What's in a name? When Debbie Harry decided she wanted to be taken seriously as a musician she started calling herself Deborah Harry. When Rob Newman decided he wanted to be seen as a more mature comedian he started being billed as Robert Newman. But it is probably Newman's material more than his monicker that has cast him in a new light.

I was told to get in the trenches and cut back on the comedy godzillas by a reader recently so I made a trip to the the Invisible Dot's new regular Saturday Night Show last night. I'm not sure if this really counts as the trenches though. It's a swish, industrial room a spit from King's Cross station which attracts the coolest of comedy crowds (think Hacienda Club just before acid house kicked in but cosier) thanks to ID's skilful booking policy.

Stewart Lee recently wrote an article in the New Statesman about the lack of right wing comedians. I sort-of doubt if Simon Evans is a card-carrying Cameronite, but there is something distinctly conservative about him. Not in a horrible Bernard Manning/Bob Monkhouse way, but in his love of traditional old values.

Television seems to be going through one of its phases where it gives comedians interesting jobs rather than just going "ooh look, how about a nice panel game/quiz show to be charismatically spontaneous on?" Last week Victoria Wood was poured all over our screens talking about tea. For the next two Sundays Bill Bailey is going to be in the jungle.