March 2014
Last week I reviewed Russell Howard at Wembley Arena. It's the kind of gig a critic goes to with a moderately heavy heart. Wembley is not as cavernous as the O2, where the tiers seem to reach to the heavens, but neither is it an intimate club. I remember seeing a brilliant, inspiring Russell Howard gig in a shoebox-sized venue at the Edinburgh Fringe about a decade ago. Somehow I knew this was going to be very different.
My girlfriend's favourite comedian Josh Widdicombe is out and about tonight. The Last Leg co-host is one of the performers taking part in a benefit for MS at the Leicester Square Theatre.
When it comes to hip hop Beyond The Joke is not that much more knowledgeable than Miranda Hart, who apparently thought that Kanye West was a tube station. But comedian Jester Jacobs' new song Ham, which pays homage to pork products over a buzzing electronic beat, is weirdly watchable, strangely disturbing and all a bit Ali-G-meets-Beastie Boys.
Jason Manford was 40 minutes late for his gig at Lincoln's Engine Shed last night so to make up for it he bought a round of drinks for the entire audience while they waited. The bill came to £3532.40. Manford was due onstage at 7.30pm but realised he was going to be a little late when he was caught up in traffic due to roadworks at Woodhead Pass on the A628 netween Manchester and South Yorkshire.
To mark his imminent appearance alongside Steve Coogan in The Trip To Italy, here's an interview I did with the wonderfully talented all-round entertainer Rob Brydon in 2007 for The Times. He was about to appear in the Old Vic's 24 Hour Plays, adding serious acting to a CV that ranged from acutely observed comedy to the voice of Toilet Duck.
Follow that. It's a particular problem for comedies. Once a successful formula has been established does one break away or stay in the same groove? We've just seen W1A start on BBC2 and while the location might have changed the satirical tone is pretty much the same as the series that spawned it, Twenty Twelve. It's been good so far but is in grave danger of repeating itself. What next, Ian Fletcher sorting out education or the NHS?
Well, as one of the songs nearly goes, blow me, it's fabulous. Well maybe not quite, but after all the negative stories about recalcitrant scenery and overrunning scripts I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical, by Harry Hill and Steve Brown, is a thoroughly enjoyable romp. A very silly parody, a tart social satire and some pretty hummable songs too.
Bridget Christie continued her run of collecting awards last night by bagging two Chortle Awards, for Best Show and Best Radio Comedy. Not much to argue about there, though I would have liked to have seen some different winners in some of the other categories (I was one of the judges who had a hand in coming up with the shortlist, but the winners were chosen via a public vote – over 9000 Chortle readers chipped in). No major hissy fits over the winners from me, you are all wonderful, I would just have chosen differently.
Did you know that Jack Whitehall was related to David Dickinson? No, me neither. That is just one of the little gems in Steve Best's new book Comedy Snapshot. Best is a a comedian himself as well as a photographer, so was able to get intimate, relaxed portraits of some of comedy's biggest stars backstage. The book is a great document of contemporary UK comedy and very much a labour of love, with over 400 black and white portraits.
Omid Djalili has signed a deal to write his autobiography. Headline will publish the book this autumn. The book, which does not have a title at the moment, will tell the story of the Anglo-Iranian comedian’s “unconventional childhood growing up in London helping to run the family business for visiting Iranians who came to the UK for health reasons”.
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