Dan Antopolski

An interview with Dan Antopolski

Dan Antopolski is a prolific and critically lauded comedian who has enjoyed popularity both as a stand-up, as well as on radio and TV.

Edinburgh Q&A: Dan Antopolski

What inspired your show this year? "The need to generate a new hour for my autumn tour."

Dan Antopolski's funny turn

A chat with 2009's Best Joke winner Dan Antopolski...

This episode in the network's ambitious Comedy Showcase short series, is by and stars Tim Minchin as Jonny, lead singer of rock band Perspex, who's left Australia to find fame and fortune. Just as it seems within his band's grasp he meets Verity, beautiful lead singer of a Christian pop band, and their mutual chemistry is instant. So will this change his path to that of true love and different values or, by inducing deep suffering, make him a better artist? The remarkable supporting cast includes Peter Serafinowicz, Dan Antopolski and Lizzie Roper.

Comedy is undeniably a booming business again. Though it may never reach the fever pitch of rock n'roll, a legion of related book and DVD releases and a plethora of live tours suggest that it's in rude health. It may be too rude for some at times but 2010 promises no let-up.

Laura Solon and Dan Antopolski both hit the road this month. Solon, who won the Perrier in 2005, will air her 2009 Edinburgh show, 'Rabbit-Faced Story Soup', a tour-de-force of characterisation and tightly-written one-liners. Antopolski is no slouch when it comes to one-liners either and he'll be aiming to show that he has more to offer than the hedgehog joke ("Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge?") that won him, via a public vote, Dave TV's Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award this year.

The ever more recognisable The Thick of It and In The Loop star Chris Addison goes on tour in February with his first brand new show for five years. Mock the Week host, Dara O'Briain has announced a massive 60-date nationwide tour from March to June culminating in dates at the Hammersmith Apollo. And, though he once told me that he didn't fancy the idea of "Leamington Spa on a Tuesday evening", the Irish comedian, and a former Edinburgh comedy award nominee, Andrew Maxwell is finally going to be unleashed on UK audiences for his first regional tour from April. Though many up and down the country will already know this dexterous comedian from his club sets, this will be the first time that his full-length excellence will have been witnessed outside of Edinburgh or of his native country where he has always been guaranteed large turnout.

Other tours to watch come from Mark Watson (from October) who recently gave a good account of himself in the chair of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, sketch troupe Pappy's and Jason Manford from June. And, watch out, the comedian that people love to hate, Frankie Boyle starts his 'I Would Happily Punch Every One Of You In The Face' tour at Glasgow's Kings Theatre in March. Perhaps he'll seal the gig with a kiss.

It's a strange little thing this. Dan Antopolski and Karl Theobald star as Tony and Steve Angel, two Italian brothers who only speak with Italian accents at home and spend their working lives dealing with unusual pests, such as suicidal mice and angry squirrels. Quirky and slight.