It can be difficult coming up with a different adjective to describe comedians every time but the listing for Comedy Central UK went very wrong this week when Suzi Ruffell was one of the stars of their series Live at the Comedy Store. In Sky's onscreen planner Ruffell was described as “racist”. Apparently the listing was supposed to be jokily referring to a routine where Ruffell talks about accidentally appearing racist, but the humour did not really come across in the listing. Comedy Central has apologised. And may just have given Ruffell an idea for a new routine…
The Mail also got it very, very wrong this week in a rather nasty little story about David Walliams supposedly eclipsing his Little Britain partner Matt Lucas. The short story claimed that while Walliams' career had gone from strength the strength, Lucas went “off-the-radar” after the suicide of his ex-partner Trevor McGee. Apart from the small fact that Lucas has appeared in countless films and TV shows since Little Britain they also got the name of his ex wrong. Lucas responded with a very dignified tweet, simply tagging @mailonline and saying “His name was Kevin”.
I don’t know if the Mail has a particular grudge against former pupils of north London school Haberdashers, but it also homed in on another ex-pupil, David Baddiel, in a large opinion piece asking “why do left wing ‘comics’ think it’s so hilarious to make filthy jokes about the Queen?” following the kerfuffle over the royal quips on Don’t Make Me Laugh broadcast on the day of the Queen’s 90th birthday. For balance the paper’s ire wasn’t only directed at Baddiel though. Russell Kane was described as “supposedly a comedian.”
If you are reading this on Friday and in the Glasgow area, get down to Barrowlands tonight for Scottish Comedian of the Year. And take a toy - you’ll get in free. more info here.
And finally heckle response of the week must go to over-worked parent Jason Manford, who reported on Facebook that a woman at one of his gigs shouted out "Jason, I love you, I want your babies”. To which he replied: "Which one? Take your pick love, I'll drop her off in the morning, cheers"
