Sarah Marsh talks to Josh Widdicombe about gigging with Michael McIntyre, future plans and why comedians are insecure.

He has been called the comedian's comedian, a 21st-century raconteur who avoids the limelight by shunning profile-raising TV work. Now Daniel Kitson is returning to stand-up after a three-year absence, sparking a frenzy for tickets to watch him test his fresh material.

You see those two tiny dots in the distance? That's you, that is. Well, it was if "you" were Rob Newman and David Baddiel. Oh, how we chuckled at their "History Today" sketches in the early 1990s. How we roared as they took their shtick to Wembley Arena, becoming the first comedians to fill its 12,000 seats. How we wept when we realised we were sat so far from the stage that they might as well have been sarcastic marionettes.

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

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It can't be such a bad job being a stand-up comedian.

Cabaret is back – but there is far more to it than light entertainment. Politically subversive, perfect for those jaded by bland Cowell proteges, these shows are shockingly modern, says Ben Chu

The Edinburgh Festival is now so crowded that many comedy acts are instead taking to the web in their attempts to break through. But is it any easier – and are the results worthwhile? Matt Chorley asks YouTube's big hitters

Let's get ready to grumble. What a relief it was to get the Haye-Klitschko dust-up out of the way. Or at least all the pre-fight foul-mouthing by the big bad Brit, anyway. David Haye is one step closer to his real ambition in life, to be a Hollywood lightweight, and the rest of us can look forward to him only getting a couple of lines as the new Vinny Jones of the silver screen rather than enduring endless torrents of unpleasant nonsense.

Q. Hertz has charged me twice for a single period of car hire. I paid in full and six months in advance for 14 days' car hire at Funchal. The flight was delayed badly at Glasgow, and as there was no phone number on my Hertz voucher, I was unable to notify of the delay, or advise that we would collect the car the next day. At the airport I asked the woman at the Hertz desk to notify the relevant staff of the delay and to explain that we would collect the vehicle the following day. She told us this was "fixed". But on my return home it seemed that Hertz had charged me an extra £255.22, which seems to be a duplicate charge for the car hire, plus an extra £2.26 – for what, I don't know. VL, Isle of Arran.

Our National Treasures are instantly identifiable but difficult of definition. They are mostly rather old, but there's more to it: Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley have been NTs for years, while David Beckham was finally ushered in at the Royal Wedding.