Bruce Dessau
The best thing about Derek. It's the opinion that is already being expressed widely about Kerry Godliman's portrayal of tough-yet-good-hearted manager Hannah, and the Ricky Gervais series set in a care home only started on C4 last week following a controversial one-off last year. The imminent acclaim for Godliman will come as no surprise to regular comedy club goers.
Strange goings-on at Daniel Simonsen at the Soho Theatre last night. The Foster's Award Best Newcomer was delivering his laid-back, deadpan schtick and going down pretty well when he looked at his watch. "42 minutes...I gotta do 50," he muttered. It was not a joke. He had run out of material.
A brilliant interview with Jerry Sadowitz appeared on the British Comedy Guide website last night. Well, brilliant if you are one of the many broadminded people who have read it, maybe not so brilliant if you are Jerry Sadowitz. Though with the spleen-venting stand-up you never know what is going on under that old top hat.
When I set up this website in December the idea was that live reviews would appear on the morning after the gig at the latest. I didn't allow for Limerick's Rubberbandits, who have immediately made me rush off and delete that clause in my mission statement. No other comedy act in years has taxed my critical faculties quite as much as this spoof Irish rap trio.
It started, appropriately enough, as a joke. In autumn 2007 I was writing a review for the Evening Standard and I moaned about how difficult it was becoming to find a parking space in the centre of London. I concluded by suggesting that soon the closest space I might get would be outside my house in South London. A few days later I received a cheeky email from promoter Tom Searle, the bowl-haired whizzkid behind an organisation called Laughter in Odd Places.
Delighted to see that Greg Davies has been nominated for Best Male Performance In A Comedy Programme for his turn as hapless dad Ken in BBC3's Cuckoo. The first time I saw Greg Davies was when I judged the Evening Standard's shortlived New Comedian of the Year competition in 2002. The gig took place on the Tattershall Castle boat on the Thames and when Davies described himself as "Six foot eight inches of pure Ginsters meat pie" I'm sure I felt the boat rock with laughter.
It was the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC) who said that a march of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I don't think he ever visited the Comedy Pub just off Leicester Square, but if he had popped in on Friday night to see the Piccadilly Comedy Club New Comedian of 2013 Final he would have seen eight newish stand-ups taking their first steps on a journey which they probably hope will end with fame, critical acclaim and a tax bill that would make Jimmy Carr squirm.
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