How Edinburgh changed British comedy

Comedy did not feature at all when the Edinburgh Fringe began but over the past three decades it has become the "spiritual home" of Britain's funny folk.

Preview - Bob Monkhouse: The Last Stand

In the summer of 2003, dying of prostate cancer, legendary comedian Bob Monkhouse played his last ever stand-up gig, as he would die in December that year.

Fringe Q&As: Kevin Day

Kevin Day talks the history of Edinburgh and Scottish humour...

Kevin Day interview

BBC broadcaster and comedian Kevin Day on his time in the National Front, being back at Edinburgh - and footballers' grooming regimes.

Kevin Day: a new day dawns

He's not done a full-length show since 1996. But one of the UK's most prolific comedy writers has been coaxed back into live performance. And despite accolades and experience, he's terrified.

News: Balham comedy festival line-up announced

The 2014 Balham Comedy Festival, running from July 11-19, has announced its line-up. Among the names confirmed are Susan Calman, Paul Daniels, Robert Newman, Phill Jupitus, Reginald D. Hunter, Tim Vine, Stephen K Amos, Marcus Brigstocke, Milton Jones, Shappi Khorsandi, Mark Steel, Richard Herring, Jeremy Hardy, Susan Calman, Kevin Day, Gary Delaney, Kerry Godliman, Tony Law, and Fred MacAulay with more performers to be announced.

Mine are the spooky, hand-drawn 1971 animation of A Christmas Carol, the Corgi Rocket Skypark and Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalry, but what are your festive best-evers? In the fun format of this hour-long special, Al (Pub landlord) Murray is joined by fellow stand-ups Andy Zaltzman, Tiff Stevenson and Kevin Day to look back at Christmas TV, toys and number ones.

Plenty of scope for gags and mickey-taking there, from Clackers to Cabbage Patch Dolls, and There's No One Quite like Grandma to Mr Blobby. And who do you allow into your home on the big day: the Time Lord, the Countess of Grantham, or the Queen? The (hopefully) good-natured discussions start here.

And yes, I know Stop the Cavalry wasn't a number one. But in my mind it always will be.

In '73 Dave Allen was at the top of his game as TV's most controversial comedian. 
"He just sat there, beautifully Irish, and told the most outrageous jokes," said Steven Berkoff in Dave Allen: God's Own ­Comedian. My mother, who fancied him, would ­second that. From the gen­eration of comics inspired by him, Kevin Day said: "As a kid I didn't understand his jokes but I really enjoyed seeing my parents laugh at them." I'd second that; just Allen in his chair was exciting. Look, he's drinking whisky! Now he's brushing fag-ash from his sleeves as casually as he'd attack organised religion! But what hap­pened to the top half of that ­finger?...

This was a fine tribute to the master of the quiet, laid-back, furious monologue who died in 2005 and is rarely reshown, though this was his doing. 
I knew nothing of his early shows and their ridiculous stunts, so footage of Allen in 
a submerged car was almost 
as thrilling as him in his 
chair.

There was an amazing postscript to that one, with a Glasgow family regularly writing him their grateful thanks. An outing to Ayr almost ended in tragedy when their car slipped into the sea. The boy trapped inside calmly waited until it filled with water before opening the door, just like he'd seen Allen do.