's final was staged at a bigger venue than usual and it was absolutely packed. For the first time in as long as I can remember I had to review a gig perched on a step at the back of a room.

Funny Women final 2016 review

It's probably the glitziest of all the new act finals, taking place beneath Europe's biggest glitterball in Koko nightclub and in front of an equally sparkly backdrop proclaiming: 'Laughter is the best cosmetic' (what, even ahead of sponsors Benefit?). There's a glossy 20-page brochure and a goodie bag of make-up for all who attend, too.

Alfie Brown on being the son of Spitting Image staff

Alfie Brown is the son of two comedians - one an impressionist (Jan Ravens), and the other a comedy songwriter (Steve Brown) - but he has been determined to follow his own path into stand up and tackle subjects that jokes can negotiate better than conversation.

With a general election set to dominate the news agenda, 2015 should be an adventure playground for political comedians. Sadly, The Revolution Will Be Televised are too busy congratulating themselves for firing Lewinsky innuendos at Bill Clinton, so here's Bremner's rusty but reliable sceptre of satire to prick the politicos' pomposity. Joined by John Bird, Matt Forde, Sara Pascoe and Jan Ravens, it seems reasonable to expect something a little more incisive than stock fat gags about Eric Pickles.