BCG Daily Wednesday 27th November 2013

Monty Python and the ticket touts

After tickets for Monty Python's comeback gigs sold out before you could say 'ni', many went on sale again - at a vastly inflated cost. How do the touts get away with it?

BBC Three boss acts as a runner on Backchat

Zai Bennett came crashing down from his executive perch when he spent a day as a production runner on Backchat.

Video: Bill Bailey: My Comedy Hero... Les Dawson

Bill Bailey reveals that Morecambe & Wise, The Two Ronnies and Billy Connolly had a lasting impact on him growing up, but adds that one of his earliest comedy memories was watching Les Dawson with his parents.

Jimmy Carr on Ross Noble criticism: 'Why slag things off?'

Jimmy Carr has defended Mock the Week after it was recently criticised by Ross Noble.

Carl Donnelly - how I write comedy

Like a chef who takes fresh ingredients and prefers to do as little as possible to them, laid-back storyteller and Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Carl Donnelly is a comic who likes to leave his real-life stories a little 'unwritten'.

Alex Horne: Lies - review

Truth, falsehood and the autobiographies of Andre Agassi, Michael Caine and Cherie Blair in a high-concept show whose cleverness only slightly outshines its jokes.

QI: how much did Joan of Arc cost the English?

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI salutes warlike women.

How the king or queen of comedy is crowned

Six nominees, including Sarah Millican, Jack Whitehall and Graham Norton, are up for the top comedy award. Who will win? The answer hinges on something I call the Neediness Index.

Christmas 2014 comedy in London

Ditch the present wrapping and go relax with a comedy show before the big day lands... Ho ho hold on to your elf hats, it's time for some festive comedy!

Alan Partridge's best quotes

To celebrate the release of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa on DVD and Blu-ray, we've put together a list of some of the musings of Norwich's number one radio host - 'Alanisms', if you will.

Misfits Series 5 Episode 6 review

Over the past five years Misfits has been dragging our idea of what's funny steadily off course - like a magnet fucking a compass - to the point where taste and decency have fallen off the map.

Audio: John Cleese and Michael Palin on Python Reunion

John Cleese told The Today Programme it has been "extraordinary to have such a positive reaction" since announcing their reunion.

Radio Times review

Steven K Amos must be one of the most likeable figures in British comedy. A small boast: I met him two years ago, and he's equally nice in person. Anyway, this new format suits him down to the ground; there's a touch of Seinfeld about What Does the K Stand for? in the way it flows from stand-up into a deliciously awkward sitcom.

Each episode begins with a comic riff from the adult Amos before cutting back to his childhood in London. In this programme, a try-hard teacher asks him to use his "real name - his African name". Prepare to cringe.