'She'd say, "Come on, yank yourself up and keep going!" Then I'd have a cry'

The 'good, the tanned and the ugly' up for this year's comic alternative to the Baftas

Comedian attacks production companies behind popular shows for simply employing their own clients

If there had been a spot for stand-up in the London 2012 closing ceremonies, it would surely have gone to Michael McIntyre.

Abandoned warehouses, monstrous babies and dry ice are scary in any language, it seems.

Kelner's view

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