Can comedy ever be art? From the crucifixion in puppet form to Vic Reeves on dada, we celebrate the daftness that can ensue when one spills over into the other

The big-thinking leftie is revived for the age of climate change and Corbyn – but is he still as radical as he once was?

There’s a Belle and Sebastian play, a show in a hair salon, Frances Barber performing Pet Shop Boys songs and top comics including Josie Long and Stephen Fry. Here’s our guide to the world’s biggest arts festival

On his way to Sean Hughes’s funeral, the standup thought of a new joke – but who’s to say it belongs to him?

He was bombing badly when a lone voice cried from the darkness - ‘don’t die!’ The stand-up recalls how – among a merciless crowd – he made one fan for life

Comedy in the late 80s was a bear pit and Edinburgh’s Late’n’Live was as tough as they come. When Mark Lamarr went on stage, the place erupted – and then he demolished the crowd

Harold Pinter's radio psychodrama loses its sense of mystery as Simon Munnery's match-seller is revealed on stage, writes Lyn Gardner