April 2013
I presume Justin Bieber's latest exploits at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam were not being filmed, which is probably a good thing, given the kerfuffle his "Belieber" scribble has prompted. But when this incident hit the headlines I did wonder for a moment whether it was part of the proposed Bieber sitcom that I heard American television network ABC was talking about making last year.
The comedy circuit is full of popular Russells – Brand, Howard, Kane – but there is actually another Russell who in ticket-shifting stand-up terms is possibly bigger than all of them put together. Russell Peters was one of the first comedians to benefit from the all-pervading power of the internet.
This is one of those weeks when comedy fans in London would be well-advised to pitch a tent in the foyer of the Soho Theatre and create their own bespoke mini-comedy festival. As well as ongoing unmissable shows from Dr Brown and Pappy's there is a veritable smorgasbord of stand-up on offer.
Frankie Boyle famously once said that comedians should stop doing stand-up when they reach 40. "The focus really goes," he told the Radio Times in 2009. Boyle turned 40 himself last year so maybe he was wearing stronger lenses in his glasses at his recent Comic Relief appearance to help his focus.
Exciting news has come Beyond The Joke's way that Stephen Fry is going to be a special guest at the next revived Establishment Club night at Ronnie Scott's on April 24th. Fry will be talking about his friendship with the founder of the original Establishment Club, Peter Cook, which is certain to be interesting.
Brilliant Harry hill gig at the Hammersmith Apollo last night. This was a show that I reviewed two weeks ago but it was so good I decided to see it again on my night off. Nobody mixes old-school vaudeville and new school surrealism as well as Hill and after a lengthy period away from the stage he was madder and more magnificent than ever.
Whoever says the comedy bubble is bursting is clearly not Micky Flanagan's promoter. The East End comedian has now added further dates to his Back In The Game tour including a sixth night at the O2 Arena in London and two nights at the Hackney Empire, where he will be recording his live DVD.
Ticket go on sale on Friday, April 12th. Full tour/ticket details here.
The Musical Comedy Awards are now in the fifth year and firmly established as part of the comedy firmament. This year they even started to go slightly global. There is also an Irish Musical Comedy Awards competition and the 2012 winner, Ursula Burns, was one of the guests at the Bloomsbury Theatre Grand Final.
Update 6/12/13. I guess it's a sign of the times that I'll always remember what I was doing online when I heard that Nelson Mandela had died. I was on a train last night checking my google stats and noticed that there was a surge in people coming to my website because they were searching for the phrase "Nelson Mandela jokes". A quick check of Twitter and I understood why.
I try not not to do too much research on acts I'm reviewing for the first time so that I can judge them without any baggage getting in the way.
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