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Julian Hall
Julian Hall is the comedy critic for The Independent, a role he has held since 2003. Previously, he spent two years writing for, and eventually editing, the paper's "Pandora" gossip column. As comedy critic he has reviewed most of the major figures in comedy (including Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais and Chris Rock) either at the Edinburgh Festival or on national tours. Julian has been on the judging panel for the Chortle Comedy Awards three times and for the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Award twice. He was also a member of the judging panel for the if.comedy awards (formerly The Perrier Awards) in Edinburgh in 2007 and in 2008. Julian’s book, Rough Guide to British Cult Comedy' was published in October 2006.
Julian's online portfolio can be found on: jnhfreelancearchive.blogspot.com
Julian's online portfolio can be found on: jnhfreelancearchive.blogspot.com
Mark Thomas is looking extremely busy this year. Not only has he announced a warm up tour, (eighteen dates that started yesterday and go on til April, before his actual tour he has also announced thirteen dates of a show called ‘It’s The Economy Stupid’, named after the phrase that Bill Clinton’s campaign successfully used against George Bush Snr in the 1992 Presidential election campaign.
The show aims to demystify the more obscure economic terms and ideas through stand up and interviews with journalists, academics, economists and “even a few people who do ‘something in the city’”. The shows take place at the Etcetera Theatre or Hen and Chickens every Monday from the 12th of January until the 23rd of March. Price £7.50 (includes £1.50 theatre membership).
The show aims to demystify the more obscure economic terms and ideas through stand up and interviews with journalists, academics, economists and “even a few people who do ‘something in the city’”. The shows take place at the Etcetera Theatre or Hen and Chickens every Monday from the 12th of January until the 23rd of March. Price £7.50 (includes £1.50 theatre membership).
Thomas has, of course, trailblazed using comedy to get over a message and teach his audience something in the process. Other fine exponents of this include Robert Newman and Mark Steel. Though these guys have been pushing a kind of ideological comedy for a while, the trend towards linking comedy and a thirst for knowledge seems to be growing if Robin Ince’s recent show Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People was anything to go by. That show was representative of a number of comics who have something to say about religion, pseudo-science and so on and seems to buck the trend that Alexei Sayle and others began to see where post-modern ironic comics were replacing old picked on minorities with new ones, gypsies, chavs and so on. If so this is obviously a good thing.
Meanwhile, the success of Thomas’ venture will depend on his guests and as yet there is no news on who he has secured. Watch this space for updates.
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