I don’t think Taskmaster is the first Edinburgh Fringe show to turn into a TV panel game but I’m pretty sure it is the first Edinburgh Fringe show that I’ve taken part in that ended up as a panel game. A few years ago Alex Horne invited me to join the team. At that time the show lasted an entire year - each month we were given a different task and only found out how we’d done when the results were revealed onstage in Edinburgh. Needless to say, I lost.
Felicity Ward was one of the first comedians to make a splash on The John Bishop Show. I tuned in expecting the usual Saturday night supermarket checkout/airport security blandness and instead got this fast-talking Australian on a roll with material about racism, religion and sexism. I think the audience was a little taken aback too, but thanks to Ward’s sheer force of personality they soon went with it.
I was writing the other day about the way Edinburgh acts can be divided into the mainstream crowdpleasers and arty experimentalists. Of course things are never quite that simple. Where, for instance does Carl Donnelly fit in? On the surface he seems like your tight-trousered off-the-peg gagsmith with a quip for every occasion. But he is definitely no lowest common denominator clown. Donnelly’s stories have emotional depth and heft to them as well as belly laughs.
Actor/comedian MacKenzie Crook has joined the line-up of the first Radio Times Festival, which takes place at Hampton Court Palace from September 24 - 27.
Crook, who writes, directs and stars in the Detectorists will appear alongside producer Adam Tandy, to offer an insight into the programme's uniquely British story of love, companionship and eccentricity.
When it comes to the Fringe it always feels as if there is an underlying tension between the arty acts and the straightforwardly crowdpleasing stand-ups. Earlier this week I read a debate on Facebook about whether Roy “Catchphrase” Walker should be doing Edinburgh. I guess the proof is in the commerical pudding. If they shift tickets they’ve made the right decision. I wouldn’t put Chris Ramsey in the Roy Walker camp but I would put him in the Jason Manford/John Bishop camp. In a Good Way.
Dave's comedy storytelling series Crackanory has announced some of the guests who will be appearing in its third series.
Among those sitting in the char will be US actor Christopher 'Back to the Future' Lloyd, The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird and comedians Sarah Millican, Tamsin Greig and Greg Davies.
Every sketch group needs its resident idiot and Pappy’s has Tom Parry. Although Ben Clark does run him close at times. It is Parry who tends to come up with madcap schemes. It is Parry who tends to wear costumes made out of old children’s toys. It is Parry who tends to strip off at the drop of a hat. In the Pappy’s shows he has other perfomers to consider, but this year he is doing his first Fringe solo show and has a whole hour to himself to be gloriously silly in.
With the Edinburgh Fringe almost upon us, comedian Dave Chawner has kindly put together a video offering some tips on Festival survival. You can watch the short video below. Obviously there is a fair bit about the weather and comfy footwear. One word of warning. A mankini is involved and once seen it may be unseeable.
The third instalment in Matt Berry’s online series finds our seductive-toned narrator guiding us through his version of the history of summer holidays. Or to be more precise, the “UKAY summer holiday” as Berry deliciously phrases it.
The three-day freebie binge in Balham comes to an end today with another triple-barrelled bill of comedy. There are shows from 2.30pm in three different rooms at the Bedford pub so you'd be well advised to plan your schedule before you arrive. Among the afternoon highlights are sets from outspoken feminist Kate Smurthwaite and character comedian Anna Morris, who recently created mayhem in the ITV2 prank show Bad Bridesmaid. Tim Shishodia should also be worth a look.
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