Weekly Newsletter |
Monday 28th April 2025 |
Latest comedy news
A League Of Their Own to end after Series 20
Sky's sports-based panel show A League Of Their Own is to end after twenty series. The team will begin filming its farewell run in Manchester this August.
Milton Jones reveals prostate cancer diagnosis
Milton Jones has cancelled some of his tour dates, as he needs surgery for prostate cancer.
Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton win comedy writing BAFTA
Inside No. 9 creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton picked up the trophy for comedy writing at the BAFTA Craft Awards 2025.
John Cleese writes Fawlty Towers retrospective & shoots stage play doc
John Cleese has written a behind the scenes book on Fawlty Towers, Fawlty Towers: Fawlts And All, while the classic sitcom's stage play revival is the subject of a forthcoming television documentary.
Michelle de Swarte to tour stand-up show The Afters
The Afters, a new stand-up show from Spent star Michelle de Swarte, will run from September 2025 to May 2026.
Dead Ringers 25th Anniversary Tour to pay tribute to creator Bill Dare
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the stars of BBC Radio 4's topical satire show Dead Ringers are hitting the road with a tour in September and October. The shows will be a tribute to producer Bill Dare, who died in March.
Madeleine Brettingham wins Bath New Act Competition 2025
The Bath Comedy Festival New Act Competition 2025 has been won by Madeleine Brettingham. Ro Dodgson was second, with Emma Hughes third.
Ray Bradshaw to tour stand-up show CODA in 2026
Ray Bradshaw's 2026 stand-up show will be focused around growing up as a child of deaf adults.
FYI
Lily Savage costumes to be displayed; Joel Dommett faints during London Marathon; The Treason Show to impose 25% tariff on American audience members; Fry & Laurie and Red Dwarf feature in most offensive swearwords poll; Paddington stage musical confirmed for November; Glasgow's Stand comedy club to move; Matt Lucas & David Walliams wanted a Lou & Andy, Little Britain movie; Dan Tiernan releases Full Of Beans stand-up special; Last One Laughing UK attracts over 6m viewers; Romesh Ranganathan meets cancer survivor comic Aiden Cowie.
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Features
Comedy Rewind: Discover the Nuns On The Run
Years before Sister Act, a hit British film saw a pair of on-the-run criminals - Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane - hide in a nunnery with hilarious consequences.
Circuit Training: Natalie Palamides
All set to open the seismic Soho Theatre Walthamstow, Natalie Palamides talks great lost series, gender flipping, Pearl Jam puzzlement, audience mis-reads, sad table reads and relaunching a legendary venue.
Rogue Pun: Toby Williams gets a big weird award for Wet Fish
Probably not one to watch while having your tea - particularly seafood - the latest addition to Toby Williams' lengthy resumé has gone down very well.
John Tothill / Sarah Roberts / Sean McLoughlin - Bobby Carroll's Live Comedy Diary
Bobby looks for the real deal. He finds three ultra-authentic voices and gets lost in their beguiling mess.
British Comedy Quiz #354
Del Boy, Sybil, The Likely Lads and Philip from Rising Damp are amongst the characters featured in this quiz. The link? We're asking about the sports they play.
TV listings
Joe Lycett's United States Of Birmingham
After a quick diversion in the Amish town of Intercourse, Joe and his driver Randy head to Birmingham, Pennsylvania where Joe ends up feeding a bat in a cave.
Just Act Normal
The final two episodes. Tanika encounters a police officer who raises concerns about their mother. Meanwhile escaping the pressure, Tiana enjoys a night out with Shanice.
Man Like Mobeen
The fifth and final series of the sitcom starring Guz Khan. Mobeen's done his time - now it's time to get out of Small Heath and embark on an epic adventure overseas.
Taskmaster
Greg Davies beckons a fresh quintet of quivering comical talent into his world of misrule: Fatiha El-Ghorri, Jason Mantzoukas, Mathew Baynton, Rosie Ramsey and Stevie Martin.
Donkey
The first in a new run of BBC Comedy Short Films. This one stars Fatiha El-Ghorri as a woman out to prove herself after having been fired from her uncle's cafe.
Have I Got News For You
Sue Perkins hosts for the first time in 10 years. She is joined by US comedian Michelle Wolf and journalist Tom Peck.
Blankety Blank
Bradley Walsh hosts the comedy quiz show, which this time features Rob Beckett, Jordan Banjo, Emma Barton, Joe Swash, Joanne McNally and Su Pollard.
For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.
Shop
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Tim Key - L.A. Baby!Tim Key jetted off to Los Angeles in the autumn of 2024 and stayed sane by writing poems and talking to Emily Juniper on the phone. She then did the honourable thing and designed this stuff, lovingly filling the pages of a beautifully-sized green book. Amongst the glitz and glamour of twenty-first century Hollywood, we can view Key's crazy adventures and infinitesimal moments of loneliness. A hymn to laundrettes and dive bars, a come-and-get-me plea to Audrey Hepburn or frankly any of the greats. This is Key and Juniper's fourth book together. |
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The Beatles: A Hard Day's NightMeet The Beatles! This film, in which the bandmates play slapstick versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems - including the title track, Can't Buy Me Love, I Should Have Known Better, and If I Fell - A Hard Day's Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time. This release comes from an all-new 4K restoration approved by Lester, and positively overflowing with extra features. |
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Marching PowderMarching Powder sees the long-anticipated reunion of acclaimed director Nick Love and long-term collaborator Danny Dyer - it's not your average 'rom-com'... Set in the irreverent and profane world of Love's cult classic The Football Factory, Marching Powder is a hilarious, poignant and action-packed big screen drama that follows the story of Jack (Dyer), an aging, drug-taking football hooligan who feels increasingly irrelevant in today's society as he struggles to keep his family together. Hooked on drugs and adrenaline; and struggling to resist the pull of his gang of fellow football fans, Jack is arrested after some violent matchday exploits and given six weeks to turn his life around, or else face a long spell in prison. Juggling his marriage, his mates, his hard-nut bully of a father-in-law and his wayward 25-year-old stepbrother, Jack tries to get his life back on-track but slowly his world starts to spiral out of control. |
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The Taming Of The ShrewRichard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor star in The Taming Of The Shrew, a vibrant and bawdy adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal romantic comedy from director Franco Zeffirelli. Nobleman Baptista (Michael Hordern) seeks husbands for his two daughters. Bianca (Natasha Pyne) has no trouble attracting suitors, but the headstrong and acerbic Kate (Taylor) drives men away... until the nobleman Petruchio (Burton) is inspired by a sizeable dowry to take on the challenge. This lavish production's all-star cast is rounded out by Cyril Cusack, Michael York, Alan Webb, and Victor Spinetti, and features a lush soundtrack by the great Nino Rota. Newly remastered with the original mono audio soundtrack, this is the UK premiere release in HD and comes packed with special features. |
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GreywingGreywing to the rescue! Timothy Spall stars as the world's most inept superhero. Frustrated furniture fitter Nigel Struddock, 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. He's got the mask and the cape, but where's the crime?! Every superhero needs an arch enemy and soon dastardly ice cream tycoon, Benny Leake (Bernard Hill) appears on the scene to be Greywing's. Cheer for the hapless hero as he battles to stop villainous Benny Leake's sabotage plan, if only he can get the ice cream van to go fast enough. |
For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.
Comedy videos
Eleanor Morton: If I was in Pride & Prejudice
The comic imagines herself in Jane Austen's world. "The wine is vinegar. I accidentally drank some."
Peter Andre responds to 'Jafaican' critics
A sketch by Munya Chawawa in which 'Peter Andre' responds to the critics of his new film.
Stevo The Madman: The Mad House
The first episode of this online sitcom from Sky. Stevo's trying to get back in the dating game, but this first date is an epic disaster.
Comedy Central Live - Michael Odewale
Never take driving lessons with a flat earther...
Spotlight
Happy Ever After
Before Terry & June there was ... well, Terry and June. From writers John Chapman and Eric Merriman, the comedy couple delighted millions through five series from 1974, before internal politics saw the format rejigged and reborn as the now much better-known successor series. These 41 episodes - available on DVD - saw the Fletchers looking forward to a quiet life in suburbia now their children have left home, only for Aunt Lucy to arrive on the doorstep.
Thanks for reading
Amanda Webster submitted this BCG Pro Gag-a-Week entry:
My grandma's laptop is just like her dating advice - outdated, confusing, and can't be backed up.
British Comedy Guide
www.comedy.co.uk
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