Now, I’ve never been a massive fan of Billy Connolly. His classic material – you know, appearances on Parkinson and other late night TV – is obviously demonstrative of wonderful storytelling, but when you start analyzing it, that’s all it is. Throwing a few swear words into a vaguely amusingRead More →
When you’re making near-the-knuckle jokes about paedophiles and the Royal Family that are so over the top that even BBC Two doesn’t mind seeing the back of you from its top rated topical comedy panel show, it’s probably time to take a new approach to exposing establishment hypocrisy. That’s exactlyRead More →
Did you catch BBC One’s celebratory The One Lenny Henry earlier this year? Buoyed by the success of the excellent The One Ronnie and sensing an opportunity to bring fans of a 1980s comedy to the channel in a wave of nostalgia, this was a vehicle for Lenny Henry toRead More →
So the British Comedy Awards 2011 have been and gone; it was a pleasure to see some different names thrown about this time around, and better still to see Sarah Millican recognised for her hard work and easy Geordie charm. We covered some of the nominated categories last week, inRead More →
If you’re planning on a night in the 2011 British Comedy Awards are broadcast live on Channel 4 this evening, with host Jonathan Ross presenting awards to a string of already successful comics and comedy actors looking for peer and public validation. The shortlist has been published for a whileRead More →
Things are looking grim for BBC television comedy. In the past few weeks we’ve had the news that Shooting Stars has been axed amidst a “refocusing” of BBC Two’s output (once a hotbed of new comedy shows) while BBC Three has dropped Johnny Vegas’ consistently excellent Ideal. The latter isRead More →
Let’s get this straight – Rebecca Adlington, bless ‘er, DOES look like someone looking in the back of a spoon. Since the insanity of the Sachsgate row and the intervening Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr “joke” controversies, the BBC have been keen to extract all possible offence from any jokes.Read More →
What happened to Have I Got News For You this week? Paul Merton and Ian Hislop were joined by Al Murray in the chair and among the guests was Germaine Greer. During the days running up to recording (Thursday evening), terrorists have attacked the city of Mumbai, Woolworths and MFIRead More →
It has been a very long time coming, but finally at last my home town of Middlesbrough has established a regular comedy night! A monthly affair at the Town Hall Crypt, I’ve so far been unable to attend due to other commitments. However I have heard superb reports back, andRead More →
Well it has been a long time coming, but finally here it is – the brand new look Quintessential Comedy! The aim was to produce a smoother, slicker look for our loyal visitors, and we hope that the new look and improved functionality on the right-hand menus will improve enjoymentRead More →
It’s easy to blow stuff out of all proportion, but there’s no way that this business should be carrying on 10 days or so after the fact. As it is, both Brand and Ross have been caught up in the media circus and both suspended while the BBC’s Director GeneralRead More →
You don’t get much hi tech comedy really outside of The IT Crowd – let’s try and redress the balance a bit… There’s more tech gubbins over at The Gadget Monkey.Read More →
