Tim Key

Tim Key interview

Tim Key, the former Cambridge Footlight star, answers Sun Comedy's questions ahead of his one-man Slutcracker tour...

The Horne Section: Songs in the key of silly

It's the perfect match. The improvised musings of the country's best comedians combined with the free-form noodlings of a five-piece jazz band. When The Horne Section debuted at Edinburgh this summer, it quickly became the talk of the Fringe. Punters clutching pints queued round the block for the occasional, lightly shambolic midnight shows. Jimmy Carr dropped by to rap out 10 one-liners over 10 different beats, Tim Minchin improvised a song about cheese and Tim Key performed a track by the Russian punk band Leningrad. There were burlesque dancers, shared bags of chips and 2am Bon Jovi singalongs, led by Josie Long with Mark Watson on drums.

Mr Brooker's Wipe strand gets a promotion from BBC4 to terrestrial with his inimitable review of the year in news, telly, politics, games and film. The whole caboodle. Chipping in to help Charlie out are brilliant comic misanthrope Doug Stanhope, who'll be looking at the BP gulf oil disaster; Britain's best comic poet, Tim Key, with some dark, topical verse and - another Guardian writer - Grace Dent will be getting her hands lathery with a review of the year's soaps.

Video - Tim Key: Poetry, a string quartet and a boat

Comedian, actor and performance poet Tim Key won the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award with a solo poetry show called The Slutcracker.

For his latest project, he has teamed up with a string quartet to create an album - on vinyl - of his poetry, set to music. And it was all recorded on a boat.

It is therefore not surprising that the album, which has just been released, is called Tim Key. With a String Quartet. On a Boat.

BBC News went along to an exclusive gig to find out more.

Tim Key: the spirit of 'Derek and Clive'

Tim Key's new comedy record recalls the glory days of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

Tim Key and Bo Burnham in conversation

Tim Key the star of last years Fringe sits down and chats to the star of this years Bo Burnham for an hour of self indulgence, deep comedy philosophy and back slapping, it's also over 3000 words long.

My Edinburgh: Tim Key, Comedian

The Slutcracker's Tim Key answers 5 questions

Who should be more famous, what bugs him the most about the festival, and dead comics.

I've been to a couple of rather wonderful recordings of Radio 4 comedy recently. First up was the live recording of two episodes - 1 and 3 oddly - of Party, a four-part sitcom version of Tom Basden's play that I saw up in Edinburgh (ok, and down in London) in which five young and essentially clueless idealists set up a political party in its self-appointed leader's shed (or summerhouse, as he insists). It's broader than the theatre version, certainly, but the writing's still wonderful, and the performances still pitch perfect. Jonny Sweet is especially brilliant as that disputed leader, a campus Clegg/Cameron/Blair-like lothario; and Tim Key's immaculate timing is given a great showcase as the newest member of the party, drafted in because he new dad owns a print shop (though he thinks he's there for another reason entirely).