Lewis Treston: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

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I am a playwright and PhD candidate, so I’ve wasted much of my life watching crap online,To give you an idea: during Covid, my housemate and I painstakingly ranked different performances of Chicago’s final electrifying dance number, The Hot Honey Rag,Regrettably, this article isn’t about critiquing toe-tapping murderesses vying for a comeback; it’s about what I find funny on the world wide web,These days, my algorithm mostly alerts me to red flags of narcissistic abuse, OnlyFans creators testing Instagram’s boundaries, and some harmless astrology,Sadly, none of the current content is particularly funny, but I’ve gone to great lengths scrolling through innumerable chat histories to a time when the internet still made me lol.

Words fail when it comes to David Lynch and Cher.Sure, this clip is funny, but it’s Cher’s profound vulnerability (“I get very busy being Cher then I wonder who that is”) and David Lynch’s meditation on the colours of a traffic light that have compelled me to revisit this conversation time and time again.This article includes content provided by Instagram.We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.

Last year I adapted Pride and Prejudice with Wendy Mocke for Queensland Theatre in something like six months.The pressure was on, and I had two crutches to get me through: hot yoga and this rather sharp takedown of the Regency period heroine cliche.I’ve watched this clip countless times, and many of the lines have become everyday parlance for me in much the same way we all reference Shakespeare without even knowing it.Barry Humphries may have fallen into disrepute, but his megastar Dame Edna has an unassailable place in the pantheon of Australian talent.I want to take this opportunity to put my hand up to write on the free-to-air miniseries that will eventually get made and then nominated for a few Logies.

I’ll save you the trouble of trawling through hours of content – this is Dame Edna’s funniest TV interview.This article includes content provided by Instagram.We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.Sticking to the theme of megalomaniacal superstars, Alex Hines’s monstrous creation Juniper Wilde is surely due for another comeback.

This must be from a show that has long since closed, but the line “I’m a shareholder; I have a right to finish” will live for eternity.This article includes content provided by Instagram.We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.A friend gave me a weird side-eye look when I said I wanted to include this reel, but I’m doing it anyway.

This presumably AI-generated dark fable had me in tears of laughter for reasons I’ll eventually unpack with my mental healthcare team.For the 0.05% of people who find this hysterically funny, we must have some serious in-yun (past life connection), and it’s now your job to seek me out IRL.To paraphrase Stefon from SNL, this speech by Elaine May has got everything: wit, heart, the second page of a letter written by Einstein.Honestly, I rewatch this clip whenever I need to prepare an effortlessly amusing five-minute spiel for a friend’s wedding, an opening night speech or a first date.

This article includes content provided by Instagram.We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.Louis Hanson specialises in cheeky, effervescent and digestible hot Melbourne boy content.Sometimes his comedic faux-naivety is all I can handle when I’m rotting on the couch too lazy to find something real to watch.

The definition of comedy is a supercut of Shelley Duvall saying her own name again and again … I am only realising now how esoteric my sense of humour might appear to the good people who read the Guardian.This article includes content provided by Instagram.We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.It’s funny because it’s true – but when you realise that he’s not actually joking, you can only laugh ruefully.

Tears will do you no good in the face of the late capitalist technocracy where human connection is just another opportunity to create more content.Lewis Treston’s recent productions include IRL at La Boite, Hot Tub at Belvoir 25A, Follow Me Home at Australian Theatre for Young People, and Hubris and Humiliation at Sydney Theatre Company.His published work is available for purchase on Playlab.
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England v India: fifth men’s cricket Test, day two – as it happened

Ali Martin’s reportThe end of a pretty remarkable day at The Oval. Only 75 overs were bowled, but in that time we saw 342 runs, 16 wickets and thousands of Thorpey headbands.India, who looked a beaten team during a bruising the morning session, showed extraordinary resilience to fight back and then edge ahead in the game. They were inspired by Mohammed Siraj, who took out England’s entire middle order across two superb spells.England need something similar from Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue or Jamie Overton tomorrow morning

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Graham Thorpe remembered by England amid the joy and sorrow of fifth Test | Simon Burnton

Friday morning at the Oval, and the ground reverberates to a unique but not unfamiliar sound, the baritone rumble of thousands of pained groans. It was prompted by replays on the ground’s big screens of a particular kind of delivery with a very specific outcome, on this occasion bowled by Akash Deep. The ball flicked off the inside of Ben Duckett’s thigh before crashing remorselessly into, well, the next part of his anatomy that it reached, and with agonising results.The game was paused for several minutes while the pain subsided and the opener regained his composure (the blow certainly didn’t make him at all cautious, and by the end of that one over Duckett had survived a review for lbw, skipped down the track and missed completely with a wild swing, seen a leading edge drop short of gully and reverse-scooped for six).On Thursday evening a very different sound had been heard, Chris Woakes’ cries of pain after he landed awkwardly on his left shoulder having flicked a ball back from the boundary edge, close to the press box at the Vauxhall End

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Tommy Freeman hands Lions major injury scare on eve of third Australia Test

Tommy Freeman has handed the British & Irish Lions a major injury doubt before their third Test against Australia. The 24-year-old winger, who has started the first two Tests, sat out the captain’s run on Friday and it is understood he is struggling with a back injury. The Lions are targeting a first clean sweep since 1927 and a first unbeaten series since 1974.On Friday the Lions were adamant that Freeman would be fit to play in Sydney, claiming his absence was down to his workload being managed. It is understood, however, that contingency plans have been drawn up that could see Huw Jones moved to the wing and Owen Farrell coming into the starting XV

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Tour de France Femmes 2025: Squiban storms to another win on stage seven – as it happened

An amazing second stage win from Maëva Squiban in as many days. As Dani Rowe said on TNT Sports: “She played her cards to perfection.” Thank you for reading the live blog today and for your messages. It was a pleasure to cover today’s exciting and dramatic racing. Join me on Saturday and Sunday for the final stages of this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

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Tour de France Femmes: Squiban sends home fans wild with second stage win

Maëva Squiban fuelled joyous scenes in the Haute-Savoie, winning the first high mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes in Chambéry, just 24 hours after taking victory in stage six in Ambert.The French rider, who celebrated draped in a Breton flag, was part of a 13-rider breakaway that splintered on the first climb, the Côte de Saint-Franc and then gradually dwindled as the gradients started to bite.Squiban, a former French junior champion when 15 years old, finally shed her last companion, Mareille Meijering, 2km from the top of the Col du Granier and accelerated clear alone.“At the start, I made a joke about attacking again,” she said, “but in the end it wasn’t a joke.”On the fast descent of the Granier, overlooking Chambéry, Squiban, nudging 80km/h on the narrow road, again held off the pursuing group of race favourites, including the defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma and rival Demi Vollering, to take successive stage wins

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Glorious Goodwood: Jm Jungle too speedy for classy King George rivals

Three of the dozen runners in the Group Two King George Stakes at Goodwood on Friday had a Group One success to their name and all but one had at least run in a Group-class contest, but there is often only a small gap for the best sprint handicappers to bridge when they step into Pattern company and Jm Jungle, the Group-race debutant, proved the point once again with a 14-1 victory in the afternoon’s feature event.The field was reduced to 11 at the start when Clarendon House planted himself in the stalls, but Jm Jungle, with winner of the “Dash” Handicap at Epsom on Derby day over the fastest five-furlong course in the country, was soon helping to set a strong pace. The Australian-trained mare, Asfoora, a Group One winner at Royal Ascot last summer, made a brief attempt to challenge against the far rail while She’s Quality finished fast down the middle, but Jm Jungle and Jason Hart had just enough left to hold on for a neck success.It was a second win in the race in the space of three years for the John and Sean Quinn stable, successful in 2023 with the hugely popular Highfield Princess.“It was easier watching Highfield Princess because she never looked like getting beat,” Sean Quinn said