June 2013
Rory Kinnear must be one of the UK's most versatile actors, equally at home onstage in classical dramas and on TV in comedies. His latest role on the box is in the new BBC2 series, Count Arthur Strong, where he demonstrates some mighty meaty comedy chops.
Bloody Americans, coming over here and entertaining our comedy fans… Last week Judah Friedlander made his London debut and was a bit of a disappointment. There should be no such problems with Aziz Ansari, who comes to the Hammersmith Apollo this Saturday.
I enjoyed Billy Bragg's latest album Tooth & Nail when it came out earlier this year and now, thanks to Johnny Vegas, Kevin Eldon, Stewart Lee, Ross Noble, Ricky Grover, Phill Jupitus, Neil Morrissey and Samuel West I've been enjoying the track Handyman Blues again. In case you haven't heard, Johnny Vegas directed the other names mentioned plus the Barking Bard in the video for the song.
So tonight's the night that Jack Carroll either makes it big on Britain's Got Talent or heads back to obscurity. Nothing of the sort of course. The 14-year-old sit-down-sometimes stand-up has become something of a national hero since his first appearance on Simon Cowell's variety trade fair. Even David Walliams rather over-excitedly dubbing the lad from Hipperholme near Huddersfield the next Peter Kay should not hold Carroll back from a successful career in comedy.
Update - Re below, Kay's book is out now and he plays the Soho Theatre on 18 & 19 Oct. Details here.
Michael Parkinson eat your heart out. Roll over Graham Norton and tell Alan Carr the news. Richard Herring's "Stephen Fry in suicide attempt" scoop has shown that the biggest stories are not always stage managed and released to the media as part of a strategy worked out with military precision.
There are no bad comedy gigs, just bad comedy audiences. I'm not sure if that's what Judah Friedlander said after his opening night at the Soho Theatre on Tuesday, but maybe the thought did occur to him after he did an hour of his finest "World Champion" boasts and one-liners but struggled to get the crowd to chip in. There were certainly laughs, but there were also moments when you could almost see the tumbleweed blowing across the room as Friedlander asked "Any more questions?" for the umpteenth time.
One of the funny things about this year's festival was that one of the highlights was not a stand-up gig at all in the conventional sense. The Mitch Hedberg Tribute Show paid homage to the cult comedian who died, aged 37, in 2005. I don't think Hedberg ever played London or Edinburgh but I was lucky enough to see him in Kilkenny in 1999. In was in Kytelers Bar I think, just after Phill Jupitus had done a routine about spiders.
Last Friday about an hour before I was due to head out to my first gig and file my first review I had a call from the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Comedy Festival press office asking me not to file any reviews until after the five-day Festival was over. This is a festival where the performers don't want to pressure of being judged by journalists, I was told. Fair enough, I thought. This starkly sums up the contrast with the Edinburgh Festival which doesn't start until August and I've already got PRs lobbying me for review space.
Judah Friedlander is best known to TV viewers as Frank Rossitano in 30 Rock, but like most great sitcom actors he is also a superb stand-up. He makes his belated UK debut at the Soho Theatre this week. It's a short run so get down there quickly.
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