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Happy New Year! Until the civil war and Puritan abolition of Christmas, twelfth night - 5th January - was the most important day (celebration, party and feast!) of the season. Who's up for resuming that tradition from next year? The campaign for another full week off work begins here... |
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Latest comedy news |
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Janey Godley's debut novel to be published this autumnJaney Godley's debut novel, Nothing Left Unsaid, is about a dying Glaswegian woman and survival of abuse. It will be published later this year. |
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Philomena Cunk return confirmed by BBC TwoBBC Two has confirmed that Diane Morgan will return as Philomena Cunk for new five-part spoof documentary series Cunk On Earth. |
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Rob Beckett to pilot ITV comedy entertainment showRob Beckett is to front a comedy entertainment pilot for ITV in which celebrities complete challenges. |
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Sean Lock honoured in Comics' Comic Awards resultsSean Lock has been posthumously awarded an Outstanding Achievement title. The Comics' Comic Awards 2021, which are voted on by comedians, also saw wins for Jo Caulfield, Mark Nelson, Ninia Benjamin and Paul Smith. |
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BBC Audio Awards 2022 nomineesBridget Christie: Mortal, God Squad, The Musical Life Of..., Olga Koch: OK Computer and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? are amongst the nominees for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2022. |
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Radio 4 piloting free speech show Unsafe SpaceRadio 4 is piloting a "provocative" debate show with outspoken free speech advocate comedians, including Tony Law, Andrew Doyle, Leo Kearse, Mary Bourke, Nick Dixon and George Zach. |
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Features |
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Toast Of Tinseltown: Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews interviewToast writers Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews talk about why their Toast Of London characters are returning to TV tonight. |
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The film of 2021? Why UK comics love The French Dispatch, and the worlds of Wes AndersonLots of UK comics got excited when Wes Anderson's new film emerged in late 2021, with an accompanying exhibition - but what makes Wes's worlds so special? |
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Comedy Chronicles - Gang Aft Agley: The Day TV Broke HogmanayGraham McCann looks at Hogmanay television broadcasts over the years, including Live Into 85 - a show "so stupendously awful" that it killed that deeply dubious broadcasting tradition stone dead. You might also like the Comedy Chronicles article about Christmas TV. |
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Union JACK Radio's Ones to Watch 2022Radio station Union JACK has created a 'Comedians to Watch in 2022' list. It features Sam Williams, Fiona Ridgewell, Jessie Nixon, Sian Davies, Christian Jegard, Omar Badawy, Lauren Douglin, Marjolein Robertson, Liz Guterbock and Seeta Wrightson. |
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Bilal Zafar on watching The Witcher with the doctorBefore becoming the lockdown king, Bilal Zafar got bang into The Witcher after a bad Edinburgh. Then he and Ed Patrick decided to dissect the contentious TV show, on tape. |
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British Comedy QuizWe'll be back with a new quiz tomorrow, but in the meantime do make sure you've given our brain-teasing special Christmas edition a go! |
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Random 8: Matt WinningBreaking off from saving the world with a new book, Matt Winning talks New Year's evolution. |
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PodcastsAmongst the podcasts we published across the last couple of weeks was RHLSTP with Miriam Margolyes. As you can perhaps imagine given her outspoken nature, it's quite an episode! |
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TV listings |
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Toast Of TinseltownSteven Toast (and other characters) are back... but now on the BBC. The location is also different: Matt Berry's actor character is working in America. |
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I Literally Just Told YouJimmy Carr continues to host this new game show in which contestants are given every answer with the questions written, literally, as the show is happening. |
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MandySeries 2 of Diane Morgan's somewhat bonkers sitcom. The first of the double-bill sees Mandy get a job as a tour guide at a stately home. The second sees the character accidentally appearing on a genealogy programme with Deborah Meaden. |
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ScrewA new comic drama set in a prison. Leigh Henry is a career prison officer who lives for her job, but has lost faith in the system - so she circumvents the rules, doing whatever's necessary to help the prisoners in her care. |
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Scot SquadSeries 7 of the hit Scottish mockumentary. Traffic cops PC Surjit Singh and PC Hugh McKirdy duet to cook-up a rhyme that bites. Elsewhere, Detectives Megan Squire and DC Andrea McGill pose undercover at a high-class spa. |
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Would I Lie To You?Series 15 of the award-winning panel show kicks off with guests John Cooper Clarke, Judi Love, Chris McCausland and Caroline Quentin. |
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QISandi Toksvig, Alan Davies, Cally Beaton, Jamali Maddix and Josh Widdicombe look at animals. This is actually the 45 minute XL version, which is appearing first as BBC Two had space in the schedules. |
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8 Out Of 10 Cats Does CountdownJimmy Carr hosts as Roisin Conaty and Kiri Pritchard-McLean take on Jon Richardson and Rob Beckett. Huge Davies is in Dictionary Corner. |
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The Graham Norton ShowNo news on the full line-up of this Friday's episode yet, but we do know Martin Freeman and Josh Widdicombe will both be on the show. Fresh from New Year's Eve, Years & Years will be in the musical slot. |
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The John Bishop ShowA new comedy entertainment show in which the Scouse comic performs topical stand-up routines and chats to guests from the worlds of film, TV, sport and music. It'll be recorded later in the week. |
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For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule. |
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Shop |
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For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon. |
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Comedy videos |
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James Bond... On A BudgetWhat would Mr 007's life look like if it was funded by £007? A Channel 4 sketch starring Jason Forbes as a somewhat miffed Bond. |
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Foodfarms January SalePay attention... there's a sale on at Foodfarms. Some more bonkers editing from Greig Johnson in this video. |
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The ArtistsA three-part sitcom created by Huge Davies in which we follow the fates of a hopeless set of buskers in the small seaside town of Wybridge. |
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Celebrity RebrandChannel 4 asked Amelia Dimoldenberg to rebrand comedian Rosie Jones. Her mission... to turn Rosie into the next big action hero. |
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Shaun The Sheep - Behind the ScenesIf you enjoyed the new Shaun The Sheep Christmas special (it's on iPlayer, if you missed it), you'll want to check out this video in which the Aardman team show you how they made the programme. |
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Buying food onlineStevie Martin and Lola-Rose Maxwell demonstrate how online supermarket shopping could be better. |
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Bad TV Impressions: SuccessionThe latest impressions from Kieran Hodgson - this time he's spoofing the various characters in hit US TV drama Succession. |
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Spotlight |
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Father Dear FatherRunning for a whopping seven series from 1968, Father, Dear Father is the kind of hit TV sitcom that is now often overlooked, despite achieving sufficient popularity to warrant a feature film spin-off. Released after the final series in 1973, the big screen adaptation reunited comic favourite Patrick Cargill with Natasha Pyne, Anne Holloway, Noel Dyson and the likes of Richard O'Sullivan, Beryl Reid and Donald Sinden for a final outing. Having followed novelist single father (Cargill), his two teenage daughters (Pyne & Holloway) and their beloved housekeeper/nanny (Dyson), the film outing sees Patrick struggling (as ever) to steer his offsprings' youthful instincts, this time in the face of a possible marriage. It was restored and released on Blu-ray - with some lovely special features - last year. |
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Thanks for reading |
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Chris Collyer has won the 2022-themed BCG Pro Gag-a-Week contest: In 2022 I intend to keep everything in sharp focus, therefore my new year's resolution is going to be 1080p. We'll be back in your inbox next Monday with a look ahead to forthcoming comedy offerings, the longlist voting for our annual awards, and more. British Comedy Guide ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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