Panel show pair David Mitchell and Victoria Coren are engaged to be married.

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Jerry Sadowitz: Comedian, Magician, Pyschopath!, Leicester Square Theatre, London (3/5)

Ricky Gervais reminded us recently, as if we'd forgotten, that language can still offend en masse if its use is misjudged.

Terence Blacker: Why is it now so cool to be nasty?

At least we now know how, if you are a comedian whose career is becalmed, you can make yourself the centre of attention. You deploy one of the new swearwords. "Spaz" and "retard" are favourites and, as this week has shown, "mong" can do the trick pretty well, too.

Diary: Wake up, Ed, and get stuck into Lord Leveson

With the pre-surgical Ed Miliband still deprived of sleep by that "life-threatening apnoea", it behoves us to help him through the befuddlement.

Murdoch mysteries: The great phone-hacking quiz

Fingers on the buzzer! Get ready to test your knowledge of the scandal spreading around the world. Asking the questions is Matthew Bell (answers at bottom of page)

Minor British Institutions: The rogue

The British have always been susceptible to a rogue, factual, fictional or a bit of both, from Robin Hood to Falstaff to handsome highwaymen to Arthur Daley and Derek Trotter. It's the attraction of opposites, of the mischievous to an essentially staid nation.

Marc Blake: Live comedy is priceless, and that's why it costs a fortune

It is the sense of communality that gives the best humour its therapeutic power

Dom Joly: I wasn't prepared for audience participation

I'm so new to this live performance business that I'm learning as I go. Last week, I faced my first heckles, which were actually quite fun, but there is a limit to how much you can let someone try to take over a show. I'm quite happy to wade in and take someone on, and am certainly capable of holding my own. The problem is that some people just enjoy the attention, even if they are being verbally mutilated – they just end up shouting anything to keep the spotlight on themselves. I wasn't sure of the form here. Was I supposed to just carry on? Did I have to keep taking them on until they lay on the floor weeping and conceding defeat? Could I simply ask them to leave, or would that be admitting failure?

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: No democracy should declare free speech an absolute right

Should those people who set out to provoke unrest and anger – such as those who burn the Koran – be allowed to do so with impunity?

Matthew Norman: There are heroes of comedy... and there's Frankie Boyle

It takes a bespoke brand of mental infirmity to confuse personal courage in advancing the right to cause offence with a penchant for bullying the most vulnerable

Complaint upheld over 'sick' Channel 4 joke

Katie Price has attacked the media regulator Ofcom for failing to demand that Channel 4 broadcast an apology for remarks made by the Glaswegian comedian Frankie Boyle about her disabled son, Harvey.

C4 rapped over Frankie Boyle jokes

Channel 4 breached broadcasting guidelines with jokes about Katie Price's son Harvey on its Frankie Boyle comedy show, the media regulator has ruled.

Rebecca Adlington: 'I'm at one in the pool. I dive in, it's a different world'

The Brian Viner Interview: Two golds in Beijing made Rebecca Adlington Britain's finest swimmer in 100 years and a poster girl for her sport – even if outside her natural element self-doubt can surface
Career Services

Day In a Page

Grotty no more: How Lanzarote upgraded its appeal

How Lanzarote upgraded its appeal

Lanzarote has been quietly changing its fly-and-flop holiday image, discovers Andrew Eames.
Traveller's Guide: Montenegro

Traveller's Guide: Montenegro

It's one of Europe's smallest countries, but it packs in spectacular landscapes and glittering beach resorts.
48 Hours In: Verona

48 Hours In: Verona

Summer opera returns to the Roman arena, says Charles Hebbert.
Ten things we’re looking out for at E3 2012

Ten things to look out for at E3 2012

From Wii U to The Last of Us we consider this year's show
Come dine (online) with me

Come dine (online) with me

Move over TV chefs, hello YouTube stars
Next in line – but public just can't warm to idea of Charles in charge

Next in line – but public just can't warm to idea of Charles in charge

'Independent' poll finds less that half want him to take throne as ministers moan of interference
Nothing's sacred: the illegal trade in India's holy cows

Nothing's sacred: the illegal trade in India's holy cows

Andrew Buncombe reports from Kaharpara on a bloody war between rustlers and border guards
Mogul grounded: Desmond gives up his jet deal

Mogul grounded: Desmond gives up his jet deal

Media tycoon's company pays £1m to cancel his order for a £36m private jet after drop in profits
How Ai Weiwei built a pavilion in London – by remote control

How Ai Weiwei built a pavilion in London – by remote control

The artist tells Clifford Coonan how he used Skype to escape confinement in Beijing
Nature, nurture... or neither? The new twist in an age-old argument

Nature, nurture... or neither?

The new twist in an age-old argument
Radio 4 to shed its cosy image with a 'sexy' Ulysses drama

Radio 4 to shed its cosy image with a 'sexy' Ulysses drama

New station controller wants to reflect the current period of 'turmoil and uncertainity'
Alcohol: I drink therefore I am

Alcohol: I drink therefore I am

New guidelines warn Britons to drastically reduce their boozing. But is a life without liquor worth living? Hell no, says John Walsh
The Cable News Nightmare: CNN (and Piers Morgan) in audience crisis

The Cable News Nightmare

CNN (and Piers Morgan) in audience crisis
Like a barbie, but better: The Big Green Egg can griddle, roast, and smoke food - and even make pizza

The Big Green Egg: Like a barbie, but better

It can griddle, roast, and smoke food - and even make pizza...
The 10 Best chopping boards

The 10 Best chopping boards

Whether you want to dice veg, chop meat, or just slice up a salad, there’s a surface here to suit every culinary need.