BCG Daily Wednesday 2nd July 2014

Monty Python Live review

John Cleese was hoarse, Terry Jones relied on cue-cards and at times they looked lost amid the spectacular. Yet you don't need to be a die-hard fan to take the view that none of that really mattered.

Fans' verdict on Monty Python show

The surviving members of Monty Python have performed the first show in their reunion run at London's O2 arena. Attending the live gig was the Holy Grail for many fans, and Tim Muffett went along to gauge the audience's enjoyment.

First night review: Monty Python Live, O2 Arena, SE10

As it happens, the truth is simple. Do this lot still have the comic vitality they had 40 years ago? They do not.

Review: Monty Python's live reunion is side-splitting

Whether you think of this as "a pre-posthumous memorial service" - as Terry Gilliam called it - or a well-deserved boost to their pension funds, The Night Of The Living Pythons is comedy history in the making.

In praise of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson's Bottom

Grimy, bleak, extremely violent and stupidly funny, Wil salutes the genius of Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall's sitcom, Bottom...

Preview: Magners Bristol Comedy Garden

Five days of top-draw comedy begin this evening on Queen Square with the opening night of the Magners Bristol Comedy Garden.

Radio comedy's constant innuendo makes me wince

I've been listening to Clue since it started, back in the Seventies. I have often wept with laughter at it but I think it reached a natural end when Humphrey Lyttelton died in 2008. Radio 4's then controller, Mark Damazer, thought otherwise and with reason. He noted how newer listeners to Radio 4 love it. New listeners, younger listeners are what every network controller wants. So it's probably irrelevant that, to me, Clue now sounds grubby, knowing, well-thumbed, heavy-handed. I hated Susan Calman on Monday singing Horny to the tune of Leaning on a Lampost. I winced at the lists of rude sweets. The studio audience loved it all. The very word "cock", even in blameless context, sent them into gales of laughter. Baffling.

Radio Times review

In this episode we meet Matt LeBlanc's dad, his imaginary screen dad, in the best scene of the series so far. Stories have appeared on TMZ that Matt has gone into rehab, and Matt knows where they came from: he forgot to send dad his cheque, and this is revenge. So he storms round there - with Sean and Beverly in tow - to confront him.

What follows has more comic voltage than the entirety of some previous episodes, as the pair trade insults in front of the mortified Brits - and few actors do mortified better than Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan. It's a cracking set piece and elsewhere the plot is coming to a boil nicely. Also, look out: in the delightfully tasteless mental health storyline, unbalanced network boss Castor is off his meds.

The Stand Comedy Club preview

The Stand Newcastle Comedy Club will play host to a stream of top names from the Fringe for a very special summer programme.

Review: John Bishop

A great coup for the Lowther Pavilion and Lytham as a whole, the end of set Q and A also allowed the audience to gain an insight into the man behind the laughter.

ITV sorry for Benidorm's Rolf Harris references

ITV has apologised after an episode of Benidorm referencing Rolf Harris was repeated a day after the star was convicted of indecent assault.

Stephen Fry: Monty Python broke all the comedy rules

Speaking at Monty Python's premiere, actor Stephen Fry said the group were his comic heroes, praising them for breaking "every rule going about comedy".

Monty Python bring the house down

John Cleese just had to say "I wish to register a complaint'" in the Parrot Sketch and he brought everyone out in hysterics.

Monty Python Live (Mostly) review

This live show won't make any converts. But it sends the faithful away happy.

Monty Python Live review

This is a spectacle that inevitably feels it needs to pay homage to the old favourites, usually with fairly minor updates. That this is not a show for critics, but for fans.

Monty Python Live review

This isn't a sad farewell for Python, nor is it the hot ticket we all hoped it would be. Fandom and devotion are essential; all of which hallmarks of a slightly lazy and pedestrian production.

Mrs Brown: Top of the box office, bottom of the pile

Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie is No. 1 at the UK box office. A victory for British comedy, or a sign that the end of the world is nigh?

Monty Python Live (Mostly) review

After the onslaught of hype, the comedy icons' return fulfilled their nostalgic obligations while never coming close to approaching the provocative or absurdist heights that made the Pythons (mostly) living legends.

Monty Python's reunion is about nostalgia and heroes

Monty Python Live (Mostly) massages a G-spot of familiarity - with little truly funny live material we're left with a few comfortable laughs and a true sentimental charge.

Monty Python Live (Mostly) review

One Down, Five to Go was never conceived as a bid to win new Python fans. It was always meant to be one last nostalgic hurrah, and in that respect they had a head-start knowing that the audience would be full of die-hard devotees.

Edinburgh Fringe preview: Nick Revell

Well, if Monty Python can make a comeback why can't Nick Revell? The satirical stand-up was one of the leading lights of the alternative comedy circuit in the 1980s.

The Nicholas Parsons extended interview

For his two hundredth interview for Broadway Baby, Martin Walker talks to Nicholas Parsons, someone who needs no introduction. They discuss Just a Minute, stand-up comedy and his acting roles in The Comic Strip Presents and Doctor Who. But they start by talking about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The Tom Toal three minute Iinterview

Prequel is a frolicsome and poignant stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from hotly tipped lovely lad Tom Toal. A show full of quirky gags, memorable stories and a miracle that not even the T-Dawg could have foreseen. Tom Explains...

The Sean McLoughlin three minute interview

Brighton based Sean McLoughlin has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for many years. It wasn't until 2013 however, that he presented his own hour-long show Backbone. He was lucky enough to get some great audiences and some nice reviews, so he’s back again for some more.

The Matthew Highton three minute interview

Matthew Highton is a comedian, a surreal storyteller and risky abstractionist known for an unpredictable and off the wall approach to comedy. His 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Matthew Highton's Good Luck Sleeping Jerks is being quietly mooted as one to watch this year.

The Jem Brookes three minute interview

Jem Brookes' Edinburgh Festival Fringe offering, Punusual comes straight from this year's inaugural UK Pun Championships at the Leicester Comedy Festival. Expect an hour puns and silly jokes delivered from a professional wordsmith.

The Karen Bayley three minute interview

Shunning dresses and dolls, donning a football kit and picking up a cricket bat at the age of three were early signs. For her 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Karen Bayley explores all that this entails, including being thrown out of the Brownies for unladylike behaviour.

The Tim Renkow three minute interview

Tim Renkow's debut solo Edinburgh Festival Fringe show is called, intriguingly, At Least Hell Has Ramps. It explores the funny side of being judged on appearance and proclaims that if you believe you will go to hell for laughing at the disabled - he also happens to have cerebral palsy

The Mark Davison three minute interview

Character comic Mark Davison parades on to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his popular out of space creation, Mr Susie. Apparently, the alien only has one hour to save cabaret... pity he has no idea what cabaret is...

The Al Donegan three minute interview

Imagine if people knew your deepest, darkest secrets. Wouldn't it be awful? Humiliating? Degrading? It would be if you'd done some of the things Al Donegan has. For his latest Edinburgh Festival Fringe outing, Al will dig deep into his past.

The Paula Valluerca three minute interview

This Edinburgh Festival Fringe you are invited to enter in to Madame Señorita's world. It's a place that's charismatic, mysterious and quite stupid, in which social norms and preconceptions are left behind to give space for naivety, passion and curiosity for life. Martin Walker talks to her creator, Paula Valluerca.

The Tom Allen three minute interview

In 2010, Attitude Magazine called Tom Allen a gay role model. He's certainly successful. Since winning So You Think You're Funny and the BBC New Comedy Award he has become a sought after presenter, comedian and ator, forever popping up on TV and radio. Martin Walker asks Tom about his Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Tom Allen: Life/Style.

The Rohan Shenoy three minute interview

When stand-up comedy editor, Martin Walker, asked surreal sketch outfit, The Tourists to put forward their most vocal member to be interviewed, they sent him Rohan Shenoy. This may have been a mistake.

The McQueen Adams three minute interview

When US comedian, musician and producer McQueen Adams called up his mate Timothy Oakley stating that he wanted to create something nobody had ever seen before... they created McQueen. Martin Walker finds out more.

The Tom O'Mahony three minute interview

Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Bring on the Apocalypse, is a bad-ass adventure of teeth-shattering proportions where ex-cage fighter O'Mahony kicks the door of political correctness off its hinges. Martin Walker learns more.

The Gabriel Bisset-Smith three minute interview

Gabriel Bisset-Smith is one half of wild sketch outfit, Guilt & Shame. They return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014 with their brand new show: Guilt & Shame: Going Straight. But as Martin Walker learns, their show isn't as straight as all that...

The Linda Lovin three minute interview

Having trained and performed at many of Chicago's most prestigious acting schools Cynthia Levin moved to Los Angeles where she began performing stand-up comedy. Today, a seasoned, edgy and hilarious performer as both an actress and a stand-up comic, Cynthia brings her comic creation, Linda Lovin to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The Wilfredo three minute interview

Instantly recognizable by his trademark appearance of high waisted trousers, a super-tight shirt and with the sound of a magnificent vibrato to simply die for, Wilfredo is a musical character comedy phenomenon. Martin Walker asks the modest, unassuming character creation of Matt Roper about his latest Edinburgh Festival Fringe show.

The Jon Bennett three minute interview

Before he became better known for pretending things were his cock, Jon Bennett began his comedy career doing regular stand up shows at the age of 19. After a brief foray into TV and radio, he decided to change to a more storytelling style of comedy. Martin Walker asks about his various Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows.

The Robbie Ormrod three minute interview

Robbie Ormond founded Tickled Pig as a Student Stand-Up Competition in 2007. Since then he founded Tickled Pig Productions which incorporates comedy productions, festival line-ups and a regular London night at the Canal Cafe Theatre. Martin Walker asks Robbie about the Tickled Pig Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows.

The Nev three minute interview

At this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe you can join the mysterious Nev on a quest that will take him to the very edge of sanity. Join him as he meets giant radioactive reptiles, demonic caravan cultists, evil cannibal killers, prehistoric pornographic beasts and mutant 1990s children's characters...

The Jess Robinson three minute interview

Jess Robinson has toured the country with Joan Collins playing her daughter in Full Circle, as well as playing countless leading roles in major productions. On TV and radio she's appeared on The Now Show, 15 Minute Musicals, Dead Ringers and several other primetime shows. Martin Walker asks about her Edinburgh Festival Fringe outing.

Monty Python, O2 Arena - comedy review

'John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam delivered material written nearly half a century ago - and it still works'

Interview with Tracey Collins

An interview with comedian Tracey Collins.

Interview with Ben Champion

An interview with the musical comic Ben Champion.

Best free comedy shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

In our second list of Edinburgh Fringe comedy recommendations we take a look of some of the top free shows this August.