Update 15/10/13. Terrific fun seeing David Brent's debut gig at the Bloomsbury Theatre last night. The melodies made you tap your feet, the lyrics made you clench your buttocks. Read full review here.

Update: David Brent's London dates with his band Foregone Conclusion have just been announced. They are at the Bloomsbury Theatre on October 14 & 23. Tickets go on sale on October 1 from 10am (GMT) via www.livenation.co.uk and www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

Typical. You wait ages for a middle aged comedian to recapture their rock star dreams then two (well, three if you want to be pedantic) come along at the same time. Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, aka The Mighty Boosh, are to play two low-key gigs as The Mighty Boosh Band at Soho Theatre at the end of the month. Tickets sold out almost as quickly as they went on sale so you may have to fly to Santa Monica to see them at the Festival Supreme now, which features a tantalising mix of music and comedy. Though I suspect if all goes well there will be more UK dates. 

Then almost simultaneously it was confirmed that David Brent, aka Ricky Gervais, is going to be playing live next month with his band, Foregone Conclusion. Following the YouTube success of Brent's guitar tutorials there had been rumours that he was going to open for Coldplay but it sounds as if Brent/Gervais will be headlining in his own right. To find out more you can follow him on twitter @DavidBrent where he recently revealed that he has just written an "amazing new folk ballad called "Lady Gypsy".

These gigs are the latest examples in the never-ending rock/comedy crossover. Comedians have often been closet rock stars and some have even got to fulfil their fantasy. There's Spinal Tap of course and Mayall, Edmondson and co did live gigs as Bad News. In fact Ade Edmondson seems to have ditched comedy and prefers to play folk-up versions of old punk classics now. I wonder if Going Live's Trevor & Simon ever performed bona fide gigs as The Singing Corner – who can forget their catchphrase "Swing Your Pants" or their version of Purple Haze which was more Greensleeves than Hendrix? I'm currently waiting for a response from @bobcorner.

There is also, of course, Jack Black's duo Tenacious D, who are one of the headliners of Festival Supreme, which sounds from the line-up like a brilliant once-in-a-lifetime event, taking in pretty much every comic genius, from Sarah Silverman to Reggie Watts (by the way, can I have a ticket please?). I'm amazed that Foregone Conclusion haven't been added to the bill. Some would argue, I guess, that Jack Black is more of an actor than a comedian these days though, and don't even get me started on actors in bands, from Keanu Reeves and Russell Crowe to Jared Leto. 

So it is no surprise that Gervais and the Boosh Boys are getting up onstage. Gervais has been there before of course. Recent pictures suggest that he has slimmed back down to the size he was when he was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it pop star in electro duo, Seona Dancing, who weirdly still have a cult following in the Philippines. If Foregone Conclusion do a gig out there they may have to declare the day a Public Holiday.

There is something faintly absurd about the machismo of rock, which is maybe what makes it appeal so much to comedians. That and the adulation I guess. Graham Fellowes was pop star Jilted John long before he created John Shuttleworth. Fellowes is now bringing back bittersweet mock rocker Brian Appleton for a short tour. Appleton is the man who believes he has been sidelined while his old chums, such as Rod Stewart took inspiration from him and went on to great things. 

Vic Reeves was in bands long before he became a surrealist legend. And once he was a surrealist legend he even had a number one hit with the Wonderstuff. David Baddiel and Frank Skinner topped the charts with Three Lions. Peter Kay has joined the surviving members of Queen onstage. The list goes on.  Al Murray was a drummer before The Pub Landlord could legally drink and still likes to bash the skins. Last summer in Edinburgh he guested with the Horne Section and you almost needed a hooked stick from the wings to drag him away from the cymbals.

So it is clearly par for the course for Gervais and the Boosh to make this move. The Boosh take their music quite seriously – they set up the Booshfest in 2008 and Barratt loves his jazz funk. As for Ricky Gervais this is an odd one as he will be in character. But I suspect that as much as he will appreciate the joy of getting laughs when Brent strums his acoustic guitar, he may also be quietly getting a genuine buzz out of finally being where he wanted to be thirty years ago.