Behind The Curtain - with Neil Jollie

Our feature on the top comedy promoters in the UK continues, as we talk to Hilarity Bites founder Neil Jollie. Since 2007, Neil has programmed hundreds of shows in the North East and North Yorkshire featuring comedy giants such as Tim Vine, Sarah Millican, Chris Ramsey and Russell Kane, as well as the annual Darlington Comedy Festival. He chats to Andrew Dipper about his very first show - booked via MySpace! - the key to longevity, the decline of live stand-up, moving into act management and more.

Tim Vine: 'I never pay more than £2,000 for a car'

Tim Vine on cheap cars supplied by his mechanic and competitiveness with brother Jeremy.

Radio Times review

Time for another series of competitive griping about things people hate. This series always flirts with a sort of generalised curmudgeonliness while, naturally, trying to keep it light. But it does help when the bellyaches are slightly mad. Tim Vine loses the audience with a rambling moan about a certain kind of karaoke DJ, whereas Len Goodman simply slags off "all foreign food".

It turns out Len has never had a curry - or eaten spaghetti! His motto is, "Never eat anything you can't spell." And if you think that's sweeping, his other bêtes noires are the metric system and, quite simply, choice. "Have you ever thought," wonders host Frank Skinner, "of moving to North Korea?"

Tim Vine interview: the king of the crackers

The act Tim Vine is most often compared to is Tommy Cooper: both big men with sharp wits, killer one-liners and a love of silly props. He works hard at his gags, fine-tuning them for weeks. Occasionally, they come to him naturally.

Radio Times review

Tim Vine's absence is keenly felt in Not Going Out, but Hugh Dennis's addition to the cast is a shrewd move - he fills a similar comedy foil/sounding board role for those pub chats. But he has a delicious wryness, too, which softens the blokey stuff that goes on elsewhere.

Tonight he's called on, by a very tortuous route, to help Lee torpedo a surprise anniversary party that Lucy is hosting for her parents. Her terrifyingly imperious dad (the magnificent Geoffrey Whitehead, who surely should be knighted for services to both television and radio comedy) hates surprises, while her mum just wants some fun. There's an idiotic phone call involving a fake Italian accent and lots of ludicrous crosstalk.

Now in its seventh series, Mack employs the same formula with his slacker namesake still struggling to navigate through his everyday life. This first episode sees Lee emasculated as he fails to prevent a gang of youths from mugging Lucy (Sally Breton). Lee's shame sees him enrol in boxing classes before taking on a fight against an opponent who humiliates him once again. I believe that the problem with modern day sitcoms is that they spend so long coming up with a premise that they forget their key purpose it to make people laugh. Not Going Out provoked at least four or five big bell laughs during its thirty minute running time and I can't say that about too many other comedies. Although he's no actor, Mack's strength is in his delivery and he makes the far-fetched nature of the plot feel somewhat believable. His line about knitting thieves was particularly clever as was his banter with the receptionist at the boxing gym. As the straight man of the partnership, I don't believe Breton gets the credit she deserves as she sets Mack up for his jokes beautifully. As ditzy Daisy, Katy Wix is used sparingly and as a result doesn't feel as overused as she did in the sitcom's previous outing. After a tricky sixth series, it feels that all three principle players have now learnt to cope without Tim Vine and I believe that this is one of the strongest episodes of Not Going Out that I've seen for a while. Although I'm not sure that I'll find all ten instalments as funny as this opener it's still great to see that old-fashioned gag-based comedies are still succeeding in 2014.

Radio Times review

Readers of a certain age will remember the Bob Monkhouse version of this genial noughts-and-crosses quiz game from the 1970s. Revived now with host Warwick Davis - who is just the right combination of cheeky yet charming - the format is pretty well the same as the original. General knowledge questions are put to the celebrities and the contestants decide whether or not they've answered correctly. If they're right, they win that square. The object then is to try to get three in a line.

As in the show's previous incarnation, the comedians (James Corden in Willie Rushton's central square position, Tim Vine, Joe Wilkinson etc) try to be funny. And sometimes they succeed.

Tim Vine interview

King of the one-liner Tim Vine talks Edinburgh Fringe, playing darts and finding comic inspiration.

Daily Telegraph and how not to write about comedy

William Langley is the author of a puff piece on Tim Vine. It would be hard to imagine a more condescending and ugly minded piece about comedy. Or at least it would be hard if I hadn't read other Telegraph articles. It is hard to know where to start. But lets start with the headline.

Tim Vine: the man behind the masterful one-liner

The comedian who won the prize for the funniest joke at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe offers a perfect antidote to the tyranny of alternative 'humour'.