Brian Donaldson

Comedy review: Rob Deering, Glasgow

Anyone attending The Stand with a vague allergy to musical comedy might well have felt they had stumbled into purgatory on Thursday night. But the top two acts on the evening's bill, Loretta Maine and Rob Deering, proved that this comedic sub-genre is a broad and hearty beast.

Danny Boyle-directed pilot of Babylon is underwhelming

New police comedy-drama from Bain & Armstrong shows no sign of becoming brutal and edgy satire.

Interview: Lee Hurst

Lee Hurst is back and he's seriously hacked off...

TV review: Hank Zipzer

This is unmistakably an opening episode as the establishment of the characters is hammered home with earthquake-like subtlety while a couple of the performances are a little wooden.

5 things you might not know about the ISIHAC crew

Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jeremy Hardy and Jack Dee are taking the beloved radio show on the road. Here's some facts about them.

Interview: Larry Dean, Scottish comedian of the year

During the 2013 Fringe, Dean performed 140 shows in 24 days: 'the excessive gigging made me ready'

Nick Helm plays the titular suicidal Andy who is temporarily dragged out of his misery to reluctantly look after his 12-year-old nephew, Errol. After an initial stand-off, the pair use their equal status as outsiders to forge an unlikely bond. Helm successfully channels the less bombastic side of his stand-up character to portray a loveable loser and the overall effect is curiously moving, as well as intermittently hilarious. Perhaps he'll have lost it in 20 years' time, but for now, let's just enjoy a comedian approaching his prime.

If ever there was evidence that you should quit while you're not as ahead as you once were, House of Fools provides it by the bucketload. The inexorable decline of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer was pretty apparent during their recent online-only sketch affair, for which the description of tepid would have constituted a rave review. And now they're back with a sitcom that almost defiles the memory of their greatest hits (Shooting Stars and Catterick for two) and drags down the normally excellent Matt Berry with them.

It's full of the standard Vic 'n' Bob nonsense, but time has simply not been kind to their brand of non-sequitur surrealism, and you can't help but long for the days of the dove from above and Les Facts. House of Fools is oovavoo indeed.

TV review: Uncle, Mom, House of Fools

Three new sitcoms featuring the comedic talents of Nick Helm, Chuck Lorre and Vic & Bob.

Comedy review: Rob Newman, Edinburgh

Choosing to shy away from a celebrity status and burrow away on the fringes was the best move he ever made.