Comedy News Round Up
From Big Tours to Slapstick To Cracker Jokes
Ricky Gervais (picture by Ray Burmiston below) has added more tour dates. His Mortality show will not just tour the UK now but there are also dates in Europe with more to come. And if you can’t get to a show ‘Mortality’ will be filmed for Netflix. Gervais said: “We’re all gonna die. May as well have a laugh about it. Mortality looks at the absurdities of life. And death. Bring it on.”Details here.
Another big star, but maybe a less controversial one, John Bishop (below) is celebrating 25 years in stand-up with a new arena tour. And in keeping with the reason for doing it tickets will be pegged at only £25 each. Not bad value for one of the most natural storytellers in the business. His last show felt a little like sitting in on a very witty pub chat, but there were certainly plenty of laughs along the way. More details here.
And just before I move onto some news about some more spritely people a quick word to say that Ben Elton (below) is going to receive a Comedy Legend Award at the forthcoming Slapstick Festival in Bristol in 2025. Elton really has been on great form since returning to stand-up a handful of years ago. As smart and funny as they come. The slapstick festival has just put tickets on sale and announced a whole raft of events. Details here.
You want hot young comedy? we got it. Amy Gledhill (below, picture by Matt Crockett) has added more dates to her tour, Make Me Look Fit On The Poster. Gledhill is on a roll, having won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show this summer. She can also been seen in the brilliant new series of Alma’s Not Normal on BBC and iPlayer. Details here.
The second series of Kiri Pritchard-McLean’s Best Medicine will be transmitting on Radio 4 from 19th November for six weeks, finishing on Christmas Eve.
Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Best Medicine is your weekly dose of laughter, hope and incredible medicine. Each show sees Kiri joined by a funny and fascinating panel of comedians, doctors, scientists, and historians to celebrate medicine’s inspiring past, present and future. They will each make a case for what they think is 'the best medicine', and this series sees them championing anything from world-changing science, an obscure invention, an every-day treatment, an uplifting worldview, an unsung hero or a futuristic cure. More details and guests line-up here.
And finally… if you think you can do better at making people laugh than some of the names above Gold has just launched its annual Cracker competition to find the best new Christmas Cracker jokes. Anyone can enter via X, formerly Twitter, just use the hashtag #goldcrackers. So what are you waiting for? Get Crackering. Full entry details here.
There’s lots more comedy news on beyond the joke here.