BCG Daily Monday 8th September 2014

Britain has the world's liveliest comedy scene

No other nation is as funny as we are, thanks to the punk revolution, the Edinburgh fringe - and the legacy of Thatcherism.

Peter Kay pulled out of Sunday Night At The Palladium

Peter Kay pulled out of a £100,000 a show deal to host a glittering new ITV series after snubs from Abba and The Rolling Stones.

Catherine Tate leads cast of Assassins

Catherine Tate will lead the cast of Jamie Lloyd's Assassins which opens at the Menier Chocolate Factory on 21 November 2014.

Liverpool Comedy Festival: Learn your trade

The Comedy Trust, the organisers of the annual Liverpool Comedy Festival, are now recruiting for their latest Comedy Course for Beginners.

Comedians urge Essex smokers to swap fags for gags

Public Health England is encouraging smokers in Essex to swap their fags for gags to help them quit for good this October. Top British comedians including Paddy McGuinness, Al Murray, Simon Brodkin (aka Lee Nelson) and Andi Osho will this year bring a touch of the British sense of humour to help quitters through this difficult and daunting challenge.

Steve Coogan starring in 'Boswell for the Defence'

Steve Coogan will take on the part of James Boswell in Boswell for the Defence.

Comic gets sacked after his Fringe show

London-based Italian comedian Giacinto Palmieri used to work in IT for a well-known property company. Then he went to this year's Edinburgh Fringe with his show about Wagner.

"The big boss of my company," he told me in Soho Theatre at the weekend, "came to see my show at the Edinburgh Fringe and, the first day after I came back, I was sacked."

Monty Python and the Holy Quiz

How much you remember about Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

James Corden confirmed as US chat show host

James Corden has been confirmed as Craig Ferguson's successor as host of The Late Late Show on American TV.

What is alternative comedy?

What is alternative comedy? Does such a thing exist anymore and, if so, does it require a new label? As a child, or parasitic growth, of the age of alternative comedy, I wonder what defines it.

Jon Richardson and Matt Forde interview

In a new series for Channel 4, Jon Richardson Grows Up, our eponymous hero and his best friend, comedian Matt Forde, take to the road in a 1972 orange VW Campervan (called Florence) in search of answers to some of life's biggest questions: Can money make you happy? Is marriage the source of contentment or discord? Who's a better driver, Jon or Matt? Today, huddled in the back of their campervan, Florence, incongruously parked in a central London square, the pair explain the thinking behind the series, how it has led to Jon being a changed man, and what Matt was doing there in the first place.

Eddie Izzard interview

Eddie Izzard has set a date to be London Mayor or a Member of Parliament. But first he's got to outwit the Nazis...