When Sam Simmons won this year’s Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award I was delighted for him. Simmons had been nominated twice before, which meant that to persuade the judges to vote for him he had to... more
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This year’s eight-strong Foster’s Award nominations list was the longest-ever list, but that didn’t stop plenty of grumbling in Edinburgh's bars last night. Unless every Fringe show is nominated –... more
Last year while I was waiting for the Foster’s Award nominations to be announced I posted some predictions online. For various reasons it was assumed by some that my predictions were the official... more
Are critics reviewing the performance we see or the performance that should be taking place? It’s an issue that has troubled me for a while and came to a head this week when I reviewed James Acaster... more
When The John Bishop Show started seven weeks ago I wrote an opinion piece about how impressed I was that it had found some new talent for mainstream TV. The first episode featured Felicity Ward and... more
I have to say I’ve been impressed by The John Bishop Show. Just when you think stand-up on mainstream TV has settled into a rut with the same acts on a shiny-floored conveyor belt John Bishop has... more
Preview season is well and truly under way. For comics it is a vital part of the Edinburgh Fringe dominated calendar. For punters, an opportunity to see their favourite comedians at knocked down... more
Has Edinburgh got too big? It’s the cry that goes up every year, but maybe with good reason this year. 2015 will see 50,459 performances of 3,314 shows from 49 countries in 313 venues across... more
I’ve been saying for a while that the Edinburgh Fringe has become too big, partly because of the explosion of free shows. And now someone seems to have have done something about it. I thought that... more
Great news today that the BBC has recommissioned Count Arthur Strong. I was concerned that the move from BBC2 to BBC1 for the second series had been the last throw of the dice and that if it didn’t... more
