January 2014
Following two sell-out runs at the Soho Theatre last year, Ireland's rap scalliwags The Rubberbandits don their plastic shopping bags and return to the scene of their rhymes in a few weeks with the world premiere of their new show, Continental Fistfight. They are at the Soho Theatre from January 30 to February 22 and tickets can be bought here.
The results of the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2013 have been announced. The awards, now in their 8th year, are organised by The British Comedy Guide (www.comedy.co.uk), a website dedicated to the promotion and celebration of British comedy, which attracts more than half a million unique visitors each month.
Following recent rumours of a Mighty Boosh tour which were promptly denied by the duo's management, Julian Barratt is definitely doing a live gig in his own right.
From virals of the posh and dozy Gap Yah guy to The Fast Show shorts, online comedy has been a bubbling phenomenon in recent years. A cheap and cheerful way of screening new sketches and sitcoms, it also provides instant feedback for video uploaders who can track views and monitor comments.
This is an exceptionally strong week when it comes to award-winning comedians who really are true masters of the stand-up art. Tommy Tiernan is first up, appearing at the Soho Theatre from Monday. The 1998 Perrier Award winner is a massive star in Ireland and when he graces London with his presence it is easy to see why. He is the kind of comedian that – cliché ahoy – really could make you laugh by reading the telephone directory.
The London International Mime Festival is a bit of an odd beast with a slightly deceptive title. There are physical theatre shows, circus acts, dance events, heck, there are even performers who occasionally break what you might consider to be the cardinal rule of mime and talk. Most shows sell out sight-unseen and feature the best European talents, though next week there is even an appearance from juggler extraordinaire Mat Ricardo, a regular on the London live circuit. As I said, anything goes at LIMF.
Give or take Caitlin Moran, Lena Dunham has pretty much cornered the market in distinctive, strong female voices that make you both laugh your head off and think long and hard about the whacked-out state of the world. While Moran's recent Channel 4 sitcom one-off Raised By Wolves about life on a West Midlands estate went pretty directly for the funny bone, Dunham's series is more nuanced and has a lot more shadier edges. And being set in New York rather than the Black Country it obviously looks better too.
So this week it was announced that The Michael McIntyre Chat Show will start on BBC1 in the Spring. It is no surprise that the network has found a new vehicle for the nation's skippiest stand-up star. And maybe no surprise that it's a chat show. McIntyre is great talker and, more importantly, also a great listener. Anyone who has seen him do small shows will know that he likes nothing better than banter with his audience, so hopefully the sparks will fly when he banters with his guests.
Saddened to hear of the death of Roger Lloyd Pack from pancreatic cancer at the age of 69. He was a sitcom regular who will probably - and unfairly - be best remembered in years to come for standing next to Del Boy when he fell through the bar in Only Fools And Horses. He more recently also starred in the Vicar of Dibley, where his hangdog stupidity brightened up most episodes and made what could have been a simple cliched yokel character into something much deeper.
Hold the flipping front page. Comedy sketch group Lebensmüde has changed its name to Lazy Susan. I don't know exactly why. Maybe they were worried people would think they were German. Maybe they got fed up with Google searches for them taking people to history articles about Lebensraum instead. Maybe they were concerned about newspapers missing out the umlaut above the u. Anyway, here's hoping they thrive under their new name.
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