Comedy, Issue 688

Interview: Stephen Merchant on his upcoming UK tour

Comic and writer of The Office returns to stand-up for Hello Ladies tour

During the Edinburgh Fringe of 2001 a quartet of lesser-known comedians took to the Café Royal stage to perform consecutive sets under the umbrella show title Rubbernecker. The first three of these gents were Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr and Robin Ince.

Rab C Nesbitt interview

Glasgow's most outspoken resident talks TV licenses, tofu and Brad Pitt

First record you ever bought Bought? You didn’t buy records in my day, you liberated them at parties. To this day the intro to ‘Light My Fire’ can cause me a soiling issue through excitement. Last extravagant purchase you made A TV Licence in…

5 Things you might not know about Alan Carr

1 Carr’s distinctive toothy look was due to a childhood accident when he fell and banged his chin on the caravan-towing bar on a family holiday. 2 Before he got proper famous, Carr had a litany of awful-sounding temp jobs: putting shampoo in boxes…

Reginald D Hunter

Not just a race comic, he insists

One of the prime misconceptions about Reginald D Hunter is that all he does is talk about race and racism. Sure, he may have had the word ‘Nigga’ in several of his show titles, but within a Hunter show will be a plethora of topics and areas touching on…

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry David's groundbreaking sitcom stays at the top of its game for an eighth season

After the high watermark of season seven’s Seinfeld-reunion storyline, Larry David brings us dragging and cringing back into his world of petty obsessions, chronic misunderstandings and friendships permanently teetering on the brink of abrasive…

Midnight in Paris

Another warm and witty all-star comedy from Woody Allen

(12A) 94min Midnight in Paris is one of the warmest and wittiest Woody Allen films in recent memory. The jaunty manner and literary bent are reminiscent of Vicky Cristina Barcelona as Allen invests what could be a New Yorker short story with a…

Profile - Sebastian Koch

German star of coming-of-age Brit comedy Albatross

Name Sebastian Koch Born Karlsruhe, Germany, May 31 1962 Background Koch has worked solidly in European films and TV for over 25 years, but it was his terrific performance in The Lives of Others (2006) that made him recognisable to cinema…

Albatross

Well-balanced coming-of-age comedy starring Downtown Abbey's Jessica Brown Findlay

This British coming-of-age comedy drama from debut director Niall MacCormick retreads familiar ground with its story but, thanks to a very funny script and a combustible lead performance from newcomer Jessica Brown Findlay, it’s never dull. Findlay…

Carl Donnelly

The comedian tells us about his comedy hero Mitch Hedberg

Picking one comedy hero is much harder than it sounds, especially for me as I don’t seem to have had the standard path to becoming a stand-up myself. Comedians tend to talk about how they grew up listening to Richard Pryor albums but I actually watched…