John Fleming (I)

Matt Roper + the first panto in New York for 100 years

"So," I said to British performer Matt Roper in New York, "Have you ever done a pantomime before?" We were speaking via FaceTime, obviously. "Years ago," he told me, "as a 20-year-old I was in Mother Goose at the Theatre Royal, St Helens, with 'Olive' from On The Buses. Anna Karen. She was great! What a woman! She was a Soho stripper in the 1960s in London. She was deported from South Africa in the Apartheid years. She was a puppeteer at a theatre in Johannesburg and gave a private puppet show to a bunch of black kids and she was deported."

Becky Fury WON'T tell me things, WILL give a discount

Someone said to me the other week: "Becky Fury seems to know everybody." I had to agree.

Borehamwood comedy club opens in an ideal location

This Saturday, comic Philip Simon is opening the Borehamwood Comedy Club in the local Council-owned 96 venue, right slap-bang in the middle of the high street.

David Mills interview

So I had a chat with David Mills, the American comic who lives in London, and we had trouble getting fully on-subject.

Joe Wells doesn't know what he thinks, but end is nigh

Comedian Joe Wells has just released two CDs - of his two latest Edinburgh Fringe shows - 10 Things I Hate about UKIP and I Hope I Die Before I Start Voting Conservative. When I met him at the Soho Theatre Bar in London, he showed me his arm.

Confusing times for Xmas but not for Paul Kerensa

He has just written Hark! The Biography of Christmas.

A fancy man at the Fringe confused by English language

Katsura Sunshine lives half his year in Tokyo and half in Camden Town in London. He always wears a kimono in the street and, usually, a bowler hat.

Art of political war compared to a comedy club & Disney

A comedian I know was recently asked about the possibility of appearing in the UK-produced comedy series which Russian TV station RT is apparently planning to screen next year. He said he would not appear on RT, which is financed by the Russian government. I think he was wrong. All publicity is good publicity and, if he is allowed control over his own material, I see no real problem.

How to perform comedy to an audience with dementia

So I chatted to comedy performers Pope Lonergan and Ben Targét... "The two of you have this joint project," I said. "Does it have a name?"

"At the moment," Pope told me, "it just has the banner title of The Care Home Tour. One thing we are doing is a three-hour Alzheimer's benefit Forgetting But Not Forgotten, organised with Angel Comedy at the Bill Murray in London on 2nd October. Lots of different comedians."

How to build a career in comedy

I think one thing is to have a very specific three-year or five-year aim. And, indeed, ten and twenty year aim.