5 Things

5 Things you might not know about - Tina C

30 Oct 2008

Despite appearances to the contrary, Tina C is not a genteel C&W dame from Tennessee but is in fact a strapping gentleman by the name of Christopher Green, a bloke from Derbyshire. To be more map-specific, Green hails from Matlock, a true hotbed of…

5 things you might not know about Pete Firman

4 Sep 2008

Firman was born in Middlesbrough, he made the breakthrough into TV by filming himself doing some tricks in his back garden, he was hugely influenced by Penn and Teller, he once did a trick with an egg and sparkler which went down a storm and his…

Jason Manford set for 2011 Scottish tour

UK comic on burger chains, not drinking and Bette Midler's heavies

11 Feb 2011

1. At the age of 17, Manford worked at one of those fast food burger chain places for a whole weekend, walking out when he was told he couldn’t have cheese on his burger during a break. He claims to have weighed around 16st at the time and really wanted…

Danny Bhoy - Five things you might not know

Scottish-born comedian returns home from Australia for Glasgow show

28 Jun 2011

1: The b(h)oy from Moffat is a fully-fledged Aussie now, though he had a nervous wait to find out if the immigration panel would give his application for permanent residency the thumbs-up after they requested tickets to see his show in Canberra. Despite…

Meow Meow interview

Avant-garde cabaret star ready for Edinburgh 2010

3 Aug 2010

1 rumour you'd like to start about yourself. I don’t need to. I'm much too busy cultivating the ones other people have concocted on the topic of me. They are much more inventive, thankfully. Life should always be that sensational! 2 things we…

Reginald D Hunter

5 things you might not know

18 Jun 2007

Being born into a devoutly religious family from Atlanta, it was expected that he would simply follow their path into preaching or teaching. His response was to hop on a plane to the UK and gain entry into RADA before stumbling into a life of stand-up…

5 things you might not know about Tiffany Stevenson

The actress comedian from Talk Radio to Show Me The Funny

2 Feb 2012

1 Tiffany Stevenson began her career in the entertainment biz as an actress and has appeared onscreen in The Office, took a lead role in gritty indie feature Spinning Candyfloss and popped up in Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Dirtee Cash’ video [see below]. 2 Her…

5 things you might not know about... Shappi Khorsandi

Some lesser-known snippets about the British-Iranian comedian

4 Mar 2011

1 Khorsandi grew up in west London in the 1980s after her Iranian family fled in exile to the UK. At the age of 11, she wrote to the Ayatollah Khomeini to ask him not to kill her father, a journalist and comedian whose stock-in-trade was political…

Five great female tribute acts

14 May 2010

Ahead of Misstallica in Glasgow, some all-female metal tributes...

5 Things You Might Not Know About... Pam Ayres

18 Mar 2010

1. Her first job was as a clerk in the Civil Service, before joining the Air Force, where she was posted to Singapore. It was there that Ayres first started performing poetry for her mates and when she came home she kept her schtick up by doing shows in…

5 Things you might not know about - Ken Dodd

10 Apr 2008

Somewhat eccentric from his early years, he often walked backwards all the way from school to his home simply to prove that it could be done. When he tried this feat of nonsense while on his bicycle, it proved to be less successful. Legend has it that…

5 Things you might not know about - The Mighty Boosh

8 Jan 2009

1 Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt decided to become a double act while appearing as a penis and a whale in Stewart Lee’s 1997 Edinburgh show, King Dong v Moby Dick. Lee in turn directed their ‘99 bonanza Arctic Boosh which was nominated for the…

5 Things you might not know about - Lee Evans

16 Oct 2008

1 Before he became a comedic superstar, Lee Evans played drums in a punk band all-too aptly called The Forgotten Five and was assistant to a spiritualist window dresser in Southend. 2 In 1993, the lad who left school when he could barely read won…

5 Things you might not know about - Des Clarke

14 Feb 2008

1 In 2000 at the tender age of 19, Des Clarke was runner-up in the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny awards. The victor was one Drew Rokos. He’s Australian. That’s all we know about him. 2 His first major TV exposure was on ITV’s Saturday…

5 things you might not know about Nick Helm

The former 'dinner lady' and 2011 Best Joke of the Fringe winner doesn't get on with Alice Cooper

5 Jan 2012

1 Among Nick Helm’s pre-showbiz jobs have been as a ‘dinner lady’ at a secondary school for boys, counting traffic and working in the café of a garden centre. 2 In 2001, he formed a theatre company called Bad Ash Productions whose oeuvre includes I…

5 Things you might not know about.. Roy 'Chubby' Brown

23 Jul 2010

1. OK, this is one you’ll probably all know, but it’s a good one so it’s going in. Born Royston Vasey in 1945, the moniker was used by the League of Gentlemen as the name for their fictional location where all the grotesques come out (or stay in) to…

5 Things you might not know about - Rob Rouse

3 Jun 2010

1. Having trained as a geography teacher, Rob Rouse decided that a career in education wasn’t really his bag and so tried his hand at stand-up, a profession that he describes as ‘easier’. 2. In 1998 he beat off competition from Alex Zane, Dan…

5 Things You Might Not Know About... Paul Merton

29 Apr 2010

1.) Paul Martin (as he was named in July 1957) was inspired to get into live comedy after seeing Alexei Sayle perform in 1981. The tight-suited scouser’s ‘stream of tastelessness’ led Merton to take to the stage with his ‘policeman on acid’ sketch. He…

5 Rip-offs

18 Mar 2010

As Tarantino faces Kill Bill plagiarism accusations, we re-cap on five alleged rip-offs...

5 Things You Might Not Know About... Rob Brydon

4 Dec 2009

1. Educated at a private school in Swansea which he described as ‘not posh’ but ‘quite English’, it seems Rob Brydon was not particularly sporty, given that he was stupendously last in the sack race, still hopping on while everyone else had moved on to…

5 things you might not know about Eddie Izzard

4 Nov 2009

1 Born in Yemen, Edward John Izzard spent three pre-school years in mid-60s Northern Ireland. Oblivious to all the politics, he was brought up in a Protestant stronghold in Bangor and loved going out to chuck mud at passing cars. 2 A committed…

5 Things You Might Not Know About: Alistair McGowan

2 Oct 2009

1. McGowan first started impersonating people at school. During an early stage appearance in West Side Story, he went marginally off-script to mimic some of his teachers. 2. He studied English at the University of Leeds, an establishment which has…

5 Things you might not know about - Derren Brown

28 May 2009

1. The man you have to initially blame/thank for the unstoppable rise of Derren Brown is Jerry Sadowitz. They first met in a magic shop in London and after swapping tricks soon became pals, with Sadowitz helping Brown get his first lecture gig for…

5 Things you might not know about - Freddie Starr

30 Apr 2009

1 Let’s get the unpleasantness out of the way first. Back in 1986 came the most notorious moment of wild boy Frederick Leslie Fowell’s showbiz career when The Sun carried its iconic headline: ‘Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster’. He has continually denied…

Five Things You Might Not Know About - Phil Nichol

2 Apr 2009

1. His CV reports: ‘born in Scotland and raised by wild rabbits in Canada.’ One of these statements seems to be half-true. 2. He has something of a streaker instinct. Prior to winning the if.comedy prize for his Naked Racist show, he stripped right…