Every year the comedy world throws up stories you least expect and 2025 was no exception. Here's a run-down of our biggest stories of the year. Maybe down to our brilliant investigative journalism. Maybe down to our ability to cut and paste efficiently. Maybe down to those damned algorithms. But at least none of them were created by AI.

 

 

 

During an interview on Radio X Taskmaster's Mt Nice Guy Alex Horne said that since he last appeared on the show and mentioned there was one person on Taskmaster that he didn’t like, there’s been lots of speculation, with various contestants asking if he was talking about them. did he reveal who he was talking about here? Of course not, but it certainly got a lot of the show's fans clicking...

 

 

 

 

Sometimes a popular piece comes out of nowhere. BTJ ran an interview with Taskmaster contestant Sam Campbell which did OK business at the time. then a few months later someone, who clearly didn't grasp Campbell's sense of humour saw him slagging of Alex Horne – "He seemed to be kind of phoning it in....I barely spoke to the guy" – and popped it on Reddit. the rest is uninentional clickbait history. It is a very funny intervie though. Read it in full here.

 

 

 

Politics and comedy clashed at the outset of the Edinburgh Fringe this year when a venue pulled the runs of two Jewish comedians, reportedly over safety concerns. Rachel Creeger (pictured below) and Philip Simon were due to be performing at Whistlebinkies on South Bridge in the centre of the Scottish capital during August, but it was reported that the popular, well-established pub venue cancelled their bookings over "discomfort". Read more here.

 

 

 

Of all the tours we announced it was an unlikely one that topped the live gigs poll. Rory Bremner went back on the road with a new show called Making An Impression in May and June. If the popularoity of the story was any guide he must have sold a heck of a lot of tickets for an evening filled with acute observations, pitch-perfect impressions, and surprising revelations about the people he has imitated and his own self-discovery. As far as we know rory didn't share the story, maybe his fans are just very keen readers of Beyond The Joke.

 

 

The best sitcoms are always about characters who are trapped – from Hancock and Steptoe, Red Dwarf and Porridge to The Office and beyond the comedy comes from people being unable to leave their situation however hard they try. The first episode of the third series of Here We Go literally found the cast trapped. The popularity of our review suggests that sitcom is getting bigger and bigger with each series. It was a great 2025 for writer/star Tom Basden, what with this and The Ballad of Wallis Island under his belt. Picture Credit: BBC/BBC Studios/Jonathan Browning

 

 

Although Here We Go is very closely followed in this chart by another sitcom hit. So much for a sitcom crisis, that broadcasters weren't making sitcoms any more. Well you could've fooled me. Channel 4 had Big Boys returning, BBC One had a second series of Am I Being Unreasonable? But best of all was the absolutely fabulous Amandaland. Read our review here.

 

 

he identities of Taskmaster contestants are closely guarded secrets, but sometimes stories do slip out. When Adam Buxton interviewed Guz Khan for his podcast he expressed an interest in going on the show - Khan rang Horne on the spot in front of a live audience asking Alex to get Adam on. Find out what happened here.

 

 

There were plenty of major deaths in 2025 but the one that made the biggest impression on BTJ was the sudden death of Gary Little. The Scottish comic died unexpectedly in the summer whil on holiday in Scotland. Little was a regular performer on both the circuit and at the Edinburgh Fringe. Rob Kane wrote: "Scottish comedy and the world have lost a legend today. Gary Little I could rhyme off hundreds of stories of the times we’ve spent backstage and in car journeys together, the big man’s stern gaze, his lack of tolerance for people over running on their time on stage, but most of all his warmth and empathy."

 

 

If online popularity is a guide to IRL popularity, Harriet Kemsley is going to have an excellent 2026. A profile of the comic when she appeared on Michael McIntyre's The Wheel spiked, suggesting that she is going places. And she certainly is going places in 2026 - she is touring with her new show Floozy.