Bruce Dessau
In today's Bafta nominee interview Alan Carr talks about his love of being in the limelight and the challenge of trying to get better guests than Graham Norton. The friendly rivalry with Norton continues with the Bafta TV Awards – they are both up for Best Entertainment Performance. This interview first appeared in The Times in 2010. The results are announced on May 12.
It's a tale of two Eddies this week. The last time I saw Eddie Izzard in March he was doing a short set at the Altitude Festival in Austria before shooting off to perform his new Force Majeure show in Riga as part of a typically epic Euro-trek. The good news is that judging by his brief flying visit Izzard is back on form, mixing his trademark meandering charm with a pithy history lesson taking in Charles I, the Romans and Edward the Confessor among others.
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 others telling me their gig gripes too. I said I'd expand on the report but when I analysed the responses I realised there was a little bit of crossed wires going on.
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'Sullivan because she was in his eyeline. O'Sullivan was the official photographer at the INEC venue and according to reports, after saying "get the fuck out of here" Connolly then called her, pardon my language, a "fucking cunt".
I saw the brilliant new Alan Partridge movie last night. Sorry, I mean I saw the OK new Steve Coogan film The Look of Love. It's an easy mistake to make though. The Look of Love is another example of Steve Coogan playing a character who is eerily like the iconic Norwich DJ.
2013 is shaping up to be good year for Doc Brown. He appeared alongside Ricky Gervais in C4 comedy Derek and the professional relationship continued when Brown co-starred with David Brent in the Comic Relief video Equality Street. I interviewed Brown in 2010 when he first made a splash at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
I don't know how many comedy gigs i've been too. Let's just say it's a lot more than the number of people who voted for the Lib Dems in South Shields yesterday. Over the years I've seen some pretty strange behaviour from audience members, but last night at Omid Djalili there was a first.
This Reginald D Hunter issue still seems to be rumbling on nearly a week after his appearance at the PFA dinner. To quickly recap, Hunter did a set in which he used the n-word and has ruffled feathers because the issue of racism is so sensitive in the football profession. There has been talk about Hunter returning his fee but, as yet I don't think he has done this.
The current kerfuffle about Reginald D Hunter's recent gig at the PFA dinner is not the first time the soft-spoken stand-up has ended up in hot water.
There is much talk in media circles about ITV being on a roll at the moment. They've cracked costume drama with Downton Abbey and contemporary drama with Broadchurch. But can they crack that toughest nut of all, sitcom? Well this Monday could be make or break.
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