http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/comic-release-is-it-time-to-forgive-chris-langham-1832809.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/comic-release-is-it-time-to-forgive-chris-langham-1832809.html ]]> <p>Just after Chris Langham was convicted of downloading child pornography in August 2007, I happened to speak to one of his former showbiz associates. "So that was what it was all about," he said. "We knew he had a weakness for the bottle, but we couldn't quite understand why. It must have been the shame of his weakness for young children." I knew next to nothing about Langham, but I remembered having heard a Radio 4 Reunion programme in which former alumni of Not the Nine O'Clock News had recalled the show that carried the flag for TV satire in the late 1970s. Former producer John Lloyd had apologised to original cast member Langham for edging him out after the first series. Langham, he explained, had been an unprofessional drunk, but Lloyd felt guilty about having let the matter fester without confronting it head on. </p> Features Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/has-comedian-kim-noble-exploited-his-mental-illness-to-create-one-of-the-most-shocking-standup-shows-ever-1832815.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/has-comedian-kim-noble-exploited-his-mental-illness-to-create-one-of-the-most-shocking-standup-shows-ever-1832815.html ]]> <p> When I went to see the comedian Jon Richardson at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, he had just been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. But at this gig, the poor man was too distracted to perform his act. "I've just seen this show," he gibbered at his audience. "I can't get it out of my head." He wasn't alone: everyone in town was talking about the live-art-meets-stand-up event Kim Noble Will Die. Critics called it "An hour I will remember for all of my life" and "A sublime [and] profound work of art." "But all my posters," says Noble, "were ripped up and graffiti'd with 'absolute toss', 'rubbish', and 'insulting bollocks'. So my show isn't just a great success, it's also a pile of shite." </p> Features Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/stand-up-guy-bill-bailey-on-music-marriage-and-the-moment-he-refused-to-sell-out-1832693.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/stand-up-guy-bill-bailey-on-music-marriage-and-the-moment-he-refused-to-sell-out-1832693.html ]]> <p>I have been in love with Bill Bailey for some time now. So when it transpires that our interview will take place at a bar so close to his home that once the allotted time is up, he could feasibly launch himself from his seat and land back on his sofa with his wife and son within seconds, with nothing more to show for his efforts than a couple of smashed window panes, it's a blow. None the less, I dry my eyes, raise a smile, and head to the west-London gastropub for 5.40pm, as arranged. </p> Profiles Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/hes-funny-fearless-and-a-film-star-ndash-so-why-does-eddie-izzard-worry-that-hes-boring-1833650.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/hes-funny-fearless-and-a-film-star-ndash-so-why-does-eddie-izzard-worry-that-hes-boring-1833650.html ]]> <p>It's hard to get anyone to say a word against Eddie Izzard. His tour manager loves him. His make-up woman loves him. The man he has hired to give massages to his staff and crew love him. And so, clearly, do the 13,000-odd fans who have poured in to Birmingham's National Indoor Arena to see him on a rainy Tuesday night. On screens on both sides of the stage, there are Twitter messages, sending good wishes from around the world. In the seats around me, people are nursing their iPhones, ready to point and shoot. This whole vast, draughty hall – so vast that I feel nervous for Izzard, even though I haven't yet met the guy – is throbbing with expectation shot through with warmth. What it feels like, actually, is love. I'm sitting in an arena full of love.</p> Features Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/observations-josies-shows-will-be-long-on-laughs-1833651.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/observations-josies-shows-will-be-long-on-laughs-1833651.html ]]> <p>Comedian Josie Long has been popping up on our televisions of late (notably Never Mind the Buzzcocks and The Culture Show), but fans take note – she is back on the London live circuit with two regular club nights. Long took a break this year from the Edinburgh Fringe – where she has previously won the If.comedy Best Newcomer award – and Lost Treasures and Adventure Club mark her return to the limelight.</p> Features Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/will-the-real-michael-mcintyre-please-stand-up-1823680.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/will-the-real-michael-mcintyre-please-stand-up-1823680.html ]]> <p>Michael McIntyre never stops beaming, never stops punctuating his commentary with hearty laughter, not even when he is recounting how, not so very long ago, he broke down in public and sobbed at the failure of his career to take off.</p> Features Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:17 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/comic-relief-zadie-smiths-passion-for-british-comedy-1823815.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/comic-relief-zadie-smiths-passion-for-british-comedy-1823815.html ]]> <p> As this decade sinks towards an end, its frothy beginnings now feel like a dream. </p> Features Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/daily-show-brit-gets-own-comedy-series-1824105.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/daily-show-brit-gets-own-comedy-series-1824105.html ]]> <p>John Oliver, the lanky-haired Brummie comedian who moved to America to try out his funny accent on the natives and has risen to something near fame as "Senior British Correspondent" on the The Daily Show, is being rewarded in the only way that is appropriate – with his own weekly US show.</p> News Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/reviews/louis-ck-bloomsbury-theatre-london-1822282.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/reviews/louis-ck-bloomsbury-theatre-london-1822282.html ]]> <p>If you saw Ricky Gervais' widely panned tour this year you will have watched, as part of the show's opening sequence, the burly ginger American comic Louis CK deliver a recorded plea for certain bodily fluids to keep Gervais alive. While the skit was indicative of the base notes of Gervais' show, it was totally unrepresentative of CK's talents, much in evidence at this London show. </p> Reviews Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-can-we-please-stand-up--for-michael-mcintyre-1821757.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-can-we-please-stand-up--for-michael-mcintyre-1821757.html ]]> <p>Like most parents of teenagers, I have grown used to the experience of the television's sound being turned off when I walk into the room. It is a reversal of the relationship that used to exist between the generations. Forty or so years ago, parents would do this to shield their children from something which might shock them. Now it is our children who turn the sound down to protect our ears from obscenities which they regard as suitable only for adolescents.</p> Dominic Lawson Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/plagiarism-is-no-laughing-matter-for-comedians-1818222.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/plagiarism-is-no-laughing-matter-for-comedians-1818222.html ]]> <p>Why did the comedian lose his rag? Because he was sick of people stealing his jokes and posting them on the internet. An up-and-coming British comic has become involved in a spat with a comedy website after realising that the reason some of his gags were falling flat was that many people in his audience had already read them online.</p> News Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/steve-martin-with-the-steep-canyon-rangers-royal-festival-hall-london-1817801.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/steve-martin-with-the-steep-canyon-rangers-royal-festival-hall-london-1817801.html <p>"It's always been a dream of mine to play banjo at the Royal Festival Hall," says Steve Martin, banjo in hand, from the stage of the Royal Festival Hall. The briefest of pauses, and then: "And tonight, I feel one step closer to realising that dream." Written out like that, it doesn't seem quite as funny as it did earlier this evening – but then, comedy is all about timing and delivery. And jokes. And some other stuff too humorous to mention, probably.</p> Reviews Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000