Blu-ray: Buster Keaton - Three Films, Vol. 2

Technical brilliance and belly laughs: three features from a great director at his peak

These three films come from Buster Keaton’s mid-1920s purple patch, the high spots of which prompted critic Roger Ebert to describe Keaton as “arguably the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”. High praise indeed. And while I’d rank The General and Steamboat Bill, Jr slightly above the films making up this anthology, each one makes for joyous viewing.

Rachel Fairburn, Go Faster Stripe review - smart and subtle gags

Feminism and unlikely heroes

Rachel Fairburn says she didn't know what to wear for the gig. She's dressed in an all-black ensemble; hotpants, animal-print boots and a feather bolero jacket. “I've come as a mistress at a funeral.” 

It's a doozy of an opener to Her Majesty and the kind of sharp gag that listeners to her All Killa No Filla podcast (performed with Kiri Pritchard-McLean) would recognise.

Lazy Susan, Soho Theatre On Demand review - sketch duo's ingeniously plotted show

★★★★ LAZY SUSAN, SOHO THEATRE ON DEMAND Sketch duo's ingeniously plotted show

Freya Parker and Celeste Dring examine male behaviour

You may have seen Lazy Susan's excellent BBC pilot last year; now a series has been commissioned from Freya Parker and Celeste Dring so we can look forward to more sketches, surreal interludes and tiptop visual gags – as well as returning characters including Northern lasses Megan and Michaela, tottering on their heels to a night out where they “don't want any drama”.

Michelle Wolf: Joke Show, Netflix review - edgy and original material

US comic takes no prisoners

Michelle Wolf, best known to UK audiences as the comic who upset Donald Trump with some smart barbs aimed at his staff at the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner, has done some occasional dates this side of the pond (plus a run at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe), so her fans will be grateful for Joke Show, a Netflix speci

Shappi Khorsandi, Soho Theatre On Demand - enjoyable run-through of her career

★★★ SHAPPI KHORSANDI, ON DEMAND Enjoyable run-through of her career

Two decades as a stand-up

Shappi Khorsandi's latest show, Skittish Warrior – Confessions of Club Comic, is an enjoyable look back at the stand-up's 20 years in the comedy business. She starts by taking us back to when she was child refugee; her father, a poet and satirist, offended the clerics in Iran, and was even the target of an assassination gang in London.

Roy Hudd: 'I was just trying to make 'em laugh'

RIP ROY HUDD The most traditional of entertainers harked back to a vanished age

The most traditional of entertainers, who has died at 83, harked back to a vanished age

Roy Hudd, who has died at the age of 83, was the last link to the age of entertainment before television. Born in 1936, he entered the business just as music hall and variety were dying out. But he knew the luminaries of that era: Gracie Fields, Max Miller, above all Chesney Allen, who asked him to play the late Budd Flanagan in a stage revival of the songs of Flanagan and Allen. Four years ago he impersonated him one last time in the BBC drama We're Doomed!

Steve Martin and Martin Short, SSE Hydro Glasgow review - old friends bring a touch of vaudeville

★★★★ STEVE MARTIN AND MARTIN SHORT, SSE HYDRO GLASGOW Old friends bring a touch of vaudeville

Hoary gags, music, and even a soft-shoe shuffle

Steve Martin and Martin Short first met in 1986 on the set of The Three Amigos (in which they co-starred with Chevy Chase), became fast friends and have since worked on a few projects together. In what was quite a coup for the Glasgow Comedy Festival, the first night of their UK tour was a starry curtain-raiser to the festival proper, which starts on Thursday.

John Shuttleworth, Leicester Square Theatre review - reflections on life in the slow lane

★★★ JOHN SHUTTLEWORTH Graham Fellows' alter ego returns: life in the slow lane

Graham Fellows' alter ego returns

John Shuttleworth walks gingerly on stage and stands with his back to the audience. As he points out, the tour – his first in three years – is called John Shuttleworth's Back, and he's contractually obliged to show the audience his reverse side. That is just the first of many exquisitely pedantic reflections from the nerdy Sheffield comic/musician, a character created by Graham Fellows (also the creator of Jilted John and his hit of the same name in 1978).

Lucy Porter, Quarterhouse, Folkestone review - confessions of an ex-Brownie

★★★ LUCY PORTER, FOLKESTONE Confessions of an ex-Brownie

Relentlessly upbeat show

Scouting and Girlguiding may seem awfully old-fashioned to some, yet many youngsters are still keen to join the Scout movement. Be Prepared (the Scout motto) was inspired by Lucy Porter's two children joining the Beavers, its youngest iteration.