Shaparak Khorsandi

Help Save Live Comedy review

For public health reasons, the country might not yet be ready for normality, but every glimpse that a return pre-pandemic life might be possible remains a fillip for the soul.

Save Live Comedy review

It was brilliant to see entertainers in the flesh again.

Mark Watson's Carpool Comedy review

'This is not a perfect way to do comedy,' Mark Watson admits during the first of more than two dozen of his Carpool Comedy drive-in gigs.

Shappi Khorsandi: the circuit is being left to die

I wish I could at least say that we were at the bottom of the food chain, but our industry is getting zero government money. We aren't on the agenda at all.

Why female comedians have been speaking out

While the live comedy circuit has been non-existent during lockdown, another, darker side of comedy has reared its head. And this one is no laughing matter. In recent weeks we have seen its ugly side emerge into the light as a grassroots #MeToo movement has sprung up, with allegations of sexual misconduct dominating social media feeds and making headlines.

Comedy has its MeToo moment

The British comedy scene is facing a MeToo scandal with performers accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour.

An industry organisation said that abusive male comics must be held accountable after dozens of women recounted experiences of degrading treatment.

Some have described being molested before shows and mocked with rape jokes, alleging that misconduct by some prominent acts had been covered up by the comedy establishment.

Khorsandi: Ladette culture stopped misconduct talk

Shappi Khorsandi has said that female comedians stayed silent about the 'horrible stuff' going on in the comedy circuit in the Nineties partly because the 'ladette' culture encouraged women to laugh off any sexual misconduct.

Shappi Khorsandi: Making comedy online takes effort

Even before the pandemic some stand-ups had become pros at internet entertainment - now the rest of us are stumbling around in the dark trying to learn an entirely new skill.

Shappi Khorsandi, Soho Theatre On Demand review

She talks about the moment she knew she wanted to be a comic.

Shappi Khorsandi: without comedy, who am I?

I have a joke in my routine: 'Stand-up comedy is a compulsion: if a week goes by and I haven't done a gig, I get very friendly at bus stops.' Now who knows how long it will be until my next gig - and I can't even hang out at bus stops.