Interview
I'm going to keep this short because Steve Hall, the zany arse, has provided Beyond The Joke with its longest-ever answer (on the thorny subject of laughter on TV). That's not the only record he holds. Hall's acclaimed shows with madcap trio We Are Klang were surely the filthiest, most lunatic sketch shows ever staged at the Edinburgh Fringe. Hall's bum-based humour was a particular high water mark. He also writes for Russell Howard's Good News and was the first guest comedian on the show.
At last a voice of reason amid the babble of insanity. Will Durst picked up an Edinburgh Comedy Award way back in 1989. He is the epitome of the sharp, eloquent jokesmith who sets out to get laughs but also say something relevant. Durst has performed in front of US Presidents and was a correspondent for the Comedy Channel during the 1992 elections. In 2012 his show Elect to Laugh ran for 41 weeks at San Francisco's Marsh Theatre.
Pierre Novellie is undoubtedly the finest stand-up comedian with a degree in Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic history to come out of South Africa via the Isle of Man. Scrub that. Forget the sub-clauses. He's just pretty bloody good. He might look like he ought to be an international rugby player and he might have a name that makes him sound as if he should be a poncy chef but he is actually a natural comedian. Confident and assured onstage with a natural gift for storytelling. It’s all a ruse of course.
Stephen Merchant is used to being noticed. At 6ft 7in tall it is difficult for him to be inconspicuous as he arrives at his publicist’s Covent Garden office. Walking into the conference room he ducks to avoid a beam. He has probably been ducking since puberty.
Last year Australian comic Bec Hill set out to perform an award-winning show at the Edinburgh Festival. She felt she had to pick up a prize as she had drunkenly told former Superman Dean Cain that she was an award-winning comic. This alcohol-fuelled way of motivating herself seemed to work. Hill picked up the inaugural Barry Award for Best Show, voted for by other comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe. She also won a Three Weeks Editor's Award for her children's show with Tom Goodliffe. Bec And Tom's Awesome Laundry.
John-Luke Roberts' new show Stdad-Up is about the death of his father. But hold on, this one is different. It also features multi-coloured balloons. In fact given that Roberts is a master absurdist his show will no doubt be subverting the well-worn sentimental dead-dad-award-winning-show template. Roberts can also do proper jokes though. He has been a writer on The News Quiz and is currently co-writing a TV comedy, Bull, for Matt Lucas' production company, set in an antiques shop. Nothing antique about his jokes though.
Luisa Omielan is the most successful comedian you have never heard of. If you only get your comedy fix from television the name may not mean much. But earlier this year a clip of Omielan notched up over 5 million Facebook hits in two days. It’s now well over 10 million.
Today, June 24, is the 47th anniversary of the death of Tony Hancock. The "lad himself" may be gone but he lives on, however, in various tributes. The latest is The Missing Hancocks, which will be performed in Edinburgh this summer.
Christian O'Connell is probably best known as the quickfire Absolute Radio DJ, but he harbours a dark secret. Before he got his radio break he was a stand-up comedian. And as if to prove that stand-up is more addictive than crack he decided to go back to it a few years ago. And not just dip his toes in like Madonna. O'Connell has done club gigs, tours and full-length runs at the Edinburgh Fringe. He returns to Edinburgh this August with a new show, You've Ruined My Morning...
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