Press clippings Page 8

Tim Minchin to star in cocktail pianist BBC studio sitcom

Tim Minchin is to star with Kayvan Novak in a BBC sitcom pilot, 88 Keys, about a "loudmouth cocktail pianist".

British Comedy Guide, 2nd December 2013

This crass - and sometimes inspired - comedy commissioned for E4 is blessed by the presence of Emma Fryer, a gifted comedienne whose promising 2009 sitcom Home Time was cruelly curtailed. Her deluded mobile-phone saleswoman, Janine, is trying to climb the Croydon social ladder. Meanwhile, her equally deluded four male colleagues at the phone shop attempt to launch a series of calamitous sidelines, including an escort agency.

Janine's catastrophic date with a socially awkward busker is a highlight, and Kayvan Novak's deranged return as area manager Razz Prince is terrific.

Ben Walsh, The Independent, 15th September 2013

Kayvan Novak to star as undercover reporter in BBC sitcom pilot

Fonejacker star Kayvan Novak is to take the lead role as an undercover reporter in Woody, a new sitcom pilot for the BBC.

British Comedy Guide, 12th August 2013

Another chance to see the second series of the mobile-phone retail sitcom, originally broadcast on E4 in 2011. In the depths of a recession, with star salesman "Little Gary" Patel languishing in prison, Ashley, Jerwayne and Christopher seek out the perfect money-making ruse to "shift units, make money and smash targets". Elsewhere, Shelley's got a bee in her bonnet, and Janine attempts to inveigle herself among the la-di-da of Croydon. Worth catching for Kayvan Novak's deranged cameo as area manager Razz Prince.

Ali Catterall, The Guardian, 21st June 2013

Kayvan Novak interview

An interview with Kayvan Novak, an actor and comedian, and star of Channel 4's Fonejacker.

The Scotsman, 13th January 2013

Comparisons to Family Guy will be inevitable with Full English, a new cartoon comedy series designed by Alex Scarfe (son of political cartoonist Gerald) and animated by Rough Draft, the California studio behind Seth MacFarlane's Emmy-winning hit. It even apes the signature cutaway gags. There's a decent voice cast, including Richard Ayoade and Kayvan Novak, but precious few laughs. The cultural references in this opener - the family's emo daughter Eve decides to enter Britain's Got Talent - are leaden, so if these are the big guns to draw people in, God help it.

Ben Arnold, The Guardian, 12th November 2012

This new cartoon series is Britain's answer to ]Family Guy.But if it looks slickly American that's because, although it was created by brothers Jack and Harry Williams and Alex Scarfe - son of cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and Jane Asher - the animation was done in LA at the studio responsible for Futurama, and The Simpsons Movie.

Be warned that Full English isn't for kids. It features animated sex plus some stuff about Nazis and disabled people that is offensive in ways I haven't even worked out yet. And one character's pursuit of The Queen could well spark another royal scandal. Simon Cowell probably won't be a fan either.

The voice work is by Richard Ayoade as dad Edgar, Rosie Cavaliero as wife Wendy and Fonejacker's Kayvan Novak as both of their sons.

The standout tonight is daughter Eve (voiced by Daisy Haggard), who auditions for Britain's Got Talent with hilariously predictable results. I'm not sure about the father-in-law and his imaginary friend, though. Is Britain ready for a large green balloon?

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 12th November 2012

Kayvan Novak working on Facejacker movie

Kayvan Novak, who rose to fame via hit show Fonejacker, says he is working on a big screen version of Facejacker.

British Comedy Guide, 8th November 2012

Mangling accents and genres with glee, Bad Sugar is one of the more promising pilots of C4's Funny Fortnight. Starring three-headed comedy hydra Julia Davis, Sharon Horgan and Olivia Colman, it's equal parts telenovela, costume drama and pseudo-glossy, 'Dallas'-style family saga. The plotting - centred around the will of an ageing patriarch (David Bradley) and the scheming of his three children (plus Horgan's cuckoo in the nest, Lucy) - is self-consciously ridiculous. But Bad Sugar is sustained by a host of brilliant performances. In addition to the above, look out for Kayvan Novak (dim gardener Simon) and Peter Serafinowicz (closeted son Rolf). Tonight, the fingers of Colman's piano-playing naif Joan are mangled by a red-hot boule ball; the absurdity can only escalate when a full series airs next year.

Phil Harrison, Time Out, 26th August 2012

By "them" they mean those people, and by "that thing" they mean several different things, or programmes, that have been funny on Channel 4. They (the people) include Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker), Sally Phillips (Smack the Pony) and Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners). But they were upstaged in Them from That Thing, a two-part sketch show with a hit-rate of, I'd say, about 40 per cent, by "proper" actors such as Simon Callow, Bill Patterson and Denis Lawson. The highlight: a libidinous Callow in a satin dressing gown receiving his order of one banana from a supermarket as a ruse to flirt with the delivery boy, saying: "I've been running short of these yellow bitches."

Simon Usborne, The Independent, 22nd August 2012

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