5 minutes with: Liam Williams

The comedian on his new play, his Twelfth Night With Comedians and why festivals are so good

Stand-up: unpretentious but often anti-intellectual

Comedians tend to apologise for making any highbrow references in their material. I wish more felt at ease quoting poetry like Liam Williams.

Latitude line-up announced

The first batch of names for this year's Latitude Festival has been announced today.

Sheeps member and cataloguer of Generation Y ennui Liam Williams is the latest up-and-coming comic to be handed his own Radio 4 series. Ladhood sees him recount moments from his Leeds upbringing - fights, romantic entanglements, house parties - in florid, heraldic monologues, intercut with re-enactments by Yorkshire teens. The results are daft, nostalgic and more than a little affecting.

There are seven comedians behind what is by far the funniest of this year's BBC Comedy Feed pilots: the members of sketch trio Sheeps (Liam Williams, Alastair Roberts, Daran Johnson); Ellie White and Natasia Demetriou (who perform together as Mother And Baby); the latter's brother Jamie, and Australian comic Claudia O'Doherty. From this network of comedy talent springs sharp, silly, strange skits that radiate confidence and wit. If the long-floundering Great British sketch show has any chance of relevancy again, this is it.

Liam Williams review

As with Stewart Lee (an influence Liam Williams openly declares), there are few real zingers here.

Liam Williams: why heckling has gone out of fashion

Are you sitting quietly? Good, because live comedy is changing and it's done with disruptions. The cult of decorum is taking over...

Liam Williams: Edinburgh Fringe 2015 interview

Liam Williams has had two remarkably successful Edinburgh Fringe successes on the trot, picking up a Best Newcomer nomination in 2013 and a Best Show nomination in 2014. The reason? Both his shows have been brilliant, sharp critiques of modern middle-class existence that make apathy poetic and vitriol hilarious. This show is looking just as good.

Interview: Liam Williams - Bonfire Night

'Burning an effigy on a fire is a very weird thing to do'

Latitude Festival comedy review: Liam Williams

The Guardian's favourite guy - or rather, as he keen to point out, a Guardian comedy reviewer's favourite guy - Liam Williams set out an hour of pessimism and alternately self-hating and society-hating tirades in the Cabaret tent.