(some of) LMAOnaise’s favourite comedy shows of 2023
I have a confession to make. I’ll hold my hands up and say it! I like having a nice time. Gang, I simply can’t help myself. And I think you’ll all agree that a big part of having a nice time is talking about how much of a great time you’ve had and then listing all the reasons why it was so nice.
Thus, I’ve made a list. I don’t want to say it’s a top ten list of the best comedy shows of 2023, because there are more than ten and also what’s “best” when it comes to something this subjective? So, spinelessly, I’ve made a list of some of my best comedy times of the past year, and put an arbitrary cap on it, otherwise it could have just gone on for days.
I struggled with what to include because I hate to make decisions, but I do like to reminisce and it’s good to have a read of reviews and see how I feel now with some distance. (For a thing that is a window onto how you were feeling for literally one hour of your life, a review is annoyingly permanent.) I don’t feel any extreme changes from what I wrote but, in the time since, some of these shows have stayed with me and I’ve realised I’ve got things to add! Plus there are many shows I didn’t get to review.
SO, settle in for a nice long read and know that if, at any point, you stop reading before the end, a great misfortune will befall you, because apparently the trend for threatening chain letters is back and everyone’s apparently ok with that??
Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon
Image: Will Hearle
Skin Pigeon was a real example of someone giving people exactly what they want but didn’t know how much or even why— because there isn’t one second of Lorna doing comedy when you’re like, “yes, this makes perfect sense and I could have predicted this happening”, and if you ever started thinking that, there was a surprise moment just around the corner. It takes immense creativity to make something this mad, and I would literally die to know what characters litter her cutting room floor.
Leila Navabi: Composition
Image: Collective14 Imagery
I love to see a show happen at the right moment. Composition felt perfectly named because I’ve seen Leila Navabi work on parts of this show over the past few years and now they’d built everything into a beautifully presented package that showcased the wealth of their talent, humour and hard work. It’s also quite rare to see someone reveal the heart of themselves in such a powerful way as Leila managed to do, and to talk about the way we ingest comedy so frankly. Also, the hamster thing.
Siân Docksey: Pole Yourself Together
Image: Millie Robson
The month of August is taxing for comedians at Edinburgh Fringe, but few had to exert the combined amount of physical and emotional energy as Siân Docksey did. Being a pole dancing comedian is a fantastic niche, and she utilised every inch of her “big chrome boyfriend” to talk about dread. What was so brilliantly executed was her ability to seamlessly combine the two disciplines so that it felt like neither would or should exist without the other. It felt like harmony rather than accompaniment. Plus Siân is really silly and I love that a lot.
Piñata’s Eurovision Songs Contest
If there were alternative comedy history books, Piñata’s Eurovision show at the Clapham Grand would go down in history as one of the best comedy variety shows ever. With performances from String V Spitta, Shelf, Phil Dunning and loads more, it was a night of spectacle. The production value was ridiculous — there was a team of clowns in place of the video postcards, a banging opening number from Katie Pritchard and a genuinely nail-biting results reveal that saw Séayoncé (Dan Wye) take the crown as a worthy winner, representing the Land of the Ghosted. The entire night was, dare I say it, even better than actual Eurovision?
Julia Masli: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Image: Kit Oates
Julia Masli has a unique ability to create pockets of genuine magic. In this show, armed with her signature leg, she solved people’s problems, from being too hot to being too tired, to being lonely to having nowhere to stay. During the show I saw, she got an audience member’s mum on the phone (at midnight) and asked her about the most meaningful part of motherhood that people don’t realise, before revealing that her own mother was in the audience that night, at which point we all burst into tears. No wonder she had to double her run.
Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha is at the Park Theatre from Jan 11-12th. Tickets here; and Soho Theatre from Jan 30th-Feb 17th. Tickets here.
Rosalie Minnitt: Clementine
Image: Ben Meadows
I love Pride and Prejudice and I love Sense and Sensibility and I watch them all the time. I am also unfortunately Online with a capital ‘O’. I am the audience for this show. Aside from the extreme joke hit-rate, I loved this because Clementine — a 27-year-old Regency “single sack of shit” on the brink of being cast out into eternal spinsterhood — is such a fully realised character. And a show like Rosalie’s, where unbridled girl joy isn’t dampened or treated ironically, is surprisingly rare. It feels like she knows Clementine so well and really loves her. There’s no “sorry about her” sort of vibe. We are here for loving girl things.
Luke Rollason Memorial Bursary Showcase
Ok, this was so great because it provided me with an introduction to a collection of new strange comedians who I now love, including previously mentioned Rosalie Minnitt, Trolls (Anna Maria Simonsen and Marie Kallevik Straume) and Holly Spillar. I tend to find out about most of my new faves through other comedians’ mixed bills and this showcase was just such a triumph because everyone on the line-up was such a treat. I can’t wait to see what the next cohort brings to the table!
Jodie Mitchell: Becoming John Travulva
Image: Rachel Sherlock
It was 2019, and John Travulva was having a blowjob simulated by another drag king, while delivering an extended lesson in queer history. That was it for me. So, years later, seeing both John and Jodie getting their time in the spotlight with Jodie’s first hour…What a feeling. This is the perfect example of how to seamlessly mix disciplines — drag, stand-up, character comedy — without losing any momentum or tension in the reveals, all woven together in a story that never stopped being surprising.
Jodie Mitchell: Becoming John Travulva is at the Soho Theatre from Jan 29-Feb 3rd. Tickets here.
Mary O’Connell: Money Princess
We’re clever people, we can hold more than one contradictory idea at a time. You have to when you live under capitalism and hate it but also are quite keen to survive etc. Or when you love money but also decided to be a comedian. I loved watching Mary run headlong into these contradictions without apology or justification, armed with an actual money gun. She’s a really compelling performer, who mixes her absurd side in with a story I’m not going to spoil about taking part in the first OnlyFans comedy competition, and creates a show that’s so fun you don’t need to worry about contradictions.
Foxdog Studios: Robo Bingo
Mixing technical prowess with extreme creativity has always been Foxdog Studios’ thing, but this interactive show that you play along with on your phone is one of the best things they’ve ever done. Pete and Lloyd are talented inventors and I just love that it’s comedy that gets to reap the benefits of this. When I say this I am not exaggerating: I would go to Robo Bingo every week, like how old people go to bingo every week, or quick people play “sports”.
Tamsyn Kelly: Crying in TK Maxx
Image: Rebecca Need Menear
I’ve known Tamsyn is funny for long enough, but this show hit me like a frying pan to the face. No warning, no warm-up, just BAM, you’re laughing and you’re not allowed to stop until she leaves. With everything from Mr Blobby to seeing her describe the word “pussyole” to a bunch of older audience members, each moment felt unique and as though we were the only audience to hear it. That’s the good stuff.
Tamsyn Kelly: Crying in TK Maxx is on tour from Jan 26th-April 20th. Full list of dates and tickets here.
Lachlan Werner: Voices of Evil
The problem with this is that Lachlan made me love ventriloquism, but now I don’t want to see anyone else do it. No one else has the charisma, wit and raw sexual magnetism of Brew the witch, the floppy star of the show and many people’s crush of the year. The fact that you can so quickly forget that she isn’t real speaks to Lachlan’s skill, timing and physical comedy chops. It’s somehow all at once a show about a supernatural virgin sacrifice and queer self-acceptance and that is the energy we need.
Priya Hall: Grandmother’s Daughter
Image: Rachel Sherlock
Priya Hall has got to be one of the warmest comedy storytellers — and when someone manages to pull that off while talking about the intimate details of Danish sperm banks, you know they’ve got it. I think the real reason is that what underlies this whole show, which is about how Priya changed her life and shacked up with a “tiny little lesbian”, is its appreciation of connection and community, from born families to found families. That’s what made me leave this show feeling lifted and hugged. And also wanting to be friends with her nana Sheila.
Priya Hall: Grandmother’s Daughter is at Soho Theatre from Jan 29-31st. Tickets here
John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine
Image: Rebecca Need Menear
There’s always a gap — that person you should have seen before but somehow have managed to miss multiple times. For me this year, that was John Tothill, but I’m quite glad this turned out to be the first show I saw him do because it was a triumphant debut, and such a complex hour of comedy that it felt right seeing it this polished. Everything from his creative turn of phrase to his ability to wrangle hecklers like naughty children was hypnotic, as he plucked new topics out of the air and knitted them together. A huge show.
John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine is at Soho Theatre from Jan 22-24th. Tickets here (sold out but check with box office)
FringeBeat Launch Party
Ok fine, maybe it’s not technically ethically sound to include a show that was mine on this list of my favourite shows, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t! For this year’s Fringe, Georgia House, Allegra Rosenberg and I co-created the most beautiful comedy magazine of all time, FringeBeat, based on the teen mags of yore. To launch the issue, we had an incredible line-up of our own cover stars including Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Eddy Hare, Siblings, Sophie Zucker and Luke Rollason, as well as a DJ set from centrefold hunk Josh Glanc. It was a stunning combo of all my favourite kinds of comedy. Still can’t really believe it all happened.
And that’s it, folks. If you want to read about more comedy LMAOnaise loved this year, you can look at any of our reviews! Remember we don’t do bad ones so everything on that page is good!
