Interview
The Rarely Asked Questions series asks all comedians the same questions. The first question has particular significance in this case. Comedian Sarah Franken used to be comedian Will Franken, so he used to check his flies but now checks in case Sarah's knickers are sticking out. Franken, from Sedalia, Missouri but now UK-based, has always been an intriguing, inventive performer, slipping in and out of off-the-wall characters, with absurdist whiffs of Monty Python but also very different. I've seen few US comedians like this.
Mitch Benn is a busy man. Very busy. When not on the radio doing his own shows or topical songs on The Now Show, the Liverpool-born comedian is often on tour. When he's not on the radio or on tour he is writing books. He has not one but two successful novels under his belt, Terra and Terra's World. And when he is not doing any of this things he is quite possibly watching Dr Who. In his latest show, Don't Believe A Word, he explores the nature of belief: "I'm a skeptic. But don't take my word for it. Or indeed anybody's.
Jonny Sweet's new romantic comedy series Together continues on BBC3 at 10.30pm tonight. Here is a review of episode one. Please watch it, it is brilliant, Sweet is brilliant and it also features a lot of other brilliant comedy faces.
Spencer Jones Presents The Herbert In Proper Job was one the shows that I saw in Edinburgh this year that restored my faith in the power of comedy. Every night Jones would perform in front of an audience who probably had little idea who he was and by the end of the hour he had them all in the palm of his hand. And quite a few of them dancing onstage. It’s a weird act but also an accessible one, falling somewhere between the old school prop comedy of Tommy Cooper and the new school of clowning as embodied by Dr Brown.
When I saw Dina Martina at the Soho Theatre in 2008 I was expecting a fairly generic drag/cabaret act. That’ll teach me to judge a book by it’s garishly bewigged cover. Martina straddles all sorts of genres and styles, from performance art to multi-media to outrageous costumes and back again.
Podcast pioneer, purveyor of plays, stand-up comedian. Richard Herring's work ethic is enviable. This year he became a father and decided not to do Edinburgh but did he take his foot off the gas? Hardly. Instead he did a run of 12 shows in London reviving his last eleven full-length shows and then adding a new one, Happy Now? on the end. After tackling men's tackle in Talking Cock, the Bible in Christ on a Bike, death in We’re All Going To Die!
Richard Gadd’s Waiting for Gaddot was one of the most talked about shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. It won an Amused Moose award, but how it didn’t pick up at least a Foster’s Award nomination I don’t know. Maybe it simply freaked the panel out. It’a real mindfuck of a show that relentlessly upends your expectations of what a comedy show should be about.
We haven't seen a lot of Andi Osho on the UK comedy circuit recently because she has been dividing her time between the UK and America. She has acted, made films and appeared regularly on Stateside TV. She hasn't forgotten us though. One of Osho's most recent projects is Amber, a short film which she has written and directed. Update July 2017 - Andi is currently one of the co-presenters of Super Shoppers on C4 on Tuesdays. Here's a classic BTJ chat with Osho.
The first time I encountered Doug Stanhope he was in bed in his Edinburgh Fringe flat. I think he may have been tattooing himself at the time. The second time I encountered Stanhope he was doing a gig at the Tron pub and there was nearly a fight onstage between a disgruntled punter and Scott Capurro. Stanhope doesn't even need to be performing to produce an electrifying atmosphere.
John Finnemore is best known for writing and co-starring in Cabin Pressure, which ran from 2008 – 2014. The multi award-winning sitcom broke R4 box office records with over 23,000 fans applying to see the final show being recorded. His other notable work includes the sketch show, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, which he performs with Simon Kane, Carrie Quinlan, Lawry Lewin and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.
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