Catherine Tate is to return to TV. She will star in a new one-off comedy being made for Gold entitled Do Not Disturb set in a boutique hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Tate will be joined by Miles Jupp and Car Share’s Sian Gibson. Do Not Disturb is due to be broadcast from January 2016. It focuses on estranged husband and wife Anna (Tate) and John (Jupp), who attempt reconciliation talks after her extra marital affair with a much younger man.
Richard Herring has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to help to pay for the filming of the eighth series of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcasts.
There will be up to 20 episodes in this series, which is more than before, so he is now trying to raise £50,000 by September 12. Last time just over 1000 people raised over £30,000. Guests in Series 7 have included Johnny Vegas, Robert Webb, Louis Theroux and Robin Ince.
There is a long tradition of American artists being quickly embraced in the UK, from Jimi Hendrix to Bill Hicks. I think at the moment Alex Edelman is in the process of joining that illustrious list. Since winning the Foster’s Best Newcomer Award last year he has been spending a lot of time over here, gigging in clubs, honing his new Edinburgh show and winning a lot of new fans with his appearance on The John Bishop Show.
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Before the Fringe started I wrote a preview of Lewis Schaffer and said something like “the good gigs are worth seeing, the bad gigs are utterly, uniquely compelling.” This was one of the good ones. Drop that dead donkey, for Edinburgh 2015 the Nunhead-based New Yorker has actually written a genuinely interesting show.
Are critics reviewing the performance we see or the performance that should be taking place? It’s an issue that has troubled me for a while and came to a head this week when I reviewed James Acaster. I called him a “comic genius” so somebody quite fairly asked me why I had only given him four stars rather than five.
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I’ve never done it before but for the first time I thought I’d walked into the wrong show. As I arrived at The Hive I was greeted by a small woman in a massive wig pretending to be Dolly Parton and loudly handing out ping pong balls. I wasn’t sure but I thought I’d go with it and sat down. It was only when a boob-shaped balloon floated above my head that I realised I was in the right place.
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We all know about the “dead dad” shows in Edinburgh by now don’t we? The sad ones that tug at battle-hardened award judges heart strings? Well, Steve Hall’s show Zebra takes the opposite approach. It’s about the joys of being a dad. It might not win him any awards but there is plenty here to bring a smile to your face.
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is to get its first full West End run. In the cult impro show audience suggestions are transformed instantly into all-singing, all-dancing shows with unpredictable and hilarious results. It will run at the Apollo, Shaftesbury Avenue, from September 24 to November 29.
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There has been an intriguing resurgence in interest in the early days of alternative comedy in recent years. Stewart Lee has namechecked various veteran acts, Alexei Sayle has gone back onstage and the death of Rik Mayall also prompted a re-assessment of the era that comedy almost forgot.
Comedy fans can now vote to choose three more finalists for the Magners New Comedy Act 2015.
George Rigden from Bristol, Lolly Adefope from London and Ingrid Dahle from Brighton have already been selected for the final after a show in Bristol.
There are another three places to be chosen from the following acts.
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