The Defining the Norm Awards: the nominees

Comedian Will Franken honours the most conformist acts at the Edinburgh Fringe.

C4 Comedy Gala, review

Rattling through a conveyor belt of more than twenty comedians, this marathon event had one-liners flying so thick and fast it started to become exhausting, says Bruce Dessau.

Interview: showbiz camp serves Hal Cruttenden well

Hal Cruttenden knows he comes across as camp, even if he does spend half his stand-up act talking about his wife, his teenage daughters and his middle-Englander worries about school fees.

Radio Times review

A lightly sparkling edition of the stand-up showcase, although without too much disrespect to the comics on the bill, a Christmas Apollo doesn't mean a host of bigger names. Josh Widdicombe, after a year of ubiquity that's included sitcom and topical comedy as well as stage work, gets a very warm welcome for a decent observational routine about going home for Christmas to a single bed. Before him are the ribald Tanyalee Davis and Hal Cruttenden, who's always a little edgier than his camp, cuddly persona suggests.

The host is ventriloquist Nina Conti, doing her now-familiar improvisation using audience members as dummies.

Hal Cruttenden review - mocks the weak with brio

The TV regular has constructed a plausible world full of self-absorbed, middle-class misanthropy, with occasional strikes against conformity.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Hal Cruttenden, Noel Fielding and Angela Barnes.

Hal Cruttenden review

Straight out of Cruttenden is a very funny if occasionally discomforting evening although it might be advisable not to sit too close to the stage.

Interview, Hal Cruttenden: 'London's just so much fun!'

Cruttenden said: "The tour is not really about gangster rap! It's called Straight Out Of Cruttenden because it's kind of to do with 'am I having a mid-life crisis because I've started listening to NWA again?'.

The Fringe is like running a marathon for us comics

Well it's nearly over. The Edinburgh Festival is like running a Marathon for us comics. We're pleased to have done it, but we're really happy it's finishing and a bit fed up we didn't get interviewed on the telly at Tower Bridge.