BCG Daily Thursday 14th April 2011

Danielle Ward interview

Danielle Ward is an award-winning comedian, having won numerous awards for both her writing and stand-up...

Radio review: Living With Mother

A delightful series of short comic plays concentrate on the dilemmas of grown men who still live with their mothers.

Inoffensiveness was like being smothered by cushions

Starring Caroline Quentin the BBC1 sitcom Life Of Riley was like a cereal advert that has been spun out into a full-length TV comedy.

Michael McIntyre shines as Britain's Got Talent returns

I must admit, like many others I was sceptical as to whether the format was the right forum for an out-and-out comedian with Michael McIntyre's sensibilities. However, by the end of another well-produced hour of usual sub-SuBo singing revelations, there was only one opinion I wanted to hear.

Baddiel film aims to kick the Y-word out of football

The comedian tells The Independent about his attempt to tackle racism on the terraces.

Benidorm to return, and Joan Collins wants to appear

Beindorm will return for a fifth season, TV Biz can reveal - and superbitch actress Joan Collins wants to be in it.

Return to Psychoville

At last it's back! Psychoville returns to BBC Two at the beginning of May for a brand new series. The exact date and time is still locked in a Ravenhill case file but we can share a few juicy details about the opening episode...

Video: Comedian Dave Gorman plays funny games

Stand up comedian Dave Gorman talks to BBC Breakfast about his recent comedy adventure that took him around the UK.

He and fellow comedian Danny Wallace are known for their whimsical ideas that take them to strange places to film comedy programmes.

Gorman explained all to Breakfast's Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams.

In-jokes: the UK comedy census results

When TV channel Dave asked me to quiz comedians about the toughest places to play and the finest British standup of all time, I received some unexpected replies.

'Life Of Riley' return nets almost 4.5m

BBC comedy Life Of Riley returned with almost 4.5m viewers on Wednesday night, but The Crimson Petal And The White suffered a big audience dip, the latest audience data has revealed.

Ricky Gervais: 'NBC won't cancel The Office'

Ricky Gervais has expressed his belief that Steve Carell's Office exit won't lead to the show's cancellation.

George Michael, Stephen Fry discuss HIV row

George Michael has revealed that he considered taking legal action over comments made by a producer of a documentary Stephen Fry did about HIV in 2007.

Tim Minchin lined up for BBC's first comedy prom

Comedy and classical music will come together at this year's BBC Proms for the first time, with a concert presented by Tim Minchin.

QI: Quite interesting facts about princesses

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI gets princessy.

Tortured artist - an interview with Kim Noble

Emma McAlpine meets artist, comic and filmmaker Kim Noble to discuss his most personal and ground-breaking show to date.

Interview: Tim Minchin, singer

Outrageous. That's one word to describe Tim Minchin's publicity images. Whether posed wildly on his grand piano; seated, bare-feet thrust towards the camera lens; or attired like Edward Scissorhands' long lost Dickensian pianist brother, Tim Hammerhands, Minchin certainly knows how to capture the imagination.

The Spotlight on ... Gentlemen of Leisure

Never mind Newsnight Review, if you want incisive cultural commentary, turn to double-act Gentlemen of Leisure, aka BBC Radio writer Tom Neenan and Nish Kumar. They ask all the big questions, such as: is the novel dead, or just sleeping? If it is dead, who killed it?

Chris Addison on stand-up comedy

"Live at the Apollo changed absolutely everything," muses Chris Addison.

Twenty Twelve to return!

Here at BBC Comedy HQ we've noticed a lot of love for Twenty Twelve, so we wanted to be the first to break the good news... Twenty Twelve will return for a second series.

Stand-up comedy's toughest crowds

A survey of British comedians has found that Liverpool audiences are the hardest to make laugh. Where do standups dread performing - and which towns guarantee ROFLs?

5 things you might not know about Dom Joly

Five facts about Dom Joly.

My Comedy Hero: Milton Jones on Rowan Atkinson

Growing up I was inspired by people in sitcoms such as Ronnie Barker and Leonard Rossiter. But, the hero I'd pick would be Rowan Atkinson. I became aware of him when he used to do sketches on Not the Nine O'Clock News and it was clear that he was the star. Although he was doing different characters there was always a Rowan Atkinson angle on them and his was the line that the audience waited for. And as with all great people, even if his line wasn't always the punchline, he managed to make each one funny. He has very good verbal and physical timing and it's rare for that to come together.

Fred MacAulay's Take on the Day

As part of Radio Scotland's Take on the Day, we caught up with Fred MacAulay after the show for a chat.

Audio: Dom Joly stars in his first solo show

Dom Joly is taking part in his first ever one-man show.

The comedian broke onto the comedy scene ten years ago with Trigger Happy TV. Since then he has camped in a jungle with Gillian McKeith, drunk his way around the world and visited countries like North Korea and Iran but he has never done a show like this before.

He tells BBC Radio 5 live's Tony Livesey his reasons for doing one now.