December 2013
Richard Herring once wrote that he is irritated by the title of Never Mind The Buzzcocks because the Manchester punk band was called Buzzcocks, so the title should really be - pedant alert! - Never Mind Buzzcocks. The Christmas edition goes out on BBC2 tonight and it is on a relative high thanks to a piece of broken crockery. In November it made the news pages when Huey Morgan had a hissy fit and smashed his mug on the table. The news shocked the nation.
Christmas might be hurtling towards us but the comedy circuit is showing little sign of slowing down. This week there are two major runs in London as well as two massive one-offs. On Monday night The Boy With Tape On His Face presents Cornucopia - a huge variety bill at the Palace Theatre. But how can the silent star introduce his guests when he doesn't speak?
I'm a bit late to the party with this one, but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Clear History, an HBO production that went out on Sky Atlantic last week. But then I would enjoy it. I've pretty much enjoyed every comedy Larry David has been involved in from Seinfeld to Curb Your Enthusiasm. Note to self - must hunt down his not-well-received pre-Curb debut movie Sour Grapes.
In case you have missed them so far, here are the results of last night's British Comedy Awards.
Robin Ince's 9 Carols and Lessons for Godless People gigs are a bit like the universe - constantly expanding. About 25 minutes in our garrulous, cardigan-clad host said that he had to get a move on because there were 23 acts on the bill. Or maybe 23 acts coming up. I'm not sure, I'd already filled up my notebook by then and lost count. It is a bit of a challenge reviewing this annual event in 300 words for the Evening Standard.
Al Murray has always had a thing about the military. There is, of course, the Pub Landlord's wobbly grasp of European history, but before that Murray used to do a precision-tooled sound effects act in which he impersonated various machine guns and rifles. And before that, as Watching War Films With My Dad reveals, his childhood was filled with typical WW2 ephemera, from Airfix models to Sunday afternoon viewings of A Bridge Too Far with his father.
Who knows best, critics or the public? This is a question that usually comes up with big stars. Mrs Brown's Boys regularly gets a critical hammering despite being hugely popular. Peter Kay has his knockers despite being a consistent crowdpleaser. Elsewhere critics adore Stewart Lee while the general public can be divided between those who get him and those who don't.
Will Ferrell, Steve Coogan and Paul Whitehouse will be special recipients of the award for International Achievement, Outstanding Achievement and The Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award respectively at Thursday night's British Comedy Awards.
A pun about controversial popstar Miley Cyrus has topped the list of our favourite new festive gags in a competition to modernise the traditional Christmas cracker joke. Also staking a claim in the Top 10 are witticisms about the Queen, speed dating and eBay, with laughs about Harry Styles, Shakespeare and Fairy Liquid just missing out on the top spots.
Perhaps this is what all comedy talent competitions should be like. Short, with a small line-up and, most importantly, of a very high standard. Broadcast live on Radio 2, nobody dared overrun, making proceedings whizz by. Previous winners of the BBC New Comedy Award have included Rhod Gilbert, who was one of the judges tonight, alongside Chortle's Steve Bennett and the Head of BBC Radio Comedy Jane Berthoud. But while the judges mulled over the performances, the result was left to a listeners' vote.
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