Brian Logan

Arj Barker: Landing of the Conchord

Arj Barker, aka Dave from Flight of the Conchords, set the Fringe alight on his first appearance in 1997. The comic tells Brian Logan why he's returning there a very different man.

Whose line is it anyway?

Jokes are valuable currency for professional comics, as the row over Keith Chegwin's Twitter 'gag theft' reveals.

Why is Lee railing against the Edinburgh comedy awards?

A corporate-sponsored poll to find the best standup from the last 30 years has provoked a glorious rant from Lee. But is his anger directed at the contest, or the association of comedy's golden years with a weak Australian lager?

Ivor Dembina gives parliament its first standup gig

Ivor Dembina is about to do the first ever standup gig in parliament. Will he bring down the House?

Comedy Review: Party

There are pitfalls when comedians make theatre. Sometimes they strive too hard to be serious; sometimes (judging by the reviews of last summer's The School for Scandal), they don't strive hard enough. The 2007 If.Comedy award winner for best newcomer, Tom Basden, sweeps all such considerations aside with his new play about student politics, an idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable piece performed beautifully by a crack cast of upcoming comics.

The novelty of tribute comedy

Can't get tickets for Peter Kay? Why not see a Peter Kay-style show? But should we be celebrating the age of the copycat comic?

Harry Hill proves strange acts can be mainstream gold

The big-collared peddler of nonsense is back as a permanent feature in the nation's living rooms.

Tom Wrigglesworth review

There aren't many funnier shows in Edinburgh - and certainly none more right. We all moan about the national disgrace of our train fares, but Wrigglesworth (an old-fashioned rail romantic) is doing something about it.

Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra

It's a waste to have the orchestra just beefing up Bailey's mildly amusing songs. Far better when the instruments are foregrounded; when music (Rossini; the EastEnders theme) is deconstructed to comic effect, and the orchestra provides the punchlines. Sometimes that's difficult - comic timing is complicated when 72 musicians are involved. But elsewhere, it's sublime, as stately form meets daft content, and Bailey runs riot in the candy shop of his musical imagination. A four-man performance of Saint-Saëns' The Swan on Alpine cow bells shows the giddy heights of pleasure to which this curious collaboration might yet aspire.

Theoretical comedy it may be; but Lee and Herring are no less in the thrall of the scatalogical than many of their less crafty counterparts. Another of their sophisticated satires, on relativism, has it that the businessman in his suit and tie is just as "sick" as the man who masturbates over incinerating cows.