Rik Mayall’s festival outsells year one before it even opens
Stuart Panrucker, who runs the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival, reckons last year’s debut shifted more than 10,000 tickets. He points to “audiences travelling from across…
Mock The Week books 17 comics for a five-Sunday TLC summer
“The Prime Minister in trouble, the world running out of oil, and the most chaotic World Cup in history about to start? Well, that sounds…
Sam Campbell casts ‘a bunch of scumbags’ in Make That Movie
Lauren and the scumbags Sam Campbell described the casting on his new Channel 4 sitcom to Chortle on Wednesday. Here is the quote: “We had…
Reuben Kaye and Frankie McNair share Sydney’s $1,500 top prize
The Sydney Comedy Festival handed out four awards on Sunday and split the headline one. Reuben Kaye and Frankie McNair will each take home $1,500…
Cheez-It buys the Joke of the Fringe for a £1,000 prize
The announcement landed with the words “official snack partner” doing a lot of early work. There is a £1,000 prize attached, an Edinburgh Festival Fringe…
BBC brings back Short Cuts a year after axing Josie Long’s show
When the BBC axed Short Cuts in early 2025, the listener petition to save it picked up a few thousand signatures and an angry sub-thread…
Exmouth Pavilions axes Roy Chubby Brown three months out
The email landed late on a Friday night, which is the polite way of telling somebody you don’t want to talk it through on the…
The Comeback King’s Stand-Up Bench: Apatow Cast Eight Working Comics Around Glen Powell
Judd Apatow’s new picture has been crewing up in Macon, Georgia for weeks now. The casting call that went out on 29 April was open…
Leicester Comedy Festival’s Unpaid 78%: When the Charity Spends the Ticket Money First
Benjamin Alborough told the BBC he’s owed “just short of £2,000” by the Leicester Comedy Festival. He added the bit any working comic would: “I’ve…
Meow Nui to the Greek: Inside the Conchords’ Six-Night Warm-Up Ladder
“It was better when we practiced in the garage.” Bret McKenzie said that on stage at Meow Nui in Wellington. It came somewhere in a…