Alan Davies

Alan Davies: It's great to be back doing stand-up

It's been more than a decade since Alan Davies's last live tour. But now he is returning to stand-up, he couldn't be happier about it.

QI won't be around for ever, predicts Alan Davies

Those who complain about the ubiquity of Stephen Fry on the telly (yah boo to them) may be given heart by a hint dropped yesterday by Alan Davies that their BBC quiz show QI may not be around for ever.

Alan Davies and Horrible Histories for Camp Bestival

Alan Davies, The Levellers and Horrible Histories are among the headliners announced by Camp Bestival this year.

Alan Davies interview

Alan Davies returned to stand-up in 2012 after ten years away with a new show, Life Is Pain, in which he tackled issues ranging from parenthood and pornography to Facebook and feminism.

Interview: Alan Davies

'People told me therapy would make me unfunny'

Alan Davies's top ten stand-up comedians

The QI and Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies reveals his favourite comics.

Alan Davies on QI:

Alan Davies has joked that he has learned nothing from appearing on QI.

Alan Davies: Jonathan Creek not defeated by snow

Actor Alan Davies has revealed that the recent snow has put a dampner on filming of the one-off special return of Jonathan Creek, but that they're still aiming for an Easter air date.

This three-part documentary series, narrated by journalist Eddie Mair, looks at the 'darker', money-making side of the comedy world.

The first episode looks at how many comics, in particular stand-ups, make money by performing at corporates. It shows performances from The Real Variety Show where comics play in front of business people keen on booking them for events.

Then it follows the world of adverts, discussing comics like Mark Arden and Stephen Frost (who did ads for Carling Black Label) to QI creator John Lloyd (who first met Alan Davies when Lloyd directed ads for Abbey National.) I know there's a history of comics doing adverts - despite the public outrage at Mark Watson a few years back - but I was suprised at the frequency of appearances. Most of the ads were produced 'before my time' as it were, so were quite shocking in a way. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie advertising tobacco?

It's definitely a growing trend, though; if you're feeling bored, you can play a little game where you try to spot how many times in a three-minute period you can hear the voice of Hugh Dennis.

Off all the people on Funny Business, though, the most interesting was Rhod Gilbert. Rhod explained how one corporate gig resulted in him sacking them off altogether, and how he justified doing adverts for the Welsh tourist board because he was promoting a country rather than a product. There were also interesting contributions from Mark Thomas, who attacked just about any involvement of comedians and advertising. The only advertising I can think that he has been involved in was with early episodes of The Mark Thomas Comedy Product, which were sponsored by small independent shops - like a gentlemen's hairdressers and a record shop.

Funny Business declares that the problem with advertising is that there's no funny ads. I can't help but think the problem's that there are ads to start with.

Alan Davies interview

The Jonathan Creek actor on why comedians have become the new fall guys - and why he's returning to standup.