Johnson and Boswell – Late But Live ★★★ - August 2015 The Guardian - By Lyn Gardner - August 9th, 2015

Stewart Lee’s celebration and demolition of the 18th-century double act Johnson and Boswell is not so much a play as a conceit, but it’s a clever one. Taking the form of a 20th-century book launch for Boswell’s tome, it has the puppyish Boswell (Miles Jupp) trying to get Johnson to perform, as much in the…

Johnson and Boswell – Late but Live - March 2008 The Stage - By Thom Dibdin - March 28th, 2008

Convivial and sardonic by turns, Miles Jupp and Simon Munnery take Stewart Lee’s well-judged script and proceed to deliver a delicious hour of fun. Miles Jupp and Simon Munnery in the touring production of Johnson and Boswell – Late but Live Combining all manner of stand-up, sketch and character-based comedies, this is costume drama with…

Johnson and Boswell – Late But Live ★★★★ - August 2007 The Times - By Robert Dawson Scott - August 15th, 2007

A clever idea, to bring the great lexicographer and his toadying sidekick back to the 21st century to revisit their famous journey to the Hebrides, in the Traverse’s late-night comedy slot. Late, you see, as in dead. But alive again. Iain Gillie, the promoter whose idea it was, made his best move in recruiting Stewart…

Johnson and Boswell – Late But Live ★★★★ - August 2007 The Metro - By Alan Chadwick - August 15th, 2007

‘Aaaaaaand now, all the way from England… Dr Samuel Johnson!’ says a bewigged James Boswell (Miles Jupp, on top form as the 18th-century biographer), acting as MC and warm-up act in Stewart Lee’s comedy theatre show. ‘Didn’t I tell you he was a funny man ladies and gentlemen?’ says Boswell, having cajoled the legendary lexicographer…

Blissful Balamory days are a million Miles away - August 2007 Edinburgh Evening News - August 14th, 2007

When award-winning stand-up MILES JUPP lived in Edinburgh, life was simple. Every year the Festival would come and go without the star of Balamory (he played Archie, the inventor) giving it any real thought. “I was really nervous about this year’s Fringe. Up until last year I lived in Edinburgh, so this is the first…

Johnson and Boswell – Late But Live - August 2007 The Herald - By Neil Cooper - August 11th, 2007

Literary groupies take note. Fawning fan-boy interviews aren’t just the preserve of contemporary lit stars. As Stewart Lee’s loose-knit new play puts two of the eighteenth century’s most eminent men of letters into an initially chummy Jonathan Ross-style chat show format, it’s proved beyond doubt that authors in the flesh don’t always resemble their finest…