Press clippings Page 3
Interview: Ivor Dembina
For controversial stand-up comedian Ivor Dembina, the old jokes are still among the best.
Daniel Keane, ABC News (Australia), 23rd February 2017Podcast: Ivor Dembina times three
Veteran comedian, Ivor Dembina, returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with no less than three shows. Given that he's 65 years old, that's probably too many, but then, he hasn't written one of them yet. This is a shame, because the first performance of I Should Have Listened to Ivor Dembina starts today...
Martin Walker, Broadway Baby, 16th August 2016Ten most controversial acts at Edinburgh Fringe 2016
Comedy on TV and in the clubs is safe and inoffensive. Comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe is no different, because most of the shows don't exist for your benefit. They're being staged in the hopes of grabbing the attention of industry bigwigs and broadcasters. So, it makes sense to be as bland and agreeable as possible, because that's what the real target audience - i.e. people who can help your showbiz career - seem to be looking for. However, not everyone at the Fringe is pandering. Not everyone is desperate to be liked and accepted. And provocative performers haven't gone extinct just yet. If you want politically incorrect jokes, to be taken out of your comfort zone, or to hear someone challenge social orthodoxies, then here's ten acts I'd recommend you go and see at Edinburgh Fringe 2016. If you're a bit of a pussy, though, then best avoid all of these.
Jay Islaam, The Huffington Post, 9th August 2016Fringe: where shows with no audience can get 4* reviews
I was already behind on six interesting blog chats which I had had last week and which I had been going to post in the days leading up to my arrival in Edinburgh.
John Fleming, John Fleming's Blog, 3rd August 201610 Fringe comedians aged over 60
Edinburgh's often very focussed on the young and the new. But forget those whipper-snappers, complaining about the weight of turning 30, what about those with real experience of the world? Here's our round-up of just some of the over-60s hitting the festival. In ascending order of age.
Chortle, 21st July 2016Ivor Dembina: alternative comedy hates working class
The idea of offence in stand-up only arose because comedy became more middle-class in the wake of the alternative cabaret boom of the 1980s. That's according to comedian and promoter Ivor Dembina, who argues that in sweeping away the sexist and racist comics of the 1970s, the scene became prone to 'middle-class hypocrisy'.
Chortle, 14th January 2016Live review: Ivor Dembina, Old Jewish Jokes, Albany, W1
What is it that makes Jewish humour simultaneously so Jewish and so universal? Ivor Dembina's show at the Albany, Old Jewish Jokes, provides some clues.
Brandon Robshaw, Beyond The Joke, 24th November 2015Ivor Dembina reveals favourite one-liner
Ivor Dembina, 64, is a Jewish comedian who founded the Hampstead Comedy Club in 1994. He is the first stand-up comedian to perform a solo comedy show at the Houses of Parliament. He now lives in Croydon but spends much of his time at the club's home at the The Camden Head in Camden Town.
Paul Wright, Ham & High, 25th July 2015Ivor Dembina interview
Martin Walker was so blown away by Ivor Dembina's 2014 Edinburgh Fringe offering, 'Old Jewish Jokes' that he handed it a five star review. The show garnered critical across the board and audiences, by and large, loved it. This year he's reprising Old Jewish Jokes as well as offering a follow-up, New Jewish Jokes and organising a very special event with Daniel Kitson, Mark Steel and Mark Thomas - Free Gaza!
Martin Walker, Broadway Baby, 23rd July 2015Edinburgh preview: New Jewish Jokes
I've got a confesion to make. When I saw Ivor Dembina in Edinburgh a couple of years ago I nominated him for A Dave Award. Not for the Best Joke of the Fringe but for the Worst Joke of the Fringe.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 18th July 2015