Comedy, Profile and Brian Donaldson

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…

Five fun facts about Ed Byrne

Some little known facts about the Irish comic's altercations with popes, Perriers and Piers Morgan

17 Oct 2011

Born in the Dublin suburb of Swords, Byrne first got involved in stand-up comedy as a horticulture student at Strathclyde University. As part of the student union, Byrne hosted pub quizzes and karaoke nights which provided him with a taste for showing…

5 Things you might not know about Alan Carr

19 Sep 2011

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…

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…

Five interesting things about... Dylan Moran

Irish comedian shares hometown with Tommy Tiernan and Pierce Brosnan

23 May 2011

1 Irishman Moran has been living in Edinburgh for some years now, but is originally from Navan, a small, five-lettered palindromic town, like Kivik in Sweden or Catac in Peru. Tiny it may be (according to the 2006 census, 3710 people resided there) but…

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…

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…

Five Things You Might Not Know About: Craig Hill

31 Mar 2010

1: A born entertainer, this East Kilbride boy’s party piece at family dos was singing Stevie Wonder’s ‘Lately’. When his relatives tried to get him to go on local radio and sing the number, he went a bit shy and refused. Very hard to imagine a bashful…

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…

Mike Wozniak

Portsmouth Pole ponders perspective, pressure, penis pain

29 Jul 2009

Whether you happened to be members of Mike Wozniak’s family or complete strangers, there’s a chance that on viewing his debut solo set last August, much of your time would have been spent clenching or crossing some part of your body. The Wozniaks would…

Kiosk of Champions

29 Jul 2009

The words ‘Horne’ and ‘Corden’ have struck terror into those preaching good things about young comedy in this country. But Stuart Goldsmith, the Scottish National Busking Champion of 2001, sees some positives oozing out of this pus-riddled BBC3…

The beast in Philberto

24 Jul 2009

Portugal’s reality TV legend Philberto is gracing us with his presence while exploring his inner animal this Fringe. Here he picks his top five reality stars

An Hour to Sing fo Your Soul - Kevin Bridges' stand-up show

23 Jul 2009

When comics make their Fringe debuts, many of them are hell-bent on working up the biggest theme their minds and mouths can maintain over the course of an hour. Not such manufactured tosh for a guy like Kevin Bridges, the latest in a long line of great…

5 Things You Might Not Know About: Janey Godley

23 Jul 2009

1 Having run a pub in Glasgow, Janey Godley was born to tame wild audiences and a stand-up career beckoned. But as well as her progression on comedy stages, she’s a playwright, serial blogger and community worker, having helped kids in drug-rampant…

Seymour Mace

25 Jun 2009

In these serious times, comedy can be seen as a force of salvation for those finding life tough. Their choice of fun-seeking though may be informed by the exact feeling desired at the end of a show. If you want a comedy gig in which your political…

5 Things You Might Know About: Jan Ravens

25 Jun 2009

1 An esteemed alumni of Cambridge Footlights, Cheshire-born Jan Ravens was doing sketchy stuff for them in the years which included the likes of Clive Anderson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Douglas Adams. She clearly had something a…

5 things you might not know about…Russell Howard

11 Jun 2009

1 Having made a steady name for himself with shows such as Skylarking, Adventures and Wandering, to become an Edinburgh Fringe staple, the Bristolian comic announced last year that he would no longer be doing the August sweatboxes. He felt bad at the…

Profile - Rhod Gilbert

5 Mar 2009

Name Rhod Gilbert Who’s he? He’s the Welsh comic who created a fictional village of Llanbobl for his early solo Fringe shows. Prior to his solo success, he was one half of the Stereocomics, the other half containing Mark Watson. Who’s not actually…

Glasgow Comedy Festival - Joanna Neary

5 Mar 2009

When character comic Joanna Neary worked as a nanny in a previous life, she didn’t let the job stop her imagination running wild. One boy she took to school would be entertained by stories of how he lived in a house where the food would come out of the…

Profile: Tony Vino

19 Feb 2009

Who’s he then? Tony Vino has been doing comedy since 2005, making the final of the Funny Bones competition a year later against the likes of Wendy Wason and Bethany Black with one Jay Ryan coming out on top. He’s resident compere of Just Fair Laughs, a…

Profile - James Dowdeswell

5 Feb 2009

Name: James Dowdeswell Who’s he then? This West Country lad has been on the gigging circuit since the turn of the century, and has a few Fringe shows under his belt, including the critically quaffed Wine from 2007 in which he threw a banana skin…

Profile - Ava Vidal

22 Jan 2009

Name Ava Vidal Who’s she then? Possibly the tallest female comic on the circuit, 6ft plus Ava Vidal is a cool and composed performer with an intriguing past. A teenage mum, she earned a living as a prison officer before turning to stand-up, a move…

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…

Omid Djalili

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

There are several downsides to modern fame. Being hassled in the street by ordinary people and getting hunted down by paparazzi when hanging out the washing are just two celebrity negatives. Having chirpy researchers from celebrity TV shows ringing up…