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Here is a collection of the latest previews, reviews and articles related to British comedy which have been published by newspapers and blogs from around the world. Don't forget to look at our news section for the significant stories - these won't be repeated here.
The Morecambe & Wise Show
How Eddie Braben saved Morecambe and Wise's careers
The comedy duo looked uncomfortable on television until Braben came on board. But how did he turn them into comedy legends?
Written by Mark Lawson. The Guardian, 21st May 2013
The Morecambe & Wise Show
Eddie Braben was Morecambe and Wise's secret weapon
Eddie Braben's work for Morecambe and Wise ranks among the best and funniest of any British comic writing because in many ways it defines it. Braben's rhythms are the quintessential rhythms of British comedy - the comedy of bathos.
Written by Simon Blackwell. The Guardian, 21st May 2013
Just A Minute
Radio 4 panel games come and go. In some cases they come, then stick around for decades after you wish they'd disappeared. But not this one, which might still be the best of the bunch. Nicholas Parsons, Paul Merton and other regulars are back for the show's 66th series - and in the first episode, fans will be holding their breath for 60 full seconds as Graham Norton achieves the rare feat of speaking for a minute without hesitating, deviating or repeating himself. Pam Ayres and new BBC2 sketch-comedy star Kevin Eldon round out a great panel.
Jack Seale, The Radio Times, 21st May 2013
Vicious
This loud and proud sitcom has dismayed many viewers and critics, although a lot of them are criticising it for being exactly what it's trying to be: catty, broad, stagey and old-fashioned. There's almost no depth behind the barbs thrown around by Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, who have enormous fun as a constantly warring couple. You have to just surrender and try to enjoy it as much as they evidently are.
Jack Seale, The Radio Times, 21st May 2013
Stephen Fry turns himself into an app
The QI presenter and proficient Twitter user has gone virtual to broadcast his thoughts to the nation's smart phones.
Written by Ellie Walker-Arnott. The Radio Times, 21st May 2013
TV Choice Awards - Longlist Voting Form
You're only a click away from helping to decide the winners of the 2013 TV Choice Awards.
TV Choice Magazine, 21st May 2013
Stewart Lee gives talk at Oxford University
Stewart Lee returned to Oxford last night to talk to students at his former university college.
The Oxford Times, 21st May 2013
Shameless
We have reached the penultimate visit to the Chatsworth estate before the shutters clang into place for good. Frank, not wholly surprisingly, attempts flight rather than fight when a disgruntled ice-cream vendor turns up at St Mimi's school packing a little more than a dozen orange Calippos. The resultant siege turns out to provide a fireworks night-style sideshow for the locals, and leads to the re-emergence of a familiar face, enticed by the prospect of appearing to be a winningly supportive parent in front of the TV news crews.
Foreign comedians stand up for the UK
Although most comedians won't scale those dizzy heights, the promise of a stand-up career in the UK has lured many successful acts from overseas.
Written by Elizabeth Hotson. BBC News, 21st May 2013
How I learned to stop worrying and love sitcom spin-offs
Julian Upton visits the much maligned field of 1970s sitcom spin-offs and finds a trio of gems amongst the trips to the Costa del Sol
Written by Julian Upton. MovieMail, 20th May 2013
Review: David Brent's guitar tutorial
For a character as soaked in pathos as David Brent, only the most depressing of hobbies would have been fitting for the Slough middle-manager 10 years down the road, and fortunately Ricky Gervais found it in the world of the YouTube guitar tutorial.
Written by Christopher Hooton. Metro, 20th May 2013
YouTube's Comedy Week shows how much comedy has changed
YouTube comedians have caused a colossal shift in the comedy landscape over the past year, and now they're being celebrated in the service's first Comedy Week.
Written by Dominic Cavendish. The Telegraph, 20th May 2013
The Graham Norton Show
Sarah Millican: I'm normal, they're A-list
"I'm weirdly more comfortable in front of a studio audience and telly cameras than at any dinner party. There are fewer forks"
Written by Sarah Millican. The Radio Times, 20th May 2013
Review: Celebrity Juice and Would I Lie To You?
In a week where I struggled to find much of anything on TV, I thought I'd switch gear from sitcoms to panel shows for once...
Written by Shaun Spencer. Giggle Beats, 20th May 2013
Would I Lie To You?
Would I Lie To You? is a BBC One panel show originally hosted by Angus Deayton and now hosted by Rob Brydon. The point of the show is to lie to or fool your opposing team into believing what you are telling them is the truth. Successfully deceive your opposition and get some points. Simple, yet affective. Joining Rob Brydon as regular Team Captains are the wonderful David Mitchel and Lee Mack. Guests on this episode are Jason Manford, Paul Hollywood, Warwick Davis and Joan Bakewell.
This, as a celebrity panel show, couldn't really be much different from a show like Celebrity Juice if it tried; WILTY is about quick thinking and wit. 5 minutes in and I haven't heard a single muff joke. It's a great show and one I don't watch as much as I probably should. It is entertaining, likeable and unique. The players are all pitch perfect; great chemistry and natural comedians. There is lots of great comedy which manifests itself organically within the show.
Celebrity Juice
In the spirit of full disclosure: I actively dislike Celebrity Juice. I'm not even sure why I'm reviewing it; watching Celebrity Juice makes me feel dirty in all the wrong ways. It is like comedic torture.
For those blissfully unaware of Celebrity Juice, it is a 'celebrity entertainment' panel show. Keith Lemon (Leigh Francis) is your host: a tanned, bleached, ginger-moustached Yorkshireman. His team captains are attractive, large breasted blonde Holly Willoughby and attractive, large-breasted brunette Kelly Brook. Guests this week include Connor Maynard (yeah, I'd never heard of him either), Richard Madley, Johnny Vegas and Dermot O'Leary. The show is made up of a series of challenges and games, and the winning team of each game wins some points.
I can't say much positive about it, other than Johnny Vegas was pretty good. But it's not hard for someone genuinely funny to stand out in this sort of setup. I would imagine the show's main target demographic is the sort of person who thinks that changing someone's Facebook status to "I'm gay" is the height of comedy (Ha ha ha - isn't human sexuality hilarious...). How it has quite so many fans just completely baffles me. Maybe the average person relates to jokes about boobies, muffs and wank jokes. Is this what it has come to?
Opinion: In praise of Michael McIntyre
Onstage at the Bloomsbury, Michael McIntyre seemed as hungry for laughs as when I saw him playing a converted public toilet on Shepherds Bush Green a decade ago.
Written by Bruce Dessau. Beyond the Joke, 20th May 2013
Man accused of posing as Peter Kay's brother charged
A man who allegedly posed as the brother of the comedian Peter Kay in order to con pub landlords has been charged with fraud.
The Guardian, 20th May 2013
Just A Minute
As any JAM fan will tell you, it's not often that a panellist speaks for the whole minute, uninterrupted, without deviation, hesitation or repetition, but that's exactly what Graham Norton does here. Admittedly, he does have a distinct advantage with his subject matter - it's the Eurovision Song Contest - but even so, it's a rare enough event to inspire a warm and spontaneous round of applause from the audience.
And Nicholas Parsons takes some gentle ribbing from Paul Merton when he manages to work his forename into a round entitled "Fur coat and no knickers" - "You've been waiting 45 series to use that gag," says Merton.
Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 20th May 2013
Vicious
Which camp are you in - lover or loather? If the latter, you've probably already given up on Vicious, a show that's divided viewers and critics. But if you accept and revel in the fact that Stuart and Freddie are two gay men unabashed in their extravagant mannerisms and insults, which only the unimaginative would condemn as stereotypical, then enjoy because this series gets funnier, naughtier and, importantly, kinder to its characters.
Oddly, I'm now suffering from the delusion that Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi are in reality an item, have been for five decades, and this must be how they carry on in private.
Tonight, Ash invites his elderly chums to a nightclub in Soho. Actorly Freddie proves a big hit, but when a young woman makes a pass at Stuart, narcoleptic Penelope (Marcia Warren) comes out with four short words that almost stop the show.
Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times, 20th May 2013
The Job Lot
The Midlands job centre comedy still shines as Trish warns her team to be on the lookout for an inspector posing as a jobseeker. She's been tipped off that this person will ask for a GL24 form and need an induction loop for the hard of hearing.
There are obvious steals from Fawlty Towers here, not just with an incognito inspector, but with a deceased punter on the premises. Rising above the fallout is Jo Enright, brilliant but terrifying as Brownall's brick wall, Angela.
Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times, 20th May 2013
The Job Lot
The clutch of new mainstream comedies that have been foisted on us recently haven't exactly had us holding our stomachs with laughter. Just holding them because they make us feel sick, more like.
But The Job Lot is definitely the best of a bad bunch. It has an advantage as the writers have been a bit sneaky and actually included some funny situations and amusing lines, which is cheating a bit don't you think?
The characters are pretty strong, too. Haven't we all met a totally cold, unhelpful so-and-so like Angela (Jo Enright), the last person you would want "helping" you at a jobcentre.
Tonight she threatens to call the police when someone tries to use the office printer! The fun starts when under-pressure boss Trish (Sarah Hadland) receives a tip-off that an inspector is on the way - disguised as a claimant.
Channel 4's Comedy Gala
Channel 4 Comedy Gala, O2 Arena, review
Twenty of the biggest names in comedy, fireworks and a jovial crowd should in theory make the Channel 4 Comedy Gala a roaring success. But too much of a good thing can be a drain.
Written by Nadia Khomami. The Daily Telegraph, 20th May 2013
The Job Lot
An email from the higher-ups suggests a surprise undercover jobseeker inspection for the centre, prompting Trish to advise the staff to keep an eye out for "people who don't look unemployed". Karl and George play good cop/bad cop with a benefits cheat who's also cheating on his wife, and surly Angela keeps delivering her trademark service with a glare. The Job Lot is a perfectly serviceable sitcom, though one can't help feeling it could and should be even better than it is.
Morecambe and Wise blue plaque unveiled at Teddington
A blue plaque in tribute to comedy double act Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise has been unveiled at the studio where much of their best work was shot.
BBC News, 19th May 2013
Felicity Kendal reveals she had affairs
Felicity Kendal reveals she had affairs when she and couldn't be more different than her The Good Life role.
Written by Alan Sharp. The Mirror, 19th May 2013
Les Dawson's daughter in plea to end family feud
Charlotte Dawson says Les Dawson would be devastated by the distance between his children and she is urging all of them to bury the hatchet.
Written by Gemma Aldridge. Mirror, 19th May 2013
Channel 4's Comedy Gala
Opinion: How do you follow the main attraction?
Lee Evans went on during the build-up to the end. This made it harder for the acts that followed.
Written by Bruce Dessau. Beyond the Joke, 19th May 2013
Shameless
Gallagher joie de vivre has no place in austerity UK
The fictional family were acclaimed when they hit our screens 10 years ago. As the final series ends, it's the right time to leave.
Written by Yvonne Roberts. The Observer, 18th May 2013
Russell Howard's Good News
Review: Russell Howard's Good News, BBC3
Good News has tapped into the teenage/youthy TV-viewing market with a vengeance that would almost, though not quite, make Harry Styles envious.
Written by Bruce Dessau. Beyond the Joke, 18th May 2013
