If you like stand-up comedy Beyond The Joke has a treat for you. We have three copies of the DVD of series one of Comedy Central's The Alternative Comedy Experience to give away. The series was transmitted earlier this year and was acclaimed as an antidote to the shiny floor stand-up of Live at the Apollo. Comedy guru Stewart Lee was involved in selecting the acts and he appears on the DVD interviewing acts backstage at The Stand Club in Edinburgh where the series was filmed.

Everybody must surely have a fantasy version of what the perfect stand-up comedy gig would be. This is mine. A smart, funny comedian sets up shop in London somewhere. A small club, where instead of doing a one-night stand they can settle into a relaxed run and play regularly to appreciative audiences.

It's been business as usual for Russell Brand in the last few weeks. A kerfuffle on Newsnight where Jeremy Paxman called the guest editor of The New Statesman "trivial" and had a go at him for telling people not to vote has been followed by a rant from Quentin Letts in the Mail putting the boot into him. As someone said on Twitter, Brand must be doing something right if the Mail has decided to take a pop at him. he is now in the middle of his Messiah Complex tour, which I saw on the opening night in Birmingham last month.

The second series of Comedy Central's Alternative Comedy Experience is due to start in February 2014 but before then a DVD of the first series is to be released on November 18. This is the same day many of the big name live DVDs, including those from Adam Hills and Sean Lock, are released.