The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins review – a Bake Off star basks in self-abasement

about 8 hours ago

Shame is what Sue Perkins promises us in this return to live comedy after years away: her public personae withdrawn like the layers of a Russian doll to reveal the true, humiliated person beneath,Who wouldn’t want to see the former Bake Off star, after “30 years in our living rooms”, put on such a show? But it’s not quite what Perkins delivers,Like Dawn French before her, in a touring set purporting to show what a “huge twat” she was, The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins compiles a series of perky professional and personal anecdotes only loosely connected to that theme, and is judicious with its intimacies,It is stronger in its second half, which cleaves more tightly to the theme and affords more glimpses behind our host’s brisk demeanour,Act one begins with Perkins alluding to her shame at being middle-aged and tired in an industry dedicated to youthful vigour.

The ensuing anecdotes have nothing to do with that whatsoever, as she relates an inconclusive tale about local drug dealers cloning her car registration, and a literal shaggy dog story, more suggestive of pride than shame, about rescuing a wounded pup on a trip to Bolivia.In neither instance, one senses, does Perkins let truth get in the way of a lively comic yarn.And she certainly tells them well, embroidering each with lurid details of her own ineptitude.See for example the bilious tale, all sobs and dry heaves, of a drug-addled trip for telly to a South American shaman.That skit is not alone in parlaying Perkins’ public life into comedy: another fine Dave Gorman-esque routine, about a story she wrote for a celebrity anthology, obsesses over the statistical likelihood of “being bummed by a Dyson”.

But, away from the showbiz world, the show’s most striking passage is about the breakdown Perkins experienced a decade ago courtesy of a benign tumour on her pituitary gland, pitching her into “a posh One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” scenario, vividly outlined here,The rest of the show, all jaunty tales of skin-deep self-abasement, is entertaining enough,But here alone are her protective Russian-doll shells stripped away, and something more meaningful revealed,At Leeds Playhouse on 6 February,Then touring

cultureSee all

‘One of the most stunning sights in the country’: your picks for UK town of culture

From pirates and skateboarders in Hastings to legends and locks in Devizes, from dolphins in Scarborough to the ‘artists’ town’ of Kirkcudbright, readers put forward their favourite placesCulture secretary Lisa Nandy has launched a search for the UK’s first “town of culture”, similar to the city of culture programme, which honoured Bradford last year. After the Guardian’s writers nominated theirs – including Ramsgate in Kent, Falmouth in Cornwall, Abergavenny in Monmouthshire and Portobello in Edinburgh – we asked readers which UK towns they would put forward.Culture in Hastings grows out of the shingle and the wind and the friction between past and present. You can feel it in the fishing fleet hauled up on the beach, still part of daily life, and then a short walk away in bold contemporary spaces showing work that speaks far beyond the town. It shows up in events that belong to the people who live there; Jack in the Green spilling through the streets; Pirate Day turning the whole place into a shared act of play; music competitions that quietly bring international talent into a town that never pretends to be grand

1 day ago

‘It’s an opportunity for bonding’ – my quest to become a Black dad who can do his daughters’ hair

For me – and many other Black men – my experience of hair begins and ends in the barbershop. But as my two daughters get older, I’m determined to make ‘salon night’ pain free – and maybe even enjoyable The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.In the basement of Larry King’s salon in Marylebone, London, stylist and curly hair advocate Jennie Roberts is giving me a much-needed pep talk

1 day ago

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘We are now at the women-should-smile-more stage of his presidency’

Late-night hosts dug into Donald Trump’s deflections from the Jeffrey Epstein files and the backlash to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show.Jimmy Kimmel kept the focus on the Epstein files on Tuesday, because it’s “a story that Donald Trump wishes would go away. But it won’t just go away. It’s the kind of story that makes headlines, and he knows that. So what he does is he bombards us with a dozen other crazy things to try to flood the zone

2 days ago

The Guide #228: Against my better judgment, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has me back in Westeros

Just when I thought I was out … just when I thought I would no longer have that sweeping, ever so slightly irritating theme tune ringing around my head for hours on end, or feel the need to remember the difference between House Tyrell, Tully or Arryn, I suddenly find myself pulled back in to the Game of Thrones extended universe. The blame for this goes to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the likably low-key Game of Thrones spin-off series about a cloth-eared hedge knight and his shrewd child squire currently ambling through its first season on HBO/Sky Atlantic.Before its arrival, I had departed Westeros for good. My faith had first been shaken by that rushed, badly plotted final season of Game of Thrones proper, which bashed to bits six previous seasons’ worth of finely tuned political intrigue and fascinating character dynamics in a succession of endless (often badly lit) CGI-laden battles, before flambéing them in dragon fire. Worse came with House of the Dragon, a dreary, po-faced, endlessly withholding slog of a prequel series, the enjoyment of which seemed to rest entirely on whether the viewer was familiar with deep lore buried within a Westeros history book that George RR Martin wrote instead of cracking on with that sixth novel

3 days ago

Randa Abdel-Fattah and Louise Adler to headline alternative to cancelled Adelaide writers’ week

The two figures at the centre of the Adelaide festival controversy will reunite to headline the alternative to the cancelled 2026 Adelaide writers’ week.Palestinian Australian academic and writer Randa Abdel-Fattah and AWW’s former director Louise Adler will appear together at Constellations: Not Writers’ Week, a hastily compiled series of events scheduled to start on 28 February in response to the Adelaide festival board’s decision to scrap Australia’s flagship annual literary festival.Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to speak in 2026 was withdrawn by the board after controversy and complaints over her past statements, including a social media post claiming Zionists had “no claim to cultural safety” and a Facebook profile image of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag parachute, which was posted the day after the 7 October attack on Israel.Abdel-Fattah recently told the Full Story podcast that the “cultural safety” statement had been taken out of context and that the paraglider image was “an iconic symbol of freedom” for Palestinians under siege.Adler, who resigned in protest at the decision, will appear in conversation at the Adelaide town hall on 1 March

3 days ago

Jon Stewart on Epstein files: ‘I’m just not sure anybody is going to be held accountable’

Late-night hosts reacted to the latest batch of Epstein files, which failed to redact several victims’ names and photos while still protecting Donald Trump.Jon Stewart returned to his Monday night desk at the Daily Show fuming at the lack of consequences for the men named in the files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – which still have not been fully released, though the justice department published another somewhat redacted batch on Friday.There have been consequences for “none of these dudes”, he said. “They’ve been on the plane. They’ve been on the island

3 days ago

technologySee all