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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.
David Walliams: PM asked me not to flick his hair
David Walliams says "David Cameron asked me not to flick his hair like Sebastian... so of course I did."
Written by Gordon Smart. The Sun, 19th June 2013
Cannon & Ball in big play debut
Bobby Ball has written a play which will be premiered at Lowther Pavilion next year - and it will star not only him, but his comedy partner Tommy Cannon as well.
The Blackpool Gazette, 19th June 2013
Quick Cuts
Quick Cuts: Confessions from a hairdressers
Writer Georgia Pritchett explains how Quick Cuts is a cross between a sitcom and a sketch show.
Written by Georgia Pritchett. BBC TV Blog, 19th June 2013
Quick Cuts
A hairdresser-comedy from the writer of Life of Riley? Quick Cuts is by no means as bad as that suggests, but nor is it as good as it ought to be. As Desmond's and Cutting It have shown, there's no shortage of potential for laughter or melodrama in a salon, but a combination of peculiar editing and floppy, semi-improvised dialogue mean Quick Cuts takes too long to find its comedic or dramatic rhythm, cutting a decent cast (including Doon Mackichan as the loose cannon proprietor) adrift.
But, once the painstakingly set-up scenarios (blind dates, theft, prescription drug abuse) start to pay off, the performances warm up and the lines get funnier - one customer likens a sexual encounter to 'a seal trying to stay on a rock'. There's still some promise here, but it's a very uneven opener.
Quick Cuts
A skewed new sitcom by Georgia Pritchett, who wrote Life of Riley for BBC1 but is in much saltier, funnier form here. Doon Mackichan is Sue, proprietor of a hair salon where the staff struggle to focus on cutting barnets properly. Foolhardy customers come and go, mostly playing stooges as chaos sets in. The scattergun style and lines like "You just frittered away my boobs on a giant chipmunk" could easily lead to a lack of warm authenticity, but don't: the gang feels real. Tonight, Sue hoovers some Mexican tranquillisers, a comic short cut Mackichan brilliantly exploits.
Jack Seale, Radio Times, 19th June 2013
Quick Cuts
BBC4 veers out of its elegantly upholstered bandwidth and into that of little bro BBC3, with this edge-free but fitfully charming new sitcom set in a hairdresser's. Consummate comedian Doon Mackichan is the demented mother hen, heading a brood of gently dysfunctional tropes. It has a regional theatre feel to it, with all the slack timing and weirdly comforting lack of fashion that entails, but there are some nice lines, particularly when Mackichan reads emotions into sets of breast implants: "Arrogant ... pensive ... regretful somehow."
Inside No. 9
Online extras planned for Inside No. 9
Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are keen to explore how the series can make the most of digital media so we're going to invite the audience into an extra No. 9 by creating a special digital storytelling experience.
BBC Internet Blog, 18th June 2013
Birds Of A Feather
Does the world really need Birds Of A Feather back?
OK, I admit it. I never quite understood the appeal of Birds Of A Feather, first time around.
Written by Caroline Westbrook. Metro, 18th June 2013
Russell Brand terrorises MSNBC morning show
Brand's appearance on the programme was extraordinary, not so much for his contribution - shouting over at the journalists sitting at workstations behind him, pointing out when he could see down host Mika Brzezinski's top, eventually attempting to host the show himself - as for the way he was treated by the three anchors.
Written by Jack Seale. The Radio Times, 18th June 2013
Jenny Eclair: why we need people to jiggle our aerials
"What we really need in this country are roaming teams of telly experts, travelling around in a van, happy to pop by, retune your channels, explain your remote controls."
Written by Jenny Eclair. The Radio Times, 18th June 2013
Birds Of A Feather
Are sitcom revivals ever a good idea?
As ITV announces the return of Birds of a Feather, Michael Hogan considers the troubled history of reviving sitcoms.
Written by Michael Hogan. The Daily Telegraph, 18th June 2013
Birds Of A Feather
Can Birds of a Feather cope in Towie's Essex of today?
We compare the Essex of then and now, through Dorien, Sharon and Tracey, and Joey, Arg and Jessica.
Written by Stuart Heritage. The Guardian, 18th June 2013
Mock The Week
Katherine Ryan gets Mock The Week death threats
Stand-up Katherine Ryan has received vile death threats after a joke mentioning Filipinos on Mock The Week was interpreted as racist.
Chortle, 18th June 2013
Hebburn
Writer of TV comedy Hebburn finishes Series 2
Hebburn writer Jason Cook has just finished penning the second series.
The Shields Gazette, 18th June 2013
Absolutely
TV return for Absolutely on the cards
The comedy team behind the hit Channel 4 show have caught the acting bug once again after a one-off reunion renewed their memories of the programme.
Written by Paul English. The Daily Record, 18th June 2013
Red Dwarf
Craig Charles: It'd be cool to be first black Dr. Who
Coronation Street and Red Dwarf star Craig Charles has spoken out about the possibility of becoming the first black Doctor Who, saying he thinks it would be 'cool'.
Metro, 18th June 2013
Vicious
Vicious is cliched and outdated, says Barry Cryer
Veteran comedy writer says show about an ageing gay couple would make John Inman look restrained.
Written by Jason Deans. The Guardian, 18th June 2013
QI
QI: some quite interesting facts about blossom
A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI blossoms forth.
Written by Molly Oldfield and John Mitchinson. The Daily Telegraph, 18th June 2013
Limmy's Show!
As BBC Three airs The Best of Limmy's Show tonight, find out why Scotland's comic champion is well worth your time...
Written by Jake Laverde. Den of Geek, 17th June 2013
Limmy's Show!
Alternating between whimsical and excoriating, Brian Limond's Glasgow-set sketch show has proved one of the most consistently enjoyable British comedies of recent years. A shame, then, that its three series have been tucked away on BBC2 Scotland rather than aired to a wider audience. Hopefully, we'll see more of him in the wake of this BBC3 highlights package, which provides an introduction to the likes of downwardly mobile dreamer Dee Dee and thwarted adventure gameshow host Falconhoof.
Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy
Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy review
Great Wall of Comedy seems to be at home on GOLD. It doesn't provide the huge belly laughs to warrant it being broadcast on a terrestrial channel but is ideal for comedy fans and can be quite interesting - although I'm sure there's already a panel show which fits that description.
UK TV Reviewer, 16th June 2013
Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy
This is billed as a panel game but it's more of a parlour game - perhaps after a stodgy supper, given the pervading air of lethargy - in which four comedy stars flop out on sofas separated by a bank of TV screens from host Jo Brand.
Team captains Rebecca Front and Barry Cryer are joined by guests Tony Robinson and Hugh Dennis, who divulge a few of their own comedy secrets and answer questions that pop up on screen from the likes of Andrew Sachs, Lesley Joseph and Shaun Williamson. It's mildly amusing, but Jo Brand is always better unscripted.
Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy
Eager to know why Manuel from Fawlty Towers had a moustache? The worst thing about being in Blackadder? Or maybe which actors had to bring their own clothes to film a hit pilot? The answers to these hot-button issues in Jo Brand's poorly disguised old-timey clip-show are perfectly pitched, provoking - if anything - the kind of weary, non-committal, slightly surly shrug that's engendered by watching the actual programme itself.
Brand presides over a genial half-hour of sitcom quizzery that sees team leaders Rebecca Front and Barry 'Mine's a Large One!' Cryer joined by Hugh Dennis and Tony Robinson for a trawl through some well-thumbed snippets from the BBC archives. Andrew Sachs and Ian Lavender deliver creaky old war stories and Cryer delves into his endless fund of Willie Rushton anecdotes, before a round where the guests all try on a variety of wigs puts the show out of its misery.
Brand and guests are very easy people to like, but this is the worst kind of filler; to damn it with even fainter praise, it's the sort of programme that Alan Partridge would consider 'classic broadcasting'.
Hugh Dennis on being an idiot around Hugh Laurie
He'd have a puppet play him in a movie and get Alastair McGowan to do his voice - if only he could stay cool in front of the other Hugh...
Written by Claire Webb. The Radio Times, 16th June 2013
Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy
Jo Brand on her Great Wall of Comedy
"Nowadays female comics are not aggressive at all, whereas we felt we had to come up and shake our fists and say, 'Shut up, or you're gettin' it!'"
Written by Ellie Walker-Arnott. The Radio Times, 16th June 2013
Opinion: Should comedians accept honours?
I have to admit I feel uncomfortable about awards given out by the Queen.
Written by Bruce Dessau. Beyond the Joke, 16th June 2013
Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey will not be returning, says Ruth Jones
Ruth Jones, the co-writer of Gavin & Stacey, says there will be no more episodes of David Cameron's favourite sitcom.
Written by Richard Eden. The Sunday Telegraph, 16th June 2013
The comedian and author talks about new love, how to look self-assured, and her weakness for talent shows.
Written by Viv Groskop. The Observer, 16th June 2013
Comic Relief
Lenny Henry wins award for 25 years of Red Nose Day
Lenny Henry has received a prestigious lifetime achievement award recognising his 25 years as co-founder and co-host of Red Nose Day, which has raised more than £900m as part of Comic Relief, the charity which began in 1985.
Written by Shahesta Shaitly. The Observer, 16th June 2013
