BCG Daily Friday 10th October 2014

Review: Silly Billies Comedy, Byker, Newcastler

Silly Billies is not your usual comedy night. Tucked away upstairs at the quaint Cumberland Arms in Byker, just a stone's throw away from Newcastle city centre, the hugely talented stand-up Jack Gardner - or should I say Mr Face - has created a comedy night where it's okay for the performers to be batshit crazy.

Detectorists: Go digging for this treasure hunt comedy

This is what TV looks like when the volume isn't turned up to 11. It's a rarity nowadays, but a refreshing one.

Radio Times review

Usually the QI panelists scrabble about improvising madly as they try to answer Stephen Fry's abstruse questions. Yet both Johnny Vegas and Jason Manford come up with a correct answer (and in Manford's case an impressively comprehensive one) almost immediately. Are the guests getting smarter or the questions easier? Aisling Bea and regular Alan Davies can't compete with such esoteric knowledge. In fact she almost gives up after hearing about a strange northern pursuit involving larded-up legs. "The more I get to know you, the more I think you men are mad," she states. Oh, and you'll never think of the word "sufficient" in the same way after Vegas's revelation.

Radio Times review

From the start there are hysterics tonight. Carol Vorderman collapses in helpless laughter at the very idea that fellow guest Kelly Hoppen washes her face with an orange every morning. Mind you, it's not much more plausible that Carol once shared her bed with a lion cub while staying at a safari park.

Both claims are tested to destruction on the comedy workbench, and as ever we're left marvelling at what a gem of a parlour game this is. Just listen to David Mitchell read from the card: "Whenever I see my postman Roy, he shouts 'Oggy! Oggy! Oggy!' and won't move on until I have replied 'Roy, Roy, Roy!'" You so want it to be true.

Radio Times review

Sharing is not a concept the teaching staff understand at Greybridge School. So Trevor's not happy when caretaker Gareth, who's sleeping in the classrooms, moves in with him - and then makes moves on his mother Rita (Michele Dotrice). It changes Gareth so much - "The voices in my head have gone, I'm not drinking from puddles any more" - that he even thinks he's ready to be a geography teacher again.

Also sharing (although a classroom rather than a bed) is Miss Postern and Mr Church. It's not the most sparkling end to the series, although the moment Catherine Tate's nose collides with a car window is a real gem of slapstick comedy.

Review: Tom Stade

When comedians spout outlandish ideas it tends to contain some element of truth designed to make you think, and Tom Stade's delivery makes him one of the best.

Daniel Sloss is having to clean up his act

Scots comic Daniel Sloss is having to clean up his act for a pre-watershed gig on Sunday Night at the Palladium.

Hugh Grant pulls out of 'Bridget Jones 3',

Hugh Grant has revealed that he no longer intends to appear in the upcoming third Bridget Jones film.

Is the Dad's Army remake really a good idea?

Is the Dad's Army remake a good idea? Rob Gilroy has a think about it then writes some words.

John Cleese: 'Monty Python won't be returning again'

John Cleese has spoken about the Monty Python reunion shows, insisting that they will be the last thing the group do together.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Simon Amstell, the Galway Comedy Carnival and Steen Raskopoulos.

Feedback: BBC radio comedy

This blog is usually concerned with concerns or controversy about BBC radio, so I thought I'd start this week with some praise, for the often maligned Radio 4 comedy output, well, for some of it.

A change in attitude celebrated By Comic Relief

The National Attitudes to Mental Illness survey has now revealed the greatest improvement in public attitudes towards mental health in a decade. The good news comes on World Mental Health Day. However, it is clear that there is still work to be done to end life-limiting stigma and discrimination according to the mental health anti-stigma programme Time to Change - which is part-funded by Comic Relief.

Paul Merton on the birth of Have I Got News for You

In an extract from his new autobiography, the comedian remembers the beginning of the iconic panel show.

Omid Djalili: I nearly died in a pit of poo

The comedian reveals his near-miss thanks to an unfortunate childhood encounter with a cesspit of human excrement...

Radio 4 commissions Lucy Beaumont sitcom

Lucy Beaumont has landed her own semi-autobiographical comedy series on Radio 4.

Meet the contestants: Heat Five - Manchester, 2014

Here's some more information about the comedians performing in this heat.

Who do they think they are kidding?

A glance at the names will tell you that this wrong-headed remake by Universal Pictures is certain to fail, because of their very celebrity. Egos will clash; instead of chemistry there will be only friction.

Tim Minchin interview

When you've sold out the O2 Arena, headlined Hyde Park and written the songs for multi-award winning musical Matilda, what's your next move? If you're Tim Minchin it's releasing a graphic novel adapted from a humanist-themed beat poem.

Opinion: are comedy clubs in a state?

I'm often asked if I have ever done stand-up comedy. I haven't and I usually say that I can't think of anything I'd want to do less. Well I can. I'd rather do stand-up than run a comedy club.

In praise of ... Nicholas Parsons

The veteran host of Just a Minute has no plans to retire, and killed off all such speculation at the Cheltenham Literature festival.

How satire website The Daily Mash became a sensation

"UKIP MP strangely familiar". "Anything bends if you f**k about with it enough, says Apple." "Non-smokers have no way to signal that sex is over." Those are just a typical day's headlines from The Daily Mash, the British satirical website that has become a surprise dotcom money-spinner - even if Nigella Lawson failed to see the joke.

Review: Doc Brown

His take on the industry's hang-ups about black actors is inspired - and opens the gateway to his most socially astute section, belatedly at 37 identifying himself as a feminist.

Frank Skinner admits to having Doctor Who nerves

"Since I did Doctor Who I've spent many an hour fretting about my performance, whether it was good enough," he explained.

The Tommyfield - comedy review

Sometimes club gigs toss you a curveball. Last night's first act, Suzi Ruffell, was taken ill just before going onstage. Newer comics Alex Smith and Mark Silcox gamely plugged the gap while supersub Lloyd Griffith biked over from Battersea.