Royal Albert Hall, LondonProtean punk poet Patti Smith, backed by a full band, is in expansive mood in a riveting, career-spanning showOne worn black boot on the monitor, her long, white, artist’s hands carving up the air, Patti Smith is a performer wh…
Bob Mortimer: ‘I’m comfortable with getting older, but I try not to look in the mirror’
The comedian, 62, on growing up shy in Middlesbrough, losing his dad, meeting Vic Reeves, and the deep contentment of fishingI was quite a shy boy. Growing up in Middlesbrough, I felt a bit of an outsider. My three elder brothers are funny and boistero…
Tom Morello: ‘We came within a baby’s breath of a fascist coup in the US’
Lockdown and ‘looking after the grandmas’ may have kept the Rage Against the Machine guitarist away from recent protests – but he refuses to be silencedTom Morello has made more than 20 albums, as a founding member of Rage Against the Machine – the pol…
Dear Dave Chappelle, transgender comedians can take a joke, but why are yours so unfunny? | Dahlia Belle
A regressive Netflix special only serves as further reminder that the once-groundbreaking star has lost his way (and his sense of humor)Dear Dave,We’re both comedians. I guess that makes me a member of your tribe. I’m sure you’ve never heard of me, tho…
Spies, lies and doublethink: Lea Ypi on growing up in Europe’s last communist state
She believed her parents loved Enver Hoxha’s Stalinist regime. But once Albania’s communist system collapsed, Lea Ypi began to realise nothing was as it seemed …• Read an extract from Lea Ypi’s memoir, FreeOne day, when Lea Ypi was a child, an empty Co…
Fingerbobs and Play School presenter Rick Jones dies aged 84
Children’s TV host appeared on variety of BBC shows in 1970s and was frontman for country rock band Meal TicketTributes have been paid to the former children’s TV presenter Rick Jones, best known for hosting Play School and Fingerbobs, who has died fro…
Sindhu Vee and her father go back in time: ‘As a child, I was always copying him’
The comedian and her dad recreate a childhood photo and talk about early days in India, agoraphobia and swapping banking for comedy Born in New Delhi in 1969, Sindhu Vee spent her childhood in India and the Philippines, before throwing herself into aca…
‘There is a reason why famous people are often screwed up’: Tim Minchin on quitting comedy
The Australian composer has returned to performing after a 10-year break. He writes about fame, failure and his surprise comebackIn 2003, I booked a tiny venue for Melbourne fringe festival, to perform a show I had tortuously titled Navel: Cerebral Mel…
‘They told me I was grown up enough to keep a secret’: exclusive extract from Silverview, John le Carré’s final novel
Morals and duty clash in le Carré’s tale of a bookseller caught in a spy leak• Fintan O’Toole on the last twist in le Carré’s tale• Writers reveal their favourite le Carré Continue reading…
Roger Taylor: ‘My most treasured possession? A massive statue of Freddie’
The Queen drummer and singer-songwriter on former girlfriends, forgetting lyrics and liking red wineBorn in Norfolk, Roger Taylor, 72, is an original member of the band Queen, which formed in 1970. Their hits include Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You…