Update 21/5/13. After this piece was published I was contacted by Chris Cox, self-styled "mind reader who can't read minds" and we had a very interesting chat about the use of plants in magic and... more
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I think the first modern example of character comedy I ever saw was Edna Everage, followed shortly by John Shuttleworth about two decades ago. After him there seemed to be a flurry of weird... more
When does a topical gag stop being topical? And, maybe more importantly, when does a topical gag stop being funny? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, partly because nearly a year on I'm... more
Let's get one thing straight. I'm certainly not backtracking on my opinion of Ben Elton's pitiful sitcom. But at the same time I've found some of the objections to The Wright Way particularly... more
Three episodes into its third series 10 O'Clock Live seems to have entered adolescence and has got a bit surly and angry. It is good, but it could still be even better. In the first in an occasional... more
Interesting to hear today that Lee Mack and Catherine Tate are going to star in a UK remake of the American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond entitled The Smiths. I can't predict if the UK version,... more
The O2 Arena or Ye Olde Rose & Crown in Walthamstow? For me there is not really any choice. Last night arena-filler Alan Carr popped into the north London pub to try out some new material. It was... more
And so the virtual polling booths are closed and the results can finally be revealed. Last week I wrote a piece about the things that irritate me at comedy gigs and I was deluged with responses from... more
According to news reports Billy Connolly was particularly outspoken at a recent gig in Ireland. During his show in Killarney on Thursday night the Big Yin apparently swore at photographer Valerie O'... more
I went to see Terry Alderton at the Bloomsbury Theatre last night. Great fun and a full review will be in the Evening Standard on Tuesday. But one particular thing struck me. Alderton was ostensibly... more
