jimmy carr
It’s been interesting to see the way that comedians from the live circuit have recently dipped their toes into mainstream TV waters. Sara Pascoe, Joe Wilkinson and Joe Lycett are among the acts to have succumbed to the lure of the revived Celebrity Squares and then there is that ITV1 attempt at reanimating an even older corpse, Sunday Night at the Palladium.
There has been talk recently about forming a comedians' union. Small clubs have been closing, others are cutting their pay rates and others have been slow to pay up, making it harder and harder for the grafting comedian to earn decent wage. There must be something attractive about stand-up though, because enough people still insist having a bash at it.
Great show, shame about the audience. I've thought it a few times recently, particularly at big theatre shows. At arena gigs a few idiots would have to be particularly disruptive to spoil the night for the majority, while at a club gig the comedian can often address the issue and diffuse the situation or make it part of the event.
Were my ears deceiving me? On Tuesday night I turned Radio 4 on at 6.30pm and heard a familiar Scottish accent being unfamiliarly reasonable. Frankie Boyle was one of the guests on the first edition of a new series of It's Not What You Know, chaired by Miles Jupp.
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 series offering careers advice, here is my ten-point plan to making 10 O'Clock Live essential viewing
1. Do something about the rainbow-coloured set – it's like an old disused Top of The Pops set tarted up with Fisher Price paints to look like a children's nightclub.
I had a difficult time working out how to write a fair review of Jimmy Carr at the Hammersmith Apollo at the weekend. I'm not the biggest fan of Carr's sometimes brutal one-liners but I thought he was pretty good. The trouble is that it is hard to say the show was an unqualified success for me when the person three seats down was shouting "Dirty Bitch" at the stage.
Maybe I was not paying attention but the new series of 10 O'Clock Live seemed to slip out without much in the way of advance fanfare last night. Perhaps that was a shrewd move. This is the third run but somehow it always seems to need time to bed in, as if the stars, Charlie Brooker, David Mitchell, Lauren Laverne and Jimmy Carr need a while to get their satirical chuckle muscles working.
Comedy Crisis? What Comedy Crisis? Russell Howard has just announced a World Tour for 2014 taking in four nights at the Royal Albert Hall, which is certainly classier than the O2 Arena. Here is an interview with Howard from 2009 in which he talks about his family, his career and comedy onscreen as well as onstage.
Details of Russell Howard's tour here,
I've been thinking about Jack Carroll's triumphant first appearance on Britain's Got Talent and have been trying to decide whether it will be good for the 14-year-old's career or not. Plenty of exposure certainly. But could it be too much for someone so young? Looking back on past young comedians, staying power, not wit, seems to be the issue.
Pages
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by
WeebPal.
