Dylan Moran: 'A lot of what's on TV now is filler'

The cantankerous comic has shunned the panel show route for stand-up adventures in Kiev and Kazakhstan. Next stop: John Michael McDonagh's black comedy Calvary.

The Trip to Italy, BBC Two, review

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's follow-up to 2010's The Trip is infantile, inspired, and as inconsequential as it was inveterately un-PC, says Mark Monahan.

Review: The Trip to Italy, BBC Two

The Trip is a hall of mirrors put together with the help of Heath Robinson. It's a comedy vehicle in which pretty much the only thing that's real is the actual vehicle.

Comedy review: Eddie Izzard, Edinburgh

Although Izzard's big comedy gig at the Festival Theatre last night felt pretty much like a Better Together rally - Alistair Darling was there, along with other luminaries of the "No" cause -
 it was also, I would guess, one of the most positive and upbeat events that dour campaign has conjured up, so far.

Comedy review: Rob Rouse, Glasgow

Maybe it's a case of the subject matter impacting on the delivery but there's little verve or anything extraordinary in his tales of his children persecuting him.

Comedy review: Miles Jupp, Glasgow

Plenty of comics bemoan the loss of social life and ambition that comes with parenthood. But Jupp's elegance with language, exquisite timing and ability to sustain a flounce makes his carping more memorable than most.

Radio Times review

Has there ever been a stand-up show quite this dark? I'd guess not, and this week Stewart Lee's self-flagellation reaches new depths - or heights - because his running theme is the futility and despair of the middle-aged bloke.

"If you're an impotent, vasectomised, 45-year-old, functioning alcoholic father of two, there's not really much point in you," he spits. Yeah all right, keep it light.

There are very funny stretches here, and targets other than himself - including whimsically named bottled beers and The Culture Show (which he describes as "like a children's programme from a collapsed Soviet state"). Let's hope it's not another three years before Lee's next series.

Have I Got News for You returns to top Friday ratings

Have I Got News For You was Friday's (April 4) highest rated primetime show outside of soaps.

Nina Conti at Leeds City Varieties for DVD recording

Conti's rise up the comedy ladder looks set to continue in 2014, with a DVD recording of her Dolly Mixtures show scheduled for Tuesday 15 April at Leeds City Varieties.

Nish Kumar interview

"I don't associate stand-up with being a man in a really good suit in a massive shiny room. I associate stand-up with the smell of piss."

Carl Donnelly interview

"For a little while I had some material about the frustrations of being in a relationship that's failing. I think I was in a bad place and it actually sounded quite misogynistic ... As soon as I realised, I got rid of it so it sounded more like I was a dick."

Lunch With Bob Larbey

A few years back, I decided I owed Bob Larbey a pint. I've long thought Ever Decreasing Circles is the best there is, and with John Esmonde having died in 2008, there was only Bob left to thank.

Dylan Moran: 'A lot of what's on TV now is filler'

The cantankerous comic has shunned the panel show route for stand-up adventures in Kiev and Kazakhstan. Next stop: John Michael McDonagh's black comedy Calvary.

Steve Coogan on 23 years of Alan Partridge

Alan became more and more refined as sort of a dysfunctional alter ego.

Euthanasia? I'm all for it, says Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais has revealed he is 'all for' euthanasia - and hopes it will be as easy as popping into Boots for a tablet when his time comes.

Have I Got A Dead Show For You

Nowadays the show has become self satisfied, unsurprising and rather up itself.