A little self-parody can go a long way. Just ask Matt LeBlanc...

Sheeps have come up with a novel way to make sure that the atmosphere doesn't dip during their new comedy show. They've prepared a little call-and-response routine, asking the audience to shout out encouragement– "Keep going, Sheeps!" – at key intervals.

It is Britain’s most lethal cancer but most people do not know the principal symptom that may indicate its presence.

Heaven knows, one tries to enter into the spirit of things at moments like these. The Queen's Jubilee. The Olympics. The great "Hurrah for Great Britain!" that will soon be echoing around the world. It is going to be tough, though. TV ads promoting the national brand have begun to appear. There are picnics, laughing, glossy people on a village green – modern, yes, but with a touch of that all-important national heritage in the background.

Tuesday's awards ceremony was anodyne and uncomfortable. Andy Gill offers his 20-point plan to inject a bit of danger back into the show

FreeView from the editors at i

Gilded trophy in hand, and with applause ringing in her ears, Meryl Streep neatly crystalised the big story at Sunday's Golden Globes. "I'd like to thank my agent," she declared, after picking up a new Best Actress gong to add to her collection. "And also God: Harvey Weinstein."

Love him, or hate him as many A-listers do, the Globes host is back tonight to bait the stars

As sharp-tongued comedian Ricky Gervais is invited back to present the Golden Globes for the third time this Sunday, we take a look at other shocking gong-giving occasions

Lovely little girl..." said Zillah Clift's mum fondly, looking at an old photograph of her daughter as a three-year-old. "And then they grow up," she added meaningfully, though in Zillah's case there wasn't a lot of up about it. Now an adult, with a husband of her own, Zillah is still only four foot two inches high, and still obliged to shop for her shoes in the toddler section. Zillah's taste runs to buzz cuts, piercings and black leather – not a look much catered for in under-fives footwear. She pretty much has a choice of pink, pink, glittery pink or pink.

It is the moment in the year when anyone with a public voice is asked to list their favourite books, films or CDs of the year. But those of us in the grumpiness trade have a tougher time. What of the people, animals and stories of whom we have had too much over the past 12 months? Surely they deserve a Christmas list, too.

Notebook

'Sometimes it all gets too much: two hours in a room with Ricky can seem a long time'

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.