Paul Merton

Why you won't find Paul Merton in the pub

Paul Merton, back on the Fringe for the millionth time, this year stars in My Obsession (Pleasance Courtyard), written by his wife, Suki Webster. Not that he's ever had much trouble in real life from obsessive fans.

Paul Merton on why he never goes to see other shows (Link expired)

Kate Copstick's diary.

Harry and Paul's Story of the 2s was an irreverent look back at the history of BBC Two as a whole. The programme was set out as a mockumentary with Harry Enfield taking the role of Simon Schama as he took us back to 1964 where Auntie Beeb gave birth to her second child. Enfield and Paul Whitehouse appear to have been given free rein to mock every programme that the channel have ever produced.

I was personally surprised that programmes such as Fawlty Towers, which are often held in high regard, were picked apart in a matter of minutes by the mischievous duo. Highlights for me included Paul's perfect impressions of both Mary Berry and Jools Holland with the latter presenting an ill-fated breakfast show 'Earlier with Jools'. I also thought the extended pastiche of the channel's recent reliance on panel shows were expertly done with Paul Merton's input on Have I Got News for You being perfectly lampooned.

At the same time I found a lot of the programme to make fairly obvious jokes including the fact that the majority of the BBC Two executives went to Oxbridge universities. In addition I felt the programme took its time getting started and that the early focus on long-running war documentaries weren't really that funny. At just under an hour in length, it felt at times as if Harry and Paul were struggling to find programmes to mock and even included a sketch from an unaired episode of Blackadder, a programme that never featured on BBC Two. But ultimately I do feel the programme was a success which featured more comedy hits than misses and just enough laughs to justify the length of the programme. Enfield and Whitehouse proved why they're still the go-to comics of choice for the BBC and the Story of the 2s was a perfect inclusion in the Bank Holiday comedy marathon. I did also find it admirable that Enfield took time to even mock himself as one sketch focused on his jealousy over the fact that Whitehouse's Fast Show had one multiple BAFTAs while his own show had never been recognised.

Paul Merton: Drunks have turned me off stand-up comedy

Comedian Paul Merton has turned his back on stand-up comedy for good because drunken hecklers have ruined the atmosphere of the genre which made him famous.

Highlights include a mickey take of The Office and a brilliantly-observed version of The Killing that mixes the dark thriller with children's television character Pingu.

Harry and Paul don't shy away from the controversial parts of the BBC's history, with a version of Call My Bluff in which the chosen word is paedophile. And after a picture of a BBC chief called Bert John is flashed up that bears more than a passing resemblance to ex-director general John Birt, fictional head of drama Jonathan Oxford-Cambridge (played by Whitehouse) refers to Bert John as, "a total c..." before he is cut off.

Enfield plays main narrator, the historian Simon Schama, plus Michael Gambon, Stephen Fry and Ian Hislop, while Whitehouse's characters include Paul Merton, Mary Berry and BBC creative director Alan Yentob - who he plays as a mixture of Gollum and Yoda.

Yentob showed he could take the joke though. Most of the show was filmed around the old BBC Television Centre in west London which is being redeveloped. Originally Harry and Paul were denied access but Yentob sorted it out for them. Harry said at a screening of the show: "Yentob made it happen. I think he might live to regret it don't you?"

Radio Times review

As the big beast of the panel-show genre rouses itself for a 47th series, we know what to expect. Nobody would pretend the show's satirical edge is as sharp as it once was or that the scripted gags supplied to the host aren't sometimes embarrassingly poor (you can often see team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton wince in sympathy). But it's still the best place to see the week's news given a going-over and it's good to have it back.

Jennifer Saunders takes the presenter's hot seat for the first time and Richard Osman, who generally raises everyone's game a peg or two, is a guest.

The magazine show includes a special week of broadcasts of Junior Just a Minute. Nicholas Parsons is a kindly, paternal host, but please don't expect the same heights of humour as Paul Merton and Graham Norton.

Opinion: impro v scripted - no contest?

I've seen Paul Merton do scripted and unscripted shows in recent years and there is always a thrill at his impro shows which was missing from his stand-up show.

My Edinburgh: Paul Merton

I have been coming to the Edinburgh Fringe for 29 years and I've had some dramatic times.

Every day, in a stairwell at Broadcasting House, I pass by a photograph of Nicholas Parsons. If you haven't seen that photo, you've seen one like it. Down the years, Nicholas must have been photographed thousands of times with timepieces of all descriptions. He is invariably pointing at them, and beaming as if the clock in question is the most wonderful object ever conceived.

And well he might. Since the earliest days of Radio 4 in 1967, Nicholas has presided over Just a Minute with the same glee exhibited in every publicity shot. His cry of "Welcome to Just a Minute!" at the start of each programme is as enthusiastic a greeting as you'll hear on the radio... an enthusiasm that the passing decades have not dimmed.

His cheery and wily chairmanship are the backbone of it all, with the game's players giving the show new form every week. For a programme obsessed with the passing seconds, time has robbed it of some of its most accomplished participants. Paul Merton is now the mainstay, though he's not here for this first edition of a new series: here it's Gyles Brandreth who picks up and runs with his topics, full of clever word play, boisterous energy and mischief.

As always, anarchy is never far away. In round one, panellist Patrick Kielty accuses Parsons of behaving like a contestant and awards him a point. Never a wasted minute.