Simon Amstell

Simon Amstell, To Be Free - review

Happiness - or Amstell's version of happiness - hasn't dulled his comedy antennae in his brilliant new show, his best yet.

Simon Amstell review

Casting himself as a social misfit in his new show To Be Free, Simon Amstell turns his fire, sometimes embarrassingly, on all of us.

Simon Amstell: To Be Free review

To Be Free is a typically thoughtful Amstell show mixing existential questions with belly laughs, with neither in short supply.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Simon Amstell, the Galway Comedy Carnival and Steen Raskopoulos.

Brighton Comedy Festival highlights

Bridget Christie, Jo Brand, Simon Amstell, Rich Hall, Jon Richardson, Dave Gorman and Sara Pascoe are set to perform.

Despite rock'n'roll being at a bit of a low ebb pop-culturally, the music quiz show forged in the ashes of Britpop still endures, and for this new series now has a new permanent host in Rhod Gilbert. His astonished goofiness is rather different to the acid snark of Mark Lamarr and Simon Amstell before him, but there's no shortage of whipping boys for potential lampooning: both Professor Green and the 1975's Matt Healy will no doubt have their mickey not so much taken as kidnapped in this opening episode.

Radio Times review

At last, Buzzcocks has a permanent host. For too long we've been adrift on a choppy sea of guest hosts where for every swell like Terry Wogan or Adam Buxton who could make the show their own, there have been troughs of forgettable faces.

One of the more memorable is voluble Welsh comic Rhod Gilbert, who finally takes on the mantle of hosting duties left by Mark Lamarr and Simon Amstell. He's not as acerbic or waspish as either of those two, so expect more surreal anarchy than vicious putdowns. Guests Professor Green, Roisin Conaty, Gabby Logan and the 1975's Matt Healy will do their best to keep up.

Radio Times review

Families can be the toughest critics. As Can't Tell... returns for a third series, Grandma Caton is still waiting for award-winning comedian Nathan to get a proper job. This stand-up/sitcom is an odd beast. A hybrid of Seinfeld and Simon Amstell's Grandma's House, it cuts between the West Indian comic's stand-up routines and the domestic squabbles that inspire them.

It's more "endearing" than "laugh-out-loud funny", but Can't Tell... remains a refreshing counterpoint to the rest of Radio 4's comedy output: Caton wryly describes his presence on the station as "a bit like 50 Cent making an appearance on Midsomer Murders."

Two more acts announced for 2015 Glasgow Comedy Fest

Susan Calman and Henning Wehn will join Simon Amstell in performing at the Glasgow theatre next March.

Latitude Review: Simon Amstell

Amstell's set was a shortened version of the show he will be touring in the autumn. It’s painfully funny, but, boy, does he plough a furrow to death.