BCG Daily Sunday 16th February 2014

Arthur Smith: My life with Leonard Cohen

I must have been 16 when I first heard him. My older brother brought back one of his albums, and I thought he sounded so cool: a poet with a transcendent air about him.

Comedy festival review: Iain Stirling

At times there were awkward pauses and overdone topics (apparently Scottish people like to swear) but on the whole, his confidence, accents and impressions mixed with ludicrous anecdotes made the whole show enjoyable and, I'll go for it, a Stirling performance.

Comedy festival boss Geoff Rowe on Leicestershire

Geoff Rowe, 42, director and founder of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival, picks Scraptoft's De Montfort University Campus, where it all began.

Radio Times review

The first series of these adaptations of PG Wodehouse stories came in for a good kicking from some quarters, which seemed out of proportion considering they were enjoyable bits of candy floss and hardly Broadchurch. But viewers liked them, so here's a second helping, with Timothy Spall once again starring as pin-brained, pig-obsessed toff Lord Emsworth and Jennifer Saunders as his battleaxe of a sister, Connie.

Tim Vine, much missed after his departure from Not Going Out, takes over from Mark Williams as Beach, the clever butler. Harry Enfield guests in the first episode as the claret-nosed Duke of Dunstable, an appalling old buffer with an inexplicable antipathy towards whistling Scotsmen.

Jonathan Creek then and now

In the 17 year history of the programme, he has attracted many a love interest carelessly working his way through Caroline Quentin, Julia Sawalha, Sheridan Smith and now, as his wife no less, Sarah Alexander.

How posh are the cast of Blandings?

Meet Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Tim Vine and Celia Imrie, the cast of BBC1's PG Wodehouse comedy Blandings.

Tyger Drew-Honey to interview his porn star dad

Outnumbered child star Tyger Drew-Honey will reportedly front a documentary about the adult film industry, including interviewing his porn star father.

Chris O'Dowd: From Bridesmaids to Broadway

With a new series of his sitcom Moone Boy starting Monday night, a rom-com in cinemas and a stint on the New York stage with James Franco coming up, Chris O'Dowd is in demand on both sides of the Atlantic.

Raymond Mearns interview

Raymond Mearns' radio show begins with impeccable comic timing - bang in the middle of a mid-life crisis.

Review: Marc Lucero at The Criterion, Leicester

It's not often that a comedy show stops you in your tracks. I won't give away the punchlines, but safe to say suddenly, your conscience hits you as you're chuckling away: should we really be laughing at this?

Review: Brian Gittins at Hansom Hall, Leicester

It was an anti-comedy - Gittins spent a lot of the show delivering bad jokes read from a screwed up scrap of paper followed by a characteristic titter - all for ironic effect.

Alan Davies Après-Ski review

Sadly, Alan Davies doesn't possess the wit to bounce off them like Graham Norton, if this evidence is anything to go by.

Blandings, series 2, episode 1 review

Harry Enfield was deliciously obnoxious as Dunstable. Throwing tantrums, eggs and insults ("Stop that whistling you disgusting Scotch peasant!") with red-faced regularity, his slapstick was so effective it was like he'd taken the pressure off the rest of the cast to make fools of themselves.