Beyond The Joke

My partner couldn’t join me for Francis Veber’s The Painkiller last night as she was at the theatre elsewhere. She had gone to see a play by another French writer, Jean Genet’s The Maids, at Trafalgar Studios. In an ideal world The Painkiller should have been at the Trafalgar – it used to be the Whitehall Theatre, London’s home of farce. And there isn't a more farcical – in a Good Way – play in the West End at the moment than this romp starring Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon.

Veteran comedian John Dowie is writing his autobiography and is hoping to finance it via crowdfunding.

American comedian Garry Shandling has died. He was 66.

Shandling was best known as the star of chat show satire The Larry Sanders Show. Before that he broke through with the postmodern sitcom It's Garry Shandling's Show in which he paused the action to speak directly to the audience.

According to reports Los Angeles police told the BBC that Shandling "suffered a medical emergency" on Thursday. Reports elsewhere suggest it may have been a heart attack.

Jena Friedman certainly looks like she has plenty of attitude in her surly press shots. And calling her show American C*nt – even with an asterisk – is quite audacious. Onstage, however, she is less in your face. There are only flashes where she justifies her own build-up.

The first batch of comedy and cabaret acts for this year's Latitude Festival have been confirmed.

The major headliner is Russell Howard, doing a rare top-of-the-bill show ahead of his next world tour. Two further big comedy names will be announced at a later date but revealed today are lots of other appealing attractions for the comedy and cabaret tents over the long weekend of July 14 - 17 in Henham Park, Suffolk.