Sam Nicoresti’s YouTube comedy special ‘Wokeflake’ is a must-watch Comedian Sam Nicoresti’s recent YouTube special Wokeflake is a must-watch this festive season with several clips from the hour-long stand-up set going viral on TikTok is about trans identity and culture wars – and has left viewers in hysterical laughter Touching on the topic of trans women in sports Nicoresti jests “I think trans women in sports are a conspiracy by the sports lobby to trick trans people into caring about sport.” which has received more than 96,000 likes on TikTok saying: “I thought the whole point of becoming queer was that I’d never have to talk about football again Nicoresti quips: “I thought the whole point of sport is that someone has an unfair physical advantage.” On Usain Bolt he adds: “If I’m in a race with Usain Bolt this isn’t fair– he can run faster than me.’ That’s sports 99 percent of professional sports players are losers for a living “This has altered my opinion a bit,” while another simply stated Another viral clip from the comedy special has garnered nearly 40,000 likes on the platform In it Nicoresti focuses on people who hit out at pronouns claiming all those who are against the use of pronouns “love the King,” adding: “name a more ridiculous pronoun than the Royal We.” the sketch goes on to say he has “recently changed his titles his identity” and is going around “calling himself the divine embodiment of the will of God upon the face of the Earth Comments under the clip on TikTok share the audiences enthusiasm for the jokes “This is what I’m bringing up when my family gets problematic at Christmas,” while another shares “this delivery is as smooth as butter” The producers of Wokeflake said: “In a time when the ‘comedy special’ feels increasingly weaponised against trans people Wokeflake pushes the boundaries of the emergent artform and aims to beat the bigots at their own game Wokeflake is available to watch on YouTube here. About us Contact us Advertise Work for us Terms and conditions Privacy policy To continue reading this article you must log in If you've never set a password you may need to register for free here and get unlimited access TTG Media Limited.Place of registration: England and Wales.Company number 08723341.Registered address: 2-6 Boundary Row Kiell Smith Bynoe brings his improv supershow to The Lowry and mysterious new comedy night System is up and running Those with a keen interest in the Northern alternative comedy scene may be familiar with Sam Nicoresti from their early days in the sketch trio “Staple/Face” before shedding a member and making up one half of duo “Sam & Tom” with Peter Fleming himself Tom Burgess Now she’s striking a chord on her own as a solo act of sorts grabbing critical plaudits for last year’s show Wokeflake and looks set to blow us away again with new show Baby Doomer at this year’s Fringe If you’ve enjoyed a British comedy show over the last five years or so then no doubt you’ve enjoyed a performance by Kiell Smith-Bynoe The comedian’s ubiquitous-ness is only matched by his excellence in the likes of Stath Lets Flats and he’s now hitting the road with a team of all-star improvisers for Kool Story Bro spinning unscripted sketches out of the audience’s weirdest and wildest anecdotes Mysterious new comedy night System launched a few weeks ago and has already gained a strong reputation as a great night to see the best new comedy stars Manchester has to offer There’s precious little information about it other than it’s hosted by the excellent Faizan Shah and costing just £3 for entry on the door Enter your email address below to sign up for Manchester Wire’s email newsletter Sam & Tom: Unrectifiable Sam & Tom: Interview Sam Nicoresti's Bedtime Sam Nicoresti: UFO Sam Nicoresti: Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer We do not currently hold contact details for Sam Nicoresti's agent. If you are a comic or agent wanting your details to appear here, for a one-off fee of £59, email steve@chortle.co.uk Chortle had 173,000 unique visitors in April 2025 We are currently listing 20,981 upcoming comedy events Website and all original content copyright © Chortle 2000 - 2025 Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you so we would ask that you disable it for this site While debates about cancel culture rage on at Edinburgh a trio of performers are critiquing ‘edgelord’ humour they flip between being a curious leftwing standup exploring their own gender a cancel culture-obsessed livestreaming comic who is gearing up for an interview with Jordan B Peterson with some viewers labelling them as transphobic Some of the purveyors of anti-cancel-culture comedy could be described as edgelords – troll-like figures whose primary purpose is to antagonise it’s somebody who doesn’t have the courage to stand by their opinions where the only thing that matters is causing outrage because outrage generates engagement,” says Nicoresti In the UK, the rise of podcasts in the mould of Joe Rogan’s, and the move by the TV channel GB News to bring current and former comedians to screen to discuss culture-war issues have meant we are hearing the same debates more often UK podcasters Triggernometry were guests of Rogan telling his audience of millions that the UK comedy scene is restrictive and rubbish Alongside Nicoresti’s parody, this year’s Edinburgh festival fringe features a number of shows challenging that narrative Hannah Fairweather makes jokes about a certain unnamed podcast and how its hosts are richly rewarded (with many listeners and a high-profile comedy agent) for their claims that free speech in comedy is in jeopardy Erika Ehler defies the idea that the comedy climate is restrictive with challenging but measured material about abortion “eating ass” and her attraction to autistic men ‘You can get away with most things if you’re smart and funny’ … Erika Ehler Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The GuardianIt feels as if there’s more surety than ever from comedians on this topic After years of hearing claims that “You can’t say anything any more” most are quick to say: “That’s not the reality of comedy.” “You can talk about dark topics and do it well their priority is to be offensive,” says Fairweather “It’s people who are more preoccupied with offence than they are with being funny like: ‘It was just a joke,’ but they weren’t prioritising the joke they were just trying to push it as far as they could.” Ehler agrees: “You can get away with most things if you’re smart and funny about it That’s when you get these lazy comics who are too far for you?’ If you had sharper writing This often gets left out of the public debate “The thing with this argument about freedom of speech in comedy is you’re talking about a collaborative art form – because you have to go on stage and get a laugh.” I’ve never personally experienced any rules or been told what I can and can’t say I’ve gigged with some of these guys and they’ll do badly then say: ‘This audience is too woke.’ And it’s Many feel that branding yourself a “free-speech comedian” has become a marketing tool helping people gain a profile they never could through comedy “They are disproving all of their points with their own work.” Conversely speaking about her own experiences in the industry could see her labelled as “difficult” ‘How is what Sadowitz is doing any less wrong because he is a previous offender Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The GuardianEhler saw it happen back in her native Canada “I think those dudes forget that just being a trans person that is offensive to some people in the audience and they don’t take well to that,” she says “Whereas they can go on stage and no one’s going to be immediately on edge just because of who they are.” The Sadowitz saga has prompted mixed reactions from fellow comedians Andrew Doyle and Viv Groskop) coming to his defence and others arguing that racial slurs (which the Sun newspaper reported were used in the show) can never be justified In a statement posted by his Twitter account Sadowitz accused the Pleasance venue HEAR words being shouted in the first five minutes before storming out without LISTENING to the material,” he continued People say: ‘Don’t buy a ticket,’ but other idiots are buying a ticket so I feel like that’s not enough of a protestErika Ehler“In any other workplace ‘But this is just what he does’ and I find it baffling It ignores that we live in a world where progress is a great thing and things that were once acceptable are not how is what he is doing any less wrong simply because he is a previous offender?” Free weekly newsletterThe only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns For both, it underscored how taking a certain position on free speech and cancel culture in comedy can turn to something darker once you gain a particular audience. “You’re selling yourself to people who ultimately don’t care who you are,” says Nicoresti. As the character of Sicoresti proclaims: “I can say exactly what I want with zero censorship. As long as it pleases the algorithm and my supporter base.” Read moreNicoresti started writing their show to understand their own stance on these issues and explore why so many people in these “free speech” spaces have co-opted discussions about gender and pronouns There is space for nuance on stage that is absent from social media “You can feel like the people that are talking about this are all on one side of the coin It’s just trying to redress that a little bit.” Ehler agrees these ideas should be challenged “People say: ‘Just don’t buy a ticket,’ but other idiots are buying a ticket so I feel like that’s not enough of a protest.” “Maybe we’re fighting fire with fire,” says Fairweather “I don’t think [this debate] should be left to comedians but I think it’s worth talking about “There’s a lot of ‘How far can you push it?’ discussions like: ‘What can I get away with saying on stage?’ I just wanted to tell jokes.” This article was amended on 29 August 2022 to attribute the quote rather than to the notional person she was discussing Both funny and frustrating, Sam Nicoresti’s new show Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture takes us on an intriguing and sometimes bewildering ride through gender and culture wars. With allusions and symbols that sometimes remain unexplained, there’s an esoteric air to proceedings which largely works well, partly supported by the show's strong visual language (special mention to Michael Julings for the striking poster design) Determined to solve ‘the gender issue’ in under an hour Nicoresti plunges into a whistlestop survey of the anti-woke brigade with a montage of GB News pundits and Piers Morgan haranguing us from the screen Parodying the frothing animus of such commentators eagerly awaiting the arrival of right-wing favourite Jordan B The live-streaming breaks down into trippy digital visuals spliced with flickers of another persona that might suggest a future transitional or transcendental self It’s a vision we see more of later in the show unabashedly arthouse aesthetic is a beguiling one Nicoresti moves easily between the observational and the more surreal: lovely bits on the Dark Web and the fuss about gender-neutral pronouns for example which start rooted in concrete detail and then spin out into surrealism showcasing a gift for baroque language play There’s a larger sense at work of a contrast between the world as it is and the world as it might be Nicoresti's trans identity making them especially invested in potential and possibility heartfelt analysis of the trans experience as Nicoresti wonders whether the increasing interest in transitioning is linked to wider generational dynamics around transience; with young people less likely to own their own homes and experiencing precarity as a matter of course and an important antidote to the slickly commercial Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture feels a little like a cult classic in the making Sam Nicoresti: Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture It seems all-too easy to take a pop at the right-wing culture war comedians crying about being cancelled on their billionaire-owned media platforms complaining about all the delicate snowflakes while allowing the knowledge that there’s such a thing as a vegan sausage roll utterly spoil their week Sometimes adopting the character of one of these fearless warriors, Sam Nicoresti sarcastically makes the usual liberal retorts to the anti-wokists’ familiar complaints But the shots are well-aimed and wittily executed The comedian also suggests that by bringing this alter-ego to life a sort of antimatter version also had to be created to maintain the balance of the universe That’s why in researching this toxic cesspit of angry men Nicoresti wakened the dormant gender-queer hiding inside themself giving up the ‘hegemonical honey’ of being a straight white dude for the rockier path of being a non-binary millennial It’s all a very new concept to Nicoresti – who only came out to mum and dad just before the Fringe – and this show lies within the confusion the comic now feels Some things seem certain – that toilets seem to have a sudden and bizarrely significant place at the centre of public discourse – others much else less so Nicoresti raises important points with good gags and a smart insight which The very topic makes the comedian vulnerable Especially when it gets obsessed by frogs (something to do with Jordan Peterson defining them as ‘liminal creatures’)  and the incel alter-ego’s podcast goes spectacularly off the rails This eventually leads us to an avant-garde short film featuring some surreal Terry Gilliam-like animation that will throw no light on the issues raised  – but will weird you out Nicoresti has a touching message of tolerance and support for anyone else who may be struggling with their identity and you can’t but wish the comedian the same serenity And having too many ideas jostling to find a format is better than the opposite problem that afflicts so many Fringe shows… • Sam Nicoresti: Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture is on at PBH's Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth at 8.55pm Gig of the day Stewart Lee vs The Man-WulfLiverpool Philharmonic Hall from 19:30 Coming Soon Chris McCausland: Yonks!Shrewsbury Theatre SevernMonday 12th May from 20:00 Gig of the day Natalie Palamides: WeerSoho Theatre Walthamstow from 20:00 Sam Nicoresti conspiracy theory on the debate raging around trans women in sports The comic shares their views on the contentious topic in this clip from their stand-up special Ian McKellen stars in a balletic Hamlet and Sophie Duker is gleefully carefree Here are our picks of the festival’s comedy ComedySam Nicoresti: Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow CultureFree Fringe @ The Banshee Labyrinth What chance these days of enjoying a month of comedy without a free speech v cancel culture dust-up Standup Sam Nicoresti – Leicester Square New Comedian of 2021 – fires the starting gun (well more of a water pistol) with this delightfully named show which should subject the whole debate to the lampoonery – and sense of perspective – it keenly requires Julia Masli: CHOOSH!Assembly Roxy The star of the Malcolm Hardee award-winning absurdo-sketch show Legs returns with her solo clown debut tracing a migrant’s journey from eastern Europe to America given that Masli’s title is Russian for … bullshit Frank Skinner: 30 Years of DirtAssembly Roxy Sophie Duker: HagPleasance Beside In contrast to her companionable 2019 debut Venus, which saw her nominated for best newcomer, recent Taskmaster champ Sophie Duker promises an altogether spikier show this year wiser and “gleefully not caring any more,” says Duker It’s bound to be one of the summer’s most sought-after tickets Phil Wang: The Real Hero in All ThisAssembly George Square Last time out at the fringe, tickets for Phil Wang’s run sold out at record speed. Since then, the British-Malaysian’s star has risen further, with a Netflix special an appearance on David Letterman’s standup chat show and a guest role in Amy Schumer’s Life & Beth and everything that’s been going on in his Philly little life.” Catherine Cohen: The Twist...? She’s Gorgeous at the fringe in 2019. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/the GuardianCatherine Cohen: Work in ProgressPleasance Two Sheeps: Ten Years, Ten LaughsPleasance Forth they make terrifically playful and mind-meltingly meta sketch comedy Frankie Thompson: CattsPleasance Bunker The recent record may not bode well when it comes to adaptations of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. But if the Hollywood movie was so-bad-it’s funny this new show by up-and-coming clown and “emerging idiot” Frankie Thompson should be funny full stop Thompson’s not-quite Lloyd Webber refit conjures “the distractions and obsessions that help us cope with an increasingly dystopian reality.” Stubborn optimist … Josie Long. Photograph: Matt CrockettJosie Long: Re-EnchantmentMonkey Barrel God knows it’s not been an easy decade to be a leftie. Sometimes it feels as if it’s only the Josie Long shows that keep you going in which the doyenne of doggedly upbeat leftwing comedy returns with another bulletin from her big-hearted recent immigrant to Scotland and stubborn optimist in dark times Atsuko Okatsuka: The IntruderPleasance Bunker A fast-rising Japanese-Taiwanese-American comic, Atsuko Okatsuka is the host of live show and podcast Let’s Go, Atsuko: a (woke) Japanese Game Show (her parents met on a gameshow) a TikTok influencer (she spawned the viral Beyoncé drop challenge earlier this year) and is hotly tipped for her joyful and offbeat standup Shelf: HairPleasance Bunker Funny Women finalists, Sketchfest finalists, Musical Comedy award finalists: the sketch and song double act Shelf (Rachel WD and Ruby Clyde) are also co-founders of queer comedy night The LOL Word Their show Hair explores “gender presentation but “with as many jokes and songs as possible.” Big Boys and FriendsCabaret Bar Rosie Holt: The Woman’s HourPleasance Attic When we look back in years to come on this era of scandal after Tory scandal, might its abiding image be Rosie Holt’s face looming out of our social media feeds? Holt’s viral videos of craven backbench dimwits sent over the top to defend the government’s latest indiscretions have been a comic highlight of this Stygian political era Now she brings her debut solo show to Edinburgh Stewart Lee. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/the GuardianStewart Lee: Basic LeeThe Stand OK, it’s a work-in-progress, which means we poor critics can’t go anywhere near it. But that shouldn’t stop the rest of you. The Comedy Vehicle man is also performing his fantastic Snowflake/Tornado show throughout the fringe he’s trying out its follow-up – a dialled-down set Sikisa: Life of the PartyPleasance Below Its three-year hiatus (give or take last year’s slimmed-down model) means the fringe this year features several maiden shows by comics who’re already circuit big-hitters and TV regulars. One such is Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes, veteran of Jonathan Ross’s Comedy Club and ITV’s Standup Sketch Show party-themed debut – nominated best show at this year’s Leicester Comedy festival Tarot: Cautionary TalesPleasance Beside Lara Ricote: GRL/LATNX/DEFMonkey Barrel There’s a buzz about the winner of last year’s Funny Women award. Ricote is a Mexican-born, Amsterdam-based comic and improviser trailing critical enthusiasm for her “electric presence” as she makes her fringe debut. Previous winners of the award include Jayde Adams and Katherine Ryan Her show explores “what it’s like to be Latin and deaf and a girl who’s now a woman at the same time” Making waves … Celya AB. Photograph: Rachel SherlockCelya AB: SwimmingPleasance Attic You can stay at home watching Netflix’s hymn to the Paris comedy scene, Standing Up Or you can go and see the UK’s own homegrown Parisian comedy star The French-Algerian took up comedy after moving to Birmingham and has made waves in the five years since Her fringe debut addresses learning to swim at the ripe old age of 25 Mat Ewins: Danger MoneyJust the Tonic @ Caves “I have too much free time on my hands”, Fringe stalwart Mat Ewins told us at fringe 2019, by way of context for the byzantine multimedia noodling and high silliness that characterises his work what on earth can we expect from Danger Money Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!Pleasance Baby Grand One of the most eye-catching (dazzling, he would say) among standup’s new crop, Leo Reich supported Simon Amstell on the Spirit Hole tour shallow and colossally self-regarding star-in-the-making will surely seize the opportunity to announce himself to the wider world BoySummerhall Belgian playwright and director Carly Wijs grabbed attention a few years ago with Us/Them which recounted the story of the 2004 terrorist siege of a Beslan school from the point of view of the children involved twin boys who were brought up as a boy and a girl after a botched circumcision Intriguing … Alan Cumming, in his solo dance theatre debut, will play Robert Burns. Photograph: Edinburgh International Festival/PABurnKing’s theatre Lovers of Robert Burns might wonder about a show that promises to upturn the biscuit-tin image of the poet. Dance aficionados might ask what actor Alan Cumming is doing in a movement piece The rest of us can only be intrigued by the combination of choreographer Steven Hoggett composer Anna Meredith and the New York-based Cumming in this National Theatre of Scotland show Counting and CrackingLyceum Multitalented Australian writer S Shakthidharan whose adaptation of The Bone Sparrow recently toured the UK tells the epic story of a Sri Lankan-Australian family over four generations journeys back and forth between Sydney and Colombo Caste-ingRoundabout @ Summerhall Nicole Acquah’s show for Nouveau Riche uses beatboxing rap and song to rail against the pressures on black women in the acting industry Directed by Shakira Newton in Paines Plough’s Roundabout it fields three actors who ask why it never feels like the business is designed for them ExodusTraverse A dark comedy about political power, Uma Nada-Rajah’s play for the National Theatre of Scotland is about an ambitious home secretary whose bid for the top job starts with a photoshoot at the white cliffs of Dover Nada-Rajah is also one of the writers on Muster Station: Leith (below) Every Word Was Once an AnimalZoo Southside Hamlet with Ian McKellenAshton Hall, Saint Stephens You couldn’t accuse Ian McKellen of failing to put in the legwork He first played Shakespeare’s doomy Dane in 1971 and had another bash at the part last year he is reprising his favourite speeches in the company of a troupe of ballet dancers led by choreographer Peter Schaufuss In the Interest of Health and Safety Can Patrons Kindly Supervise Their Children at All TimesAssembly Rooms Complete with a warning of “images of children adulting,” this show by Lucy Gaizely and Gary Gardiner of 21 Common frees its junior cast from parental control setting them loose in a landscape of risk and transgression Isto é um Negro? (This is a Black?)Summerhall In a country dominated by the conservatism of Jair Bolsonaro a generation of angry Brazilian artists is demanding to be seen Among them are these graduates of the School of Dramatic Art of the University of São Paulo who present themselves as naked as nature intended in a broadside against anti-black prejudice A Little LifeFestival theatre Director Ivo van Hove has been bringing ground-breaking productions to the Edinburgh international festival since More Stately Mansions and Caligula in 1998 he adapts Hanya Yanagihara’s novel of the New York friendships revolving around the abused and damaged Jude MateriaSummerhall An object-theatre odyssey presented by Aurora Nova in which Italy’s Andrea Salustri gives polystyrene shapes a life of their own roll and drift in a wordless performance somewhere between juggling and choreography MedeaThe Hub Liz Lochhead’s adaptation of the Euripides tragedy was the sensation of the 2000 fringe – and again the following year Now it is back under the eye of ex-RSC artistic director Michael Boyd with Adura Onashile playing the mother who takes deadly revenge on a faithless husband Muster Station: LeithLeith Academy Edinburgh’s Grid Iron has taken festival audiences on a subterranean promenade the company leads us down the corridors of Leith Academy where The Not So Ugly Duckling: A Play for GrownupsScottish Storytelling Centre you don’t get many living saints to the pound but playwright Jo Clifford was recently canonised by the Order of Perpetual Indulgence making her collaboration with Maria MacDonell surely worth a pilgrimage The two of them perform this tale of transformation inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen favourite Still FloatingSummerhall Shôn Dale-Jones, who also appears in Every Word Was Once an Animal, returns to the scene of his 2006 hit Floating and questions whether what we need is a whimsical piece about the Isle of Anglesey drifting away from the rest of the country Or could laughter be the best medicine for a troubled world Immigration fable … A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain by Sami IbrahimA Sudden Violent Burst of RainRoundabout @ Summerhall Playwright Sami Ibrahim turns our labyrinthine immigration system into a poetic fable in which a woman fruitlessly seeks sanctuary from a king inside his city walls The Paines Plough/Rose theatre production is staged by the Gate theatre’s associate director Yasmin Hafesji TempingAssembly George Square Studios You are the star in this immersive production in which you find yourself alone in an office where you have been taken on as a temp practice your telephone voice and get ready to catch up with the office gossip as New York’s Dutch Kills theatre shows you what bureaucracy is like when the manager is on holiday This Is Memorial DeviceWee Red Bar tells the story of a fictional post-punk band from Airdrie The collaboration between the Royal Lyceum and the Edinburgh international book festival is adapted and directed by Graham Eatough from the cult novel by David Keenan Stephen McRobbie of the Pastels provides a 1980s-style soundtrack Truth’s a Dog Must to KennelLyceum Writer and actor Tim Crouch puts on virtual reality goggles to wonder what becomes of the Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear after he disappears from the play This is his jumping-off point for a meditation on the value of live theatre and our need for collective imagination in the post-lockdown world What Broke David Lynch?Greenside @ Nicolson Square An off-centre tribute to David Lynch by singer Paul Vickers who imagines the movie director abandoning a film called Ronnie Rocket in 1980 in favour of an adaptation of The Elephant Man Calling himself a “lo-fidelity Orson Welles,” Vickers focuses on the emotional strain of creating a cinematic classic Dance Body by Yolanda Mercy. Photograph: Camilla GreenwellDanceDance BodySummerhall A joyfully plus-sized show from writer/choreographer Yolanda Mercy asking where her body fits in the world of dance Mercy garnered plaudits as a playwright and performer for 2017’s Quarter Life Crisis but she started out training in dance and here she examines the assumptions and restrictions around different body shapes and who is allowed to take up space on the stage Ballet FreedomPleasance @ EICC If you want to support Ukrainian artists AND enjoy an hour of titillating escapism in the theatre, Kyiv’s Freedom Ballet is the show for you The company celebrates its 20th anniversary with the show Boudoir sultry lineup of long legs and high heels that looks like a risque Couple’s Choice on Strictly 71Bodies 1DanceDance Base A solo show inspired by the stories of 71 transgender people that dancer Daniel Mariblanca met across Europe in the course of two years Norwegian-based Mariblanca aims to express the diversity of the trans experience drawing on 40 hours of interviews distilled into a solo performed by one emotionally charged naked body Amina Khayyam Dance: OneDance Base Khayyam is a kathak dancer and choreographer with a very strong storytelling instinct and a gift for expressive communication She doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects having tackled cultural taboos and injustices against women in the past Khayyam considers prejudice against refugees by drawing a parallel between cycles of migration and the cyclical nature of classical Indian arts The PulsePlayhouse There’s loads of circus to be seen across the fringe but this one gets pride of place in the international festival and it’s certainly impressive in scale A group of 60 acrobats and choral singers become a sometimes monolithic morphing organism on stage led by Australian circus company Gravity & Other Myths Scottish Ballet: CoppéliaFestival theatre It’s always worth seeing anything Jo Fong is involved in. A former dancer with Rosas, Rambert and DV8, Fong has taken a turn towards connecting with audiences in thoughtful, quotidien ways, with gentle humour and real humanity. Here she teams up with performance artist and clown George Orange for a show that cheerfully considers the decline of middle-aged life.Are You Guilty?Dance Base likely to help someone in need if others are watching The theory of the “bystander effect” is the basis for Are You Guilty a new piece from young Korean contemporary/hip-hop dance group TOB So that’s musings on empathy plus amazingly physical dance moves Kyle Abraham: An Untitled LoveKing’s theatre New York choreographer Kyle Abraham is very much the man of the moment in dance. His work for his own company A.I.M. is rooted in the black American experience and this UK premiere draws on Abraham’s memories of family, community and the house parties of his youth, set to the sounds of the prince of 90s neo-soul, D’Angelo.A Death Has OccurredGreenside @ Nicolson Square We’ve been following the young dancer Kennedy Muntanga since he performed with National Youth Dance Company he’s since worked with Akram Khan and he’s now formed his own company making dance inspired by his Christian faith theatre by Mark Fisher and dance by Lyndsey Winship Reviewer Tim Harding gives a rundown of the comedy he's been watching in London in the last two weeks One of the nicest parts about Christmas is the way normal commitments start winding down around the middle of December you’ll start to notice a febrile laziness creeping in and the creative kids will invariably take the opportunity to cook up a show.  I have a soft spot for the kind of productions that appear at this time of year: often loose slightly boozy festive offerings that only make sense in an end-of-term context The best of those on offer this year comes from John Kearns (noted lover of Christmas) and Adam Riches (feelings on Christmas unknown) who have teamed up in character as Alfie Boe and Michael Ball respectively for a very silly tribute to the twin colossi of cheese.   It’s an entertainment institution which they respect tremendously by the way as is clear from their teasing affectionate portrayal ‘[They] are to light entertainment what light entertainment is to normal entertainment,’ says Riches but the craft underpinning it is solid as hell The duo’s rapport is tight and quippy and the imagined dynamic between the smoothly overflowing with great character tics like the way Riches goes ‘awww’ every time a piece of fan mail begins ‘Dear Ball & Bo’" The details stem beautifully and organically from one another By way of another unexpected festive treat, sketch group Sheeps have released their Christmas album A Very Sheeps Christmas and against all the odds it’s actually brilliant surprisingly catchy singalongs starring some of the bigger names in alt comedy on vocal duty.  Daran Johnson, Al Roberts and Liam Williams have smoothly segued their sense of humour from live sketch into a musical format with song premises like what if Santa did karate (Christmas Karate) and what if your chimney was stuffed with Santas Check out lead single My Baby Looks a Lot Like Santa Claus to get the measure of the project and Charlotte Ritchie sounding as haunting as Laura Marling on the soulful Mrs Claus about soliciting sex while hubby Santa is out on his rounds In the live context, only Johnson really has the clarity of voice to make the jokes land as well as the music, but the songs are well-written enough that they work as bops even when it’s Liam Williams on the mic – not the most musical of the trio – growling and shuffling dyspeptically like a missing Gallagher brother.  They almost sound more like a real band at these moments performing for the sake of the music rather than the joke Although you better believe the between-song banter is a lot better than you’ll get with most regular bands Earlier in the week, I had a fun time at Olga Koch Comes From Money although I don’t know if I could say the same for Koch herself The show is an attempt to reckon with the privilege that she grew up with as the daughter of a senior figure in the Russian government although to my mind she falls just short of really grappling with her vulnerabilities surrounding the topic preferring to lean back on jokes about ‘isn’t this what generic rich people are like?’ rather than ‘I’m rich and this is what I’m like.’ The interesting thing about this particular performance however was that Koch thought it was going terribly from the very beginning and couldn’t be convinced otherwise explicit statements of encouragement or anything else.  With some comedians, it’s part of the act. Stewart Lee wouldn’t be Stewart Lee if he wasn’t pretending to gripe about how the show was going over 99 per cent of the time she has an inimitable cool girl swagger so it sticks out a little more in her case when the façade cracks and is a phenomenon I’ve observed in comics at all levels where the comedian loses confidence in how the show is being received seemingly oblivious to the feedback that people are enjoying themselves.  the comic might suddenly prang out and ask why nobody’s laughing but sitting in the audience you can hear laughter all around you but how do you communicate that to a performer who doesn’t seem to be able to hear it and sometimes audience members might even try that but the divide for some reason is impossible to bridge.  This is certainly not brought up as an attempt to shame either performer or audience and bears no relation to the quality of any given show; it just feels like there should be a word for it These things happen; at this stage all we can say is that it needs more research Finally, I wanted to mention that Sam Nicoresti has uploaded their special Wokeflake to watch for free on YouTube This is the final version of an hour that I’ve seen in four different iterations It deals directly and openly with Nicoresti coming out as trans first to themself and then to the wider world and wrestles explicitly with the attempts of the right to suppress trans rights and voices through use of a theatrical technique where Nicoresti periodically takes on the character of a ‘gender-critical’ male podcaster This show was slept on a little when it hit Edinburgh perhaps partly because it continued to change and evolve long after its official debut reflecting Nicoresti’s developing identity.  it marries incisive political commentary with mystical revelation showing how the comic realised they were trans following a cryptic dream which directors Sian Docksey and Benjamin Sutton have staged imaginatively with lo-fi Jane Schoenbrun style visual effects James Acaster gets all the memes and Jordan Gray scooped the award nominations but (with the disclaimer that it’s not really for me to say of course) in years to come I think it will be Wokeflake that stands the test of time as one of the definitive documents of the trans experience in stand-up.  Nicoresti does such an extraordinary job of representing transition vehemently performative while making a case for the importance of performance in gender identity and advocating for the need to embrace questioning and transcend the rational when thinking about how we listen to ourselves and the existence of the soul It’s both inspiring and relentlessly twisty in its use of language full of knotty little one-liners and multi-levelled jokes We’re very lucky to have it preserved in this format – a show that I know for a fact has changed lives already Sam Nicoresti was last night named Leicester Square Theatre's New Comedian of the Year A stand-up and film-maker  – whose 2019 Edinburgh show UFO had a short run at Soho Theatre this autumn – Nicoresti took home a £1,000 prize he also won a trophy designed for pigeon racers Runner-up Dee Allum who was last month crowned new act of 2021 by fellow London venue last month More than 300 hopefuls entered the competition Also on the bill were Chris Nelson, Chelsea Birkby, Tamsyn Kelly, Matty Hutson,  Sergi Polo, Karen Hobbs, Freya Mallard,  Ania Magliano Previous winners and finalists include Rob Beckett, Rachel Parris and Sofie Hagen Last night’s final was also streamed via NextUp Sam Nicoresti talks about the King’s pronouns in this clip from their new stand-up special Wokeflake has its roots in the comic’s 2022 Edinburgh Fringe show Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture and ‘aims to beat the bigots at their own game’ the show  features satirical character comedy and hand-drawn animated dream sequences as well as other cinematic techniques It is available to stream in full and for free on YouTube Tim Harding reviews Leicester Square Theatre's annual competition – the UK’s premier competition for sketch and character comedy – makes for a lovely occasion to see a whole line-up’s worth of sketch.  And despite the way that the genre is usually deployed as a kind of palate cleanser on a mixed bill a full evening of it goes down very smoothly indeed This is partly thanks to the skills of returning host Sam Nicoresti bringing balance with some warming stand-up and glamour with striking scarlet circle dress complete with epaulettes that provided a slightly militaristic feel I’ll try and get better at fashion terminology for next year Ollie West and Christiaan Hendriksen were performing as Big Boys kicking things off with that classic visual combo of very large bishop and quite small monk riffing some sacred-sounding Latin gobbledegook in a call-and-response game with the audience Their suggestive sacrament and visual gags made for a fun aperitif but there was a detectable shortage of material in this seven minute slot the bolshy geology educator with a head full of talcum powder and a heart full of longing for Janine the checkout girl played a similar set to the one that won him third place at last year’s Musical Comedy Awards and here netted himself the silver medal.  That Luke Nixon took his influences from Tim Key in creating this character remains plain to see but he fills Midge with enough richness and inhabits the persona so totally that he stands out a mile even in a field crowded with character acts If the rumours are true that he’s working this act up into a full hour Roger Prick, the drag king persona of Hannah Whyte, is a touring author of boneheaded erotica now trying clumsily to address his old-school sexism. This archetype of puffed up machismo is the kind of character that Adam Riches churns out in his sleep and has many antecedents in the drag king realm as well but Whyte’s application of him as an author of erotica is potentially a fruitful one Some of the readings of erotic excerpts went down a storm but Whyte’s performance couldn’t find much beyond the generic voice and there was an over-reliance on comic misspeakings: ‘Private cock; I mean private dick I mean private detective!’ – things of that nature Cecilia Orr and Sarah Alli comprised Sardines the first group doing good old-fashioned sketches And while you’d hope there’s always a place in this competition for ideas like ‘What if Bob Dylan was your therapist’ Sardines’ well-meaning compositions lacked verve These are three talented performers in want of material that will take them outside their comfort zone of broad impressions and period drama parodies Nikola McMurtrie, the Scottish performer who made an impression on me as a guest on Hot Rubber last year once again brought a maniacal level of ambition to her brief slot.  What started as a Q&A with Thomas The Tank Engine quickly incorporated dance as McMurtrie burned ideas with exhilarating speed.  as this injection of jet fuel left the audience struggling to orient themselves slightly She took a well-deserved third-place prize and I remain excited to see what she can do with a bigger time budget Heidi Parsons and Tim Carlier) was another deceptively challenging prospect The premises for their vignettes are not altogether unusual but the strange thing is the way they blur into one another like a dream.  An incongruous character will wander into a scenario like a CEO into a corn maze and will gradually overwhelm the sketch until the corn maze is a boardroom and all the maze’s visitors are businessmen slightly Pythonesque approach to live sketch even if the frequent unexpected zagging makes it a little difficult to fully get your arms around Basil Crumbwick is a man in a dressing gown a front-facing rucksack and a huge goggle-eyed false head.  Sam Eley’s creation is equal parts Frank Sidebottom and Frankie Monroe with joke-writing skills that transcend his influences Maniacally screaming his zingy one-liners about stealing dogs from somewhere inside his cavernous head he makes a hell of an impression and demonstrates the power of properly composed jokes delivered from a distinctive point of view.  He won first place pretty handily and I’m already looking forward to seeing him headline next year That big papier mache head is the chrysalis for something very special Unfairly suffering from having to follow a clear standout Rachel Baker’s character Gwen is a Birmingham-based Avon saleslady and ‘fun-loving hun’ recently returned to the streets after a period of incarceration for selling illegal bacon-and-egg vapes.  She certainly put a lot of energy into her performance with a gregarious presence and a full song-and-dance climax the jokes weren’t clearing the same bar set by Crumbwick and the character slotted too neatly into the ranks of the many brassy slightly unhinged working-class ladies that have been created by young character comedians in recent years Scottish siblings Kirsty and Jamie Cooke were probably the most successful pure sketch act of the night as K&J Club with a collection of inspired scenarios (a holographic exhibit at an off-brand Robbie Burns museum in Stevenage) and some tight writing (the gossiping typists rampantly misusing common idioms).  having been honed in their successful improv group Hoof All that was missing from this act was a strong sense of their respective personas; not an easy thing to establish when you’re playing multiple characters but essential for the audience to establish a rewarding through line Christian Dart had a good reception as Detective Gumshoe a spoof of a noir-style detective indulging in a little high-pressure crowd work with a ‘dame’ from the audience.  He gave a good showing with a relatively tight and might have had a shot at the podium on a night of less consistent quality Spoof detectives really are a dime a dozen though – he needed a few more wrinkles in his persona to take it to the next level after reaching the finals in a double act with Eva Wallis last year performed as a local mayor who is secretly a karate-based superhero it’s another well-written set delivered by a character that didn’t quite feel natural or lived-in it felt like he had grabbed the most easily accessible phenotype moments before coming on stage from Jess Carrivick as celebrated jazz singer Cassandra Della Treebourne was a case of the exact opposite – a unique and indelibly personal character without the writing to put it over the finish line.  Half Katharine Hepburn and half Janis Joplin she trades mostly in innuendos and a catchphrase ('nawty nawty nawty’) that was funny the first time but yielded decreasing dividends.  just in need of some fine-tuning and extra sophistication exactly where you’d want young sketch writers to be at this stage in their careers • All pictures © Steve Ullathorne Gig of the day Julian Clary: A Fistful Of ClaryLincoln New Theatre Royal from 19:30 We have no upcoming listings for Sam Nicoresti: Cancel Anti Wokeflake Snow Culture The Weirdos comedy collective are to stage their first panto in five years The Christmas Space Race stars more than 20 stalwarts of the alternative comedy scene including Sam Nicoresti, Michael Brunström, Lucy Pearman, Christian Brighty, Bec Hill and Mark Silcox  Writer and director Adam Larter said: 'I’m really happy we are bringing the panto back for comedy fans this year  We have a comedy-nerds dream cast with some of the most unique and absurd talents on the fringe-comedy scene.' In this year’s show –  being staged at Bloomsbury Theatre in London on December 20 –  the heroes have to race to space to beat a bad bunch of billionaires led by Elon Musk Larter says: ‘I think what we do is unique because we write a whole new Christmas story – rather than just adapt one of the traditional panto stories ‘It’s for adults only – not because it is full of sex and swearing but because it is a bit weird and confusing and all the adults are behaving like children  Previous Weirdos pantomimes have been staged in some unusual locations including a disused private members club opposite the Bank of England and  on the ice rink at Alexandra Palace  'Lots of people think we don’t rehearse – but it’s impossible to get the whole cast together before the performance – so we do a lot of rehearsals then put it all together on the night – which keeps it enjoyably loose,’ says Larter Tickets, available here with all proceeds going to Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity Meet the acts who got through the first semi-final The first finalists in this year’s Chortle Student Comedy Award have been named Getting through at last night’s semi-final were: A second semi-final takes place at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London on May 15, hosted by Sam Nicoresti. Tickets And the final will be at Pleasance One on August 12 during the Edinburgh Fringe, hosted by Mark Watson. Tickets Here are clips from the sets the finalists performed at their heats Finalists will also be showcased at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk over the weekend of July 25 to 28 Comedy double act Burger And A Pin – aka Ted Milligan and former Chortle Student Comedy runner-up James Trickey – have won the 2024 Sketch Off competition at London’s Leicester Square Theatre tonight The pair win £500 and a gig at sister venue Industry judges picked Jonathan Oldfield as the runner-up Molly Windust and Dan Bishop - who perform as Mudfish - took home the £150 third place prize The other finalists were Dirty Laundry (Maddie London, Robbie Boyd and Emily Symington), Ozzy Algar, Max Devine Finlay & Joe (Finlay Stroud & Joe Peden), Katie McLeod (as Karismaaa) and Eva & Hudson (Eva Wallis and Hudson Hughes) with last year's winner Ellie BW performing a headlining set Driving across Europe to help CrossCause projects Ciara Tinnelly who will be travelling across Europe as part of the convoy A convoy of three lady truck drivers are getting ready to bring a cargo of aid to Romania on behalf of the CrossCause charity Among them is Ciara Tinnelly who drives for James Quinn Transport She will be travelling across Europe in convoy with Joanne Laverty of Graffin Transport and Martina McNally at A&M Commercials to the poverty stricken village of Nicoresti in Romania While there have been a number of aid convoys to Nicoresti in the past this is the first time that a group of lady truckers have undertaken it The trip will see them travelling to England and then getting a ferry before driving down through Europe has been driving for Quinns since March 2017 and is well used to long distance driving so the trip holds no fears for her 'My father is a lorry driver and my granddad used to own trucks,' she says 'A lot of my family drive for a living and ever since I was young it was always what I wanted to do.' The drivers are appealing for aid supplies to bring out to Nicoresti which has a small population of roughly 6,000 people many of whom are living in impoverished conditions They are now looking for donations of clothing The aid will be given to the special needs residents the Day Centre children and around 1,000 villagers who are supported by CrossCause Any who would like to donate items for the convoy can do so by leaving them at the collection point in Earl Street on Saturday from 11am to 3pm They also have a JustGiving page for donations which will be used to help with the expences of getting the convoy to Romania CourtsTwo charged further remanded in custody following drugs seizure in LouthTwo men charged in connection with a drugs seizure in Co Louth have been further remanded in custody.