September 2013
Matt Okine shared the Best Newcomer Award at this year's Melbourne Comedy Festival with Ronny Chieng and the two comedians' shows, which have both transferred from Edinburgh to the
Can Stephen Merchant be the next British star to make it big in America? He has already had bit parts in projects as diverse as 24 and the Farrelly Brothers' Hall Pass but he now gets the star-billing treatment for his HBO series Hello Ladies, which airs in America from September 29 and is transmitted in the UK on Sky Atlantic from October 16. As the title suggests, the show is inspired by Merchant's first-ever full solo stand-up show of the same in which the gangly gagsmith bemoaned his lack of success with the opposite sex.
Can you ever really give up being a comedian? This thought has occurred to me a number of times recently. On Sunday morning I was reading an interview with David Walliams in the Observer online and the bit below the headline called him and Sheridan Smith, his co-star in A Midsummer Night's Dream "former comedy stars".
The eternal quest for the perfect primetime mainstream sitcom continues with Father Figure, the TV transfer of Jason Byrne's hit madcap radio series about his eccentric clan. Byrne plays well-meaning but hopeless Tom Whyte, "the best and worst dad you could have". It's about time he got his TV break and I hope he can bring some of the freewheeling excitement of his live gigs to the small screen. Byrne is a truly spontaneous performer onstage.
The London comedy circuit is slowly but surely gearing up for a big autumn with two major events at either end of this week. Tonight The Comedy Store hosts Laugh Til It Hurts, a benefit in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. The gig could be subtitled Paul The Other Ones, as it seems to have gathered together most of the Pauls on the comedy circuit apart from Comedy Store regular Paul Merton.
The Edinburgh Fringe seems a long way away now, but for some there is no let-up in their globe-trotting quest for giggles.
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