Chris Morris (I)

Film Review: The Infidel

It wasn't that long ago that atheists were confident they had won the battle against religion. It's a mark of just how much things have changed that atheists once again feel moved to go on the attack. First came the men of reason - Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens - and now along come the comics, armed with the weapons of ridicule. On stage, we've already had Jihad! The Musical, and, coming soon to a cinema near you is Chris Morris's much-anticipated Four Lions. Both are controversial works that set out to show the funny side of religious fundamentalism.

Disgusting Bliss by Lucian Randall

Notoriously private satirist Chris Morris is portrayed as brilliant but uncompromising, says Elizabeth Day.

Chris Morris - the most hated man in Britain

The satirist has been hailed a genius and vilified by Britain's moral guardians. Now he's made a comedy about suicide bombers.

Last night I witnessed a small piece of television history when BBC3 aired, without question, the worst comedy pilot they have ever made. Bearing in mind this channel has produced more abysmal comedy pilots than a flying school for suicidal clowns, that's quite an achievement.

The aptly named Laughter Shock was quite stunning in its awfulness, so much so that it almost felt like an angry satire on everything that's wrong with modern British comedy. But no, it was real. Horribly, painfully real.

This jaw-dropping travesty was intended as a showcase for over a dozen young comedians, all labouring under the misapprehension that all you need for a successful career in stand-up is amplification and a larynx. Performing live in front of a trapped audience, this smorgasbord of hacks were each given just a minute to make their mark. This, clearly, is an insane way to present stand-up comedy on television, but in this case it was a blessing.

Even in heavily edited form, they were among the most atrocious stand-ups I have ever seen. Lowlights included a loud woman talking solely about her hair, an idiot doing an impersonation of a dinosaur (because his last girlfriend was so old), a "token middle-class white boy" illustrating his cleverness by using the word "semantically" and sneering at people's Amazon reviews, and a hopeless berk performing an excruciating routine about the many hilarious uses for a towel. That he did this while aping the vocal mannerisms of Michael McIntyre merely compounded the horror.

As if all of this wasn't bad enough, the stand-up was interspersed with amateurish sketches ranging from charmless whimsy to uninspired riffs on youth culture and race, and a truly appalling attempt at Chris Morris-like edginess set in a woman's lavatory.

Comedy, like any craft, requires practice and experience before it can be mastered, so if I was feeling charitable I'd concede that perhaps these newcomers were simply ill-prepared for such exposure. Having said that, none of them showed the slightest bit of potential, and I'm staggered that even BBC3 - where new comedy frequently goes to die - thought this fit for broadcast.

Satirist who went in search of laughs in dark places

Chris Morris has carved out a reputation for pushing the boundaries of what's deemed acceptable on TV and radio.

BIFF Review - Four Lions

Following its UK premiere at the BIFF, we sing the praises of Chris Morris' sharp and audacious satire.

Four Lions Review

Chris Morris hits a raw nerve in his take on homegrown terror in which the police are as bumbling as the jihadi bombers.

Quizzing the Lion

Before the SXSW screening of his new satire Four Lions at the Paramount on Friday, director Chris Morris preempted one inevitable Q from the post-screening Q&A. "The most common question about the film is, 'Why make a comedy about terrorism?'"

Julia Davis (Nighty Night, Human Remains) and Jessica Hynes (Spaced, The Royle Family) have partnered for the new BBC2 comedy pilot Lizzie And Sarah, playing two fiftysomething suburban housewives who are ignored by their selfish husbands, but are inspired by the tragic death of a teenager to take revenge.

If you're a fan of very dark comedy, this looks promising, although the "joke" of the trailer appears to the total absence of any traditional laughs and its oppressive, sinister tone. But it's packed full of familiar faces from British comedy (Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon, David Cann, etc), most of whom have appeared in similarly blackhearted comedies; from the aforementioned Nighty Night and Human Remains, through satirist Chris Morris' Brass Eye and Jam.

Apparently, Lizzie & Sarah is being sneaked out on BBC2 with little fanfare and in a graveyard slot (Saturdays, 11:45pm!) because the BBC were shocked by how dark and twisted it is, which is a shame. But I know that fact just gave plenty of people a frisson of excitement. Lizzie & Sarah hits the airwaves on 20 March. I hope it's funny, but in a sick way.

Chris Morris in the lion's den

The creator of Brass Eye is back and this time his subject is Islamic fundamentalism. Expect trouble.