Review
The first thing to say is that Sarah Silverman’s Netflix special is longer than her gig at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2008. For live comedy fans in England Silverman is arguably most famous for her major London show that lasted less than an hour and left many fans more bemused than amused.
To paraphrase a famous sketch, nobody was expecting Tim Westwood. Or Fatboy Slim. Or even Tony Blackburn. John Cleese Presents was trailed as Cleese making his debut as a radio DJ but given that this was a 15-minute slot on Radio 4 it was always likely to be more Ministry of Silly Walks than Ministry of Sound.
Compared to the way some new comedy programmes are endlessly trailed Britain Today Tonight seems to have flown in under the radar. It sounds like an interesting concept though. A homegrown spoof American news show reporting on contemporary life in the UK fronted by man of a thousand prosthetic faces, Kayvan Novak.
I was chatting to someone on Facebook about sitcoms this morning and they suggested that the episode of Hancock where he sits around on the sofa all day and nothing happens is one of the weirdest comedies he’s seen. Well maybe he should watch this week’s deliciously bleak episode of the bored-youth-in-the-Cotswolds mockumentary This Country, where most of the action, if that's the right word for nothing happening, takes place in the kitchen while Kerry’s turkey dinosaurs and Kurtan's pizza cook.
We’ve all had a friend at school who disappeared suddenly after only a few terms haven’t we? I know I did. And in the second episode of this deliciously well-observed mockumentary following the lives of “marginalised” Cotswold siblings Lee and Kerry Mucklowe Lee decides to track down old school mate Robert Robinson.
Is there an imminent shortage of traditional stand-up comedians? For a while it looked that way at the annual NATYS Top Of The Bill Final. This is a competition that regular throws up the occasional variety curveball, but this year’s bill was positively peppered with quirky peformers.
The third and final series of Uncle kicks off with a slice of emotional turmoil for Andy (Nick Helm). We all know that he has a nephew, Errol, but could he be a father too? The first episode finds him reflecting on whether his life if about to undergo a seismic shift that will mean that he has to accept some real responsibilities.
Not laughing apparently causes a condition known as “bum grape”. Well, it does if I heard skilful Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year host Rob Rouse correctly. Not much chance of graping of the bum at this year’s competition though, with eight consistently comical acts hoping to follow in the illustrious footsteps of previous winners such as Johnny Vegas and Jason Manford.
The comedy gods have smiled upon us. Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is back again for a third series. Of course there is no god, comedy or otherwise, so let's just celebrate the return to television of contemporary stand up's smartest sage. In fact there are two smart sages for the price of one here. Chris Morris also returns to the screen in this series, replacing Armando Iannucci as the "hostile interrogator" who intermittently questions Lee in a darkened room during the programme.
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