Weekly Newsletter |
Monday 7th April 2025 |
Latest comedy news
Sam Eley wins 'Sketch Off!' 2025 final
Sam Eley, performing as Basil Crumbwick, was the winner of last night's Sketch Off! final. Luke Nixon was named runner-up, with Nikola McMurtrie third.
Mrs Brown's Boys to return to BBC One for Series 5
Mrs Brown's Boys is set to return to BBC One for a fifth series. Episodes are due to be recorded in Glasgow in May.
Russell Brand charged with rape
The Metropolitan Police have charged Russell Brand with rape, indecent assault and sexual assault.
Charlie Higson to publish monarchy book with Jim Moir illustrations
The Fast Show star Charlie Higson has written Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, a book dubbed "an epically short history of our kings and queens". Jim Moir - better known as Vic Reeves - has provided the illustrations.
Trying returning for Series 5
Trying is returning for a fifth series on Apple TV+, with filming set to resume on the Rafe Spall and Esther Smith-starring comedy in London this summer.
Stevie Martin announces debut tour
Stevie Martin has announced her first tour, the sketch-based clout.
Fawlty Towers, Kenny Everett & Benny Hill "cancelled" in C5 films
Fawlty Towers, Kenny Everett and Benny Hill are the subjects of new 5 documentaries about controversies that have seen them "cancelled", while Sally Lindsay is to host a 1970s-themed panel show for the channel featuring John Thomson and Shaparak Khorsandi as team captains.
Sue Perkins to tour stand-up show in 2026
The Eternal Shame of Sue Perkins is the comedy star's first full-length stand-up show in nearly 20 years.
Inside No. 9 stage show to tour
Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright is to visit Milton Keynes, Sunderland, Canterbury, Birmingham, Manchester, Woking, Hull, Oxford, Stoke-on-Trent, Liverpool and Edinburgh on a tour this September to November.
Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee focuses on live comedy
The state of live comedy will be the focus of the opening session of the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee's work aimed at spotlighting previously unheard issues and challenges.
James Nesbitt pilots BBC comedy drama Close
James Nesbitt is plotting a return to TV comedy with a new primetime BBC comedy drama, with a pilot for Close, written by Simon Blackwell and directed by Chris Addison, shot in Bristol in November.
Leicester Comedy Festival Awards 2025 results
The Comedy Store Players picked up the Legend of Comedy trophy at Leicester Comedy Festival's annual awards ceremony. Other winners included Katie Norris, Helen Bauer, Kyrah Gray and Jody Kamali.
FYI
Joe Lycett's Brum Hole live portal to link up Birmingham residents; Brian Butterfield's Call Of Now available to stream; Ludwig to be remade in America; Juno Temple to star in spouse swap comedy The Husbands for Apple TV+; Catie Wilkins serves up Café Chaos books for kids; Jon Richardson joins Waterloo Road after apparent April Fools prank; Johnny Vegas to run antiques shop in Quest series; and Juice Series 2 now filming.
Advert
Who will win the 2025 WeGotTickets Musical Comedy Awards? Now in its 17th year this is the annual event to showcase the UK's best up and coming musical comedy stars. The show will be headlined by multi-award winning MCA alumnus, Jazz Emu. Tickets are selling fast for this Saturday's final. Info & tickets
Features
Comedy Chronicles: The real comic heritage of heckling
What many hecklers, these days, fail to understand, is that the best hecklers are comedians. That's why they're up on the stage and we're down in the stalls. This article contains lots of amusing examples of heckles.
Comedy festivals guide
There are over 100 festivals in the UK that feature comedians. We've listed them on our website, to help you find a funny fest near you this summer.
British Comedy Quiz #351
This week's quiz is all about quizzes. My Family, Not Going Out, The Young Ones and more feature.
Random 8: Molly McGuinness
With A Lovely Weekend and the Edinburgh Fringe upcoming, Molly McGuinness recalls that time she got hooked up with a singing superstar.
TV listings
A League Of Their Own: The Rally
The teams compete in a stunning avalanche rescue challenge on Mont Blanc. Tom Davis falls out with everyone, and Big Zuu and Jamie reveal their guilty pleasure playlist.
Neil & Martin's Bon Voyage
On the final leg of their journey, Neil and Martin ride the famous white horses of the Carmague across sweeping salt flats, try their hand at painting like Van Gogh in the pretty town of Arles, before heading back to Neil's farmhouse for a raucous homecoming party.
The Change
The last two episodes of the second series. The Eel Sisters invite Linda to their annual Silent Supper.
Rob Beckett's Smart TV
The guests for the final episode in this series are Kerry Godliman; Peaky Blinders actor Emmett J. Scanlan; former Eastender turned movie star Himesh Patel; and the nation's numbers queen, Carol Vorderman.
Have I Got News For You
Martin Clunes will host this week. Staff writer at the Atlantic, Helen Lewis, returns. Meanwhile stand-up Ian Smith completes the panel, making his debut on the show.
Morecambe & Wise: The Unseen Tapes
Another new documentary about Morecambe & Wise. This one includes some footage previously unseen on network television.
The Jonathan Ross Show
The host interviews Martin Freeman; star of The Last Of Us, Bella Ramsey; and musician Jarvis Cocker before a special musical performance by Britpop figureheads Pulp.
The Cancellation Of Benny Hill
A new documentary looking at Benny Hill's "controversial" material.
For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.
Shop
|
Monty Python's The Meaning Of LifeThe 1983 antics of those six pandemonium-mad Pythons are now in 4K Blu-ray format. In this film Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin offer the usual tasteful sketches involving favourite body parts and bodily functions, the wonders of war, the miracle of birth and a special preview of what's waiting for us in Heaven. You'll never look at life in quite the same way again! |
|
GreywingGreywing to the rescue! Timothy Spall stars as the world's most inept superhero in this 1999 radio sitcom. Bludden-On-Sand better buckle up as there is a new hero in town: frustrated furniture fitter Nigel Struddock (Spall), with the help of a sewing machine, creates an alter ego: 'Greywing' - a local caped crusader determined to fight evil and bring justice wherever he can. |
|
Sandi Toksvig - Friends Of DorothyA novel by QI host Sandi Toksvig. After much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. But ... upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. |
|
Ivo Graham - Yardsticks For FailureAfter coming last by quite such a distance on Taskmaster Series 15, and seeing his emotional frailties laid bare in a series of memes of him with his head in his hands, Ivo Graham is adapting to "an increasingly irreversible reputation as a man better known for his chaos than his comedy". Yardsticks For Failure is an "exquisite map of the brain behind the breakdowns". |
For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.
Comedy videos
Happy New Year from The Tax Man
Katie Pritchard sings one of the songs from hit live show A Jaffa Cake Musical.
The Ballad Of Wallis Island - The Venue
A clip from Tom Basden and Tim Key's new film. Charles, the eccentric lottery winner who dreams of getting his favourite musicians back together, reveals all to musician Herb about the gig booking he's made.
Comedy Central Live - Josh Jones
Josh Jones educates us all on royal bum wipers and regal cousin kissers.
Spotlight
The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show
This much-lauded sketch-based podcast, which launched in 2012, has run for six series so far. The style is hard to describe - but, if you press play, within moments you'll realise it is something a bit different and special. Recommended by the likes of Radio Times, and called "hilariously silly" by The Guardian, why not give it a try?
Thanks for reading
The BCG Pro Gag-a-Week competition was about roasts. Here is Iain Christie's joke:
I went to the carvery with my boyfriend. He said he wanted beef, so I told him I fancied his brother.
British Comedy Guide
www.comedy.co.uk
Join our mailing list