BCG Daily Tuesday 1st March 2011

News

Press clippings

Keith Lemon to sell his hair for Comic Relief

Celebrity Juice host Keith Lemon is doing a Justin Bieber - by selling his hair for charity.

The Sun, 1st March 2011

Last Night's TV - The Story of Variety, BBC4

Nostalgia is for losers, but it often makes great telly." So began my last contribution to this page, reviewing the Imagine take on Ray Davies. Forgive me for returning to it. I know it's not the done thing to copy and paste from one's own work, but we're so much in the same territory with The Story of Variety that not doing so would be dim. And for the avoidance of doubt, here was Michael Grade, three minutes in, describing his project as a survey of a "lost world... [that is] gone but isn't quite forgotten".

Amol Rajan, The Independent, 1st March 2011

Surest way to kill comedy is pretend we're all the same

Jim Davidson, the unacceptable face of British comedy, is on a truth-and-reconciliation tour with a play he has written in which he co-stars with the black comedian Matt Blaize. Publicising it, he has apologised for any offence he may have caused in the past. John Cleese has recently revealed problems in America he had with a routine in which he tells a joke about the English, Germans, Australians and Americans before turning, to the embarrassment of most audiences, to Mexicans. The presenter of Top Gear, on the other hand, can cheerfully make nasty, unfunny Mexican jokes.

Terence Blacker, The Independent, 1st March 2011

Friday Night Dinner, Review

It's a shame that the first episode was slightly underwhelming.

Charlotte Bennett, Geeks.co.uk, 1st March 2011

Mrs Brown's Boys: mainstream comedy for the middle-aged

Part of me wonders what the BBC was thinking with Mrs Brown's Boys - another part can't help laughing at Brendan O'Carroll's old-fashioned sitcom.

Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 1st March 2011

Mrs Brown's Boys 1.2 review

I gave this new BBC1 comedy another spin last night, having been impressed by its raw energy and foulmouthed verve the week before. It was appreciably less manic, which was nice, but I think I have a better grasp on why it's still not working for me.

Dan Owen, Dan's Media Digest, 1st March 2011

Inbetweeners up for RTS Award

Adolescent comedy and Geeks.co.uk favourite The Inbetweeners has been shortlisted for a Royal Television Society Best Scripted Comedy award; announced today.

Ally Millar, Geeks.co.uk, 1st March 2011

Tom Wrigglesworth - "I do a lot of humming"

Radio 4 funnyman talks to us during his Nightmare Dream Wedding tour.

Isa Hemphrey, Geeks.co.uk, 1st March 2011

Karl Pilkington interview

Bod lookalike Karl Pilkington is the star of the show - and the butt of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's jokes. But who's really having the last laugh? TV Choice chatted to doleful Mancunian Karl to find out...

TV Choice, 1st March 2011