Veronica Lee

Review: The UK Pun Championships

Wordplay galore as jokesmiths battle for title.

Review: Mr Swallow - Houdini, Soho Theatre

You'll have to see the show itself for all its daft, escapist fun, and all I'll say is that Nick Mohammed is alive and well.

Review: Scott Gibson, Soho Theatre

Award-winning show about a medical calamity.

Best in comedy: 2016

We needed something to laugh at. Here's who helped...

Dead Funny review

Terrific revival of Terry Johnson's modern classic.

Review: Al Murray, Royal Albert Hall

You may have thought that the Brexit vote in June would have been manna from heaven for Al Murray as the Pub Landlord, his knucklehead xenophobe creation. But in this uneven and - at two-and-a-half hours - overlong show, the referendum result and what it means for this country is mentioned early on but is hardly the focus of the show.

Morgana Robinson's The Agency, a new sketch/impressionist show, uses a narrative format to showcase her talents. It's set in Mann Management, a talent agency run by Cavan Clerkin's Vincent, who has let documentary cameras in; Robinson plays his clients.

Some impressions work better than others - Robinson's Natalie Cassidy (Sonia from EastEnders), Cheryl Cole and Fearne Cotton are uncannily good - while others (Danny Dyer, Gregg Wallace) are surprisingly off the mark. Where last night's opener (of seven) did score, however, was in the fantastical writing (five writers are credited) - imagining an endlessly disappointing suburban existence for the always optimistic Cassidy, or the rather creepy menage imagined in the scenes chez Mel and Sue, where Mel's husband has to grit his teeth at their relentless punning.

Damned is the third comedy drama in what could be termed Jo Brand's social/healthcare triptych (after Getting On, set in a geriatric hospital ward, and Going Forward, in which she appeared as care-home worker); Damned, in which she also stars, is set in a child protection social services unit.

Co-created with Morwenna Banks (who appears as co-worker Ingrid), Damned follows in Getting On and Going Forward's tracks by being low-key, dark-humoured and full of throwaway lines, but - on the evidence of last-night's opening episode (of six), has yet to reach the former's superb heights of pathos and bathos.

The opener was essentially an office comedy, with the social services aspect merely a faint hum in the background. The people staffing this department alongside Brand and Alan Davies as caring and care-worn social workers Rose and Al would be recognisable in any workplace; Ingrid, telling everyone about her upcoming hysterectomy, ditzy temp Nat (Isy Suttie) - "they call us interim workers now" - well-meaning busybody Martin (Kevin Eldon); office snitch Nitin (Himesh Patel) and manager Denise (Georgie Glen), fluent in management-speak, as she has been "tasked with" creating "streamlined cluster teams".

Add to the mix Aisling Bea's single mother, who has a stalkery crush on Al, and Rose's waste-of-space ex (Nick Hancock), and there are any number of permutations to be worked. The writers certainly nailed the irritations of office life - broken lifts and out-of-order loos, incomprehensible phone systems and smelly communal fridges - but there was very little in the way of social commentary or bittersweet comedy.

It's early days, though, and it could be that Brand, Banks and co-writer Will Smith are softening us up for some comedy with a real emotional punch, glimpses of which we saw only very late in the first episode, when Rose came into contact with an old flame, whose family is now mired in ill health and drug abuse. I certainly hope so as the performances, perhaps needless to say with such a talented cast, were wonderful.

James Acaster review

Five nominations for the Edinburgh Comedy Award are surely a recommendation for James Acaster - and with his intelligent, offbeat humour and a wry delivery, he has rightly built up an impressive following at the Fringe (where I saw this show), having improved his craft year on year. Now he embarks on his biggest tour yet and is certain to add to his rapidly growing fanbase.

Tom Ballard review

Australian comic with a pleasingly original take on modern life.