Kelner's view

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

Have you heard the one about the oh-so-clever comedian who sends up, er, comedy?

On her last visit to London, 19 years ago, Rita Rudner appeared in the Royal Variety Show at the Dominion Theatre. Tonight, she played the more modest, 420-seater, Leicester Square Theatre. However, the American has not lost her lustre and in-between time has become Las Vegas's most successful comedians.

They didn't give the whole picture

A house in Wales that 'looks like Hitler' has become a hit on Twitter. But, says Rebecca Gonsalves, that's just the start of it

Dylan Hartley has received a lot of stick in the Six Nations but, instead of snapping back, England's hooker tells Chris Hewett how he's been motivated to hit new heights

The ignorant bigotry of Bernard Manning has been replaced by the cowardly, preening, calculated bullying of comics as different as Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle

It's the perfect match. The improvised musings of the country's best comedians combined with the free-form noodlings of a five-piece jazz band. When The Horne Section debuted at Edinburgh this summer, it quickly became the talk of the Fringe. Punters clutching pints queued round the block for the occasional, lightly shambolic midnight shows. Jimmy Carr dropped by to rap out 10 one-liners over 10 different beats, Tim Minchin improvised a song about cheese and Tim Key performed a track by the Russian punk band Leningrad. There were burlesque dancers, shared bags of chips and 2am Bon Jovi singalongs, led by Josie Long with Mark Watson on drums.

But Russell is not there to collect it - unlike namesake Jo, who also triumphs

They had the big stories, but where were the big laughs?

View From The Sofa: A Question Of Sport/Freddie Flintoff: Ashes Warrior, BBC1

A new arts and entertainment initiative aims to do for the unlovely borough what the Guggenheim did for Bilbao

* Tim Key called on a few friends to launch his "unnecessary poetical album on vinyl" at Avalanche Records this week. Alex Horne played French horn and Nick Mohammed the violin. Album tracks include such hit poems as "Bob and the Pipe", "Janet/ Gannet" and "The Date" read over a string quartet.