³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy Presents...returns to the 100 Club with an absolutely brilliant line-up, headlined by the legendary .

Award-winning comedian is your compere for the night and you will also see
Peep Show star , stand-up extraordinaire and musical wonders .

For more information have a look at their .

UPDATED

Here are some pictures from the night:


The lovely Isy Suttie

We Are Klang's Marek Larwood writes...

Welcome to the first We Are Klang blog. You can only read this on the condition you watch our new show, every Thursday 10.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three.

Greg Davies (tall, very attractive), Marek Larwood (bald, very attractive) and Steve Hall (Jewish, very attractive) play incompetent councillors desperately trying to cope with ongoing problems in the beautiful town of Klangbury. However, in real life they are moderately normal people. Here's an insight into their lives outside of the television set in their weekly blog.

Marek's Day

Yesterday we paid a visit to the in order to make total dicks of ourselves in an interview. I learnt two valuable things: not to kiss Greg live on television, and that BP profits have slumped by 53%. I can highly recommend going on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News if you need to quell urges about kissing men, or you are interested in oil markets.

Our entertainment interview was all filmed in the same studio as the newsreader bits beforehand. Everyone is very serious like at funerals or during A level exams. In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere we all danced off camera to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News music played before our interview.

This led to one of the newsreaders giving us a look like he wanted to smash all our faces in with a hammer until they no longer looked like our faces. It was strange to see a newsman's face engorged with such emotion. I have seen this newsman before reading stories about atrocities in Rwanda without any facial expressions. I can only conclude that he found our dance more offensive.

Then we had the interview with a lovely lady called Tamsin, it was very successful and we didn't look remotely uncomfortable at all. I think we forgot to say that the programme starts on Thursday July 30th at 10.30pm, that was the main point of the interview.

After the interview we walked past the angry newsman's desk again, he was still sitting there, but this time he pretended that we weren't alive. I don't think the newsman ever smiles not even at the quirky story at the end of the news.

We are Klang starts tonight... at 10.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Despite what this trail might suggest:

The end is nigh!

Well after six weeks its nearly over. I hope you've enjoyed our creepy little series. I've certainly enjoyed reading the mounting insane (and not so insane) theories that have emerged about who or what is behind it all. Some people I fear, have far too much time on their hands!

The ending is sure to irritate and satisfy in equal measure - but remember the fun was the ride along the way, and I hope we can all strap ourselves in for more - should we be given the opportunity. (Next time you get the wishbone in your chicken, wish for a second series for us).

After the show has aired tonight there will be another video on the website to watch of Steve and I droning on. Do please check that out. And of course buy the DVD. Lots more insight on there - and it is a very pretty one.

In the meantime - have a box of tissues ready for tonight. There's much mourning to be done - I warn you now. Sorry also (although I don't know why I'm apologising - it wasn't my fault), about the red button fiasco last week. I was as confused as anyone. Sat there thinking "I don't remember Martin Jarvis being in it".

Enjoy the last instalment and don't have nightmares. Now I suppose I should try and get this Jelly make up off. Ah - it's a shame for him.

Watch the final episode of Psychoville tonight at 10pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two

Our time is up in Toronto and we're off to Montreal for the main event. This being the biggest gig of our lives you'd think setting our alarm clocks would have been a sensible option. Alas not. With the first Cleese gig in the bag, watch as we pack up the Idiot-ic circus and hit the road again. Montreal here we come!

Idiots of Ants are a British sketch group. This is their video diary of their time at the Just For Laughs comedy festival.

The skies have greyed over and it's raining (on and off). Yes, right now it's just like being at a festival almost everywhere in the UK. What better excuse, then, to enjoy some festival frivolity from the comfort of somewhere a bit more weatherproof?

A couple of weeks ago The Now Show's resident musical funnyist made some rather lovely videos at Latitude. If you revelled at the sight of him floating in a teetering gondola above, head to the Radio 4 website to watch him rap up a storm of bemusement and generally gallivant around at the festival.

Sue here. Back on form and well. Thanks for all of the flowers, my vase was full of them. Sorry if Ned's messages were a bit strange last week whilst I was away, he's going through one of his phases. Ned, as some of you know, is bi-polar. This means he gets depressed. It was good for him to have a go at writing the blog. Brian's website is almost finished, but still under construction - it's taking longer than the Chunnel Tunnel! Still, Derrin at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Online is still updating this blog for the time being. Derrin is almost a bigger fan than I am! But enough about Sue - what about Brian....?????????

Well, as you know, we are all celebrating as Brian was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Brian who was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame this week. We gave Brian a camera and asked him to record his feelings immediately after the event and Mr Pern is very, very happy:


Other news

• The Radio Times interviewed Brian this week where he claimed he was disappointed with the final of The Apprentice series 2, which he has only just watched due to his busy schedule. He also said that he must watch The Wire, which he is told is very good.

• Brian is planning to perform at the Party In the Park festival this year providing Boyzone are not on the bill, following a spat with Keith Duffy at the Jools Holland Hootenanny.

• More rumours of a Thotch reunion. According to Neil Sean in The Metro's Green Room column, Brian's old band are "Planning to reform for the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony.Ìý The original line up has not appeared together for 27 years, Brian Pern is said to be keen but will only perform if £1 of every Olympic ticket sale goes to The Forgotten Foods Foundation." Sadly, Brian says that there is no truth in this rumour but "never say never again".

• We had a celebrity guest sign our guestbook this week, we don't think it's funny and Mr Geldof should just grow up. He doesn't even deserve a Knighthood in my book:
  
  You are a nobsack.Ìý A pretentious, bloated, twerp and your music is drivel.Ìý Get a life - and a diet you fat elf.
  - Sir Bob!
  

Campaign - BRIAN PERN FOR KNIGHTHOOD

We all think Brian deserves an MBE or a Knighthood, more than Bob Geldof, for services to music and world peace. Please write to "THE QUEEN, BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON' and write in 150 words why Brian deserves the Hood of Knights.

Brian Pern is brought to you by ITV Studios and written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day.

Here's a bonus video to go with the latest blog postÌý

Ìý

If you were watching last night's episode of Psychoville you may have heard an announcement saying you could watch the final episode on red button. This was a mistake following a little misunderstanding and we would like to apologise sincerely on behalf of all those concerned.

We think the black gloved stranger may have had something to do with it.

The announcement was supposed to say you can go to the to get the full Psychoville experience, which will be concluding next week before the final episode. If you've been playing along then visit the inbox now to get another message. If you haven't, what have you been waiting for? Go to the inbox and catch up on everything you've missed so far!

So we performed our first gig and despite being 5am UK time we did pretty well. They were sketches we've performed so much back home and we were ready to change rhythm for the Canadian audience but when it came down to it they laughed in mostly the same places as a UK audience. I guess a willy joke is a willy joke where ever you are...

Today we met also . A sentence I never thoughts I'd write.

We watched him rehearse his set for the big Toronto Gala and rarely have I seen someone more focused on his comedy. It really puts us to shame. Also his comic timing is ace. What an amazing thing to have watched him at work. I hope the Gala is shown on UK TV at some point because he is going to be great in it.

Tomorrow is the double Gala day. Scary stuff!

Idiots of Ants are at the Just for Laughs festival in Canada. Follow their antics on the Comedy Blog.

"We're raising money for a wind turbine to generate electricity. Without electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight." The aid workers can be very knowledgeable, very resourceful and have real street cred. And then there's Samantha. Samantha Cunningham-Fleming.

Continuing our series of extra content for Taking the Flak, here's another slice of red button video plus some exclusive behind the scenes pictures from the filming in Tanzania.


Behind the scenes photos:

I'm Ned Toast my mum Sue's son. My mum in hospital for sick and badness in guts so I git to do the websit. I like rum and coke with my dinner.

mum wrote this messge. I cut and paste it in.

Sue here. Thanks for all of your birthday messages; they say life begins at 40. Let's hope it doesn't end at 40 too! I spent the day at the hospital. My son Ned came along and surprised me with a bottle of bubbly!Ìý My cousin Derrin (who works for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Online and is kindly hosting the blog while Brian's website is under construction) popped in with some special diabetic All Gold, it's not as nice but it'll do. I'm a sucker for chocolate even if it does taste like dog chocolate drops. But enough about me, what about Brian!?Ìý Well...

Brian has been to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to meet a dying climber whose last request was to meet Brian before he died.Ìý Brian flew out as soon as he got the request from the lifelong fan, but sadly arrived too late as the climber had already died of a broken neck.

Whist on a morbid note, Brian's song 'My Son's Last Breath' has been voted the fourth most popular funeral song behind 'Who Wants To Live Forever,' by Queen, 'Tears in Heaven' by Eric Clapton and 'Crocodile Rock' by Elton John.

Brian was interviewed for ES Magazine on Friday. To see the transcript, read the extended entry.

Mum will be back next week if she gets better. She worries lots and it gives her tummy twists. She keeps getting letters from Barlays which gives her the runs cos she is thousands over the overdroft limitz.Ìý Brian pern should give her some of his millions instead of giving it to peace abroad. Charity begins at home my nan said when she died of cancer. Derrin cooks my dinner and runs my bath. My dad is in burma with his girlfriend on a rescue mission. That's what he told me. Mum says he is full of bullshitz. I'm going to bed now. I am full of hate, My willy has a bogie on it. I don't know how it got there.

Brian Pern is brought to you by ITV Studios and written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day.

Read the rest of this entry

Energetic Irish stand-up Jason Byrne is back with a new series of his Radio 2 show, and he took a moment to tell us about how events in his own life provide him with even the most unlikely material he could wish for:

"So it's the second series! Hurrah for me, and everyone else that worked on it, but mostly me. It's been great for me doing radio, as it's made me a better and more disciplined performer. In live stand up I go out, say what I want, and leave. In radio you go out, and what you say has to be so carefully thought about.

People ask me where the stories come from and how I think them up. Well believe or not, all this stuff really happens to me. That's why we chose the themes that we picked - they slot into my life perfectly.

Stuff happens to me all the time. My house and family life is like The Osbornes with Frank Spencer looking on. I've had TVs fall on me; my arm fall off; I knock a nail in the wall and the house falls down; mice think they're my friend... no matter what I go to do, disaster soon follows.

Like in the HOLIDAYS episode, I had just got back from holidaying in Florida, a very common holiday to most, but not for yours truly here. My producer Julia McKenzie even held off doing the holiday episode till I returned from Florida in case anything weird happened. How right she was: my children fell ill on the plane, one needed air, the plane got diverted to Miami instead of Orlando, the two kids ended up in hospital with a dose of the measles, we couldn't go outside because it was too hot, the kids stopped eating as they didn't like the food in America and my wife cried for three weeks because she hates fun parks. If you listen to the 5th episode Holidays, then you'll hear that disaster and more.

In the first episode we tackle AGEING. It was lots of fun doing that one - we're all ageing so that topic was on the nose. In the episode you'll hear about, at the age 37, my stark realisation that I was getting old, and the warning I got was my knee falling off in the toilet. When I was young I fell all the time, as I had a lazy eye and a patch over my good eye, because Satan was in my lazy eye and the doctors needed to drive it out, and I used to never break anything, but here I am in AGEING and all is coming apart, as age creeps up on me like the NOTHING from never ending story. But be sure to tune into the AGEING episode and find out how my wife rescues me with my broken knee.

I miss this show when I'm not doing it. Its hard work, but great fun, and as you'll all hear, I have an amazing time on stage as we record it. I'll miss talking to the radio theatre audience, I'll miss the boy who swallowed a thinking it was a Smartie (episode two), the father and son double act (episode five) and the New Zealand man who was forced to wear bondage as a child (episode three). There's just too much to remember them all, and the only way will be to listen to it when it's aired, just like you lot. Except while you're all laughing, I'll be sitting in a rocking chair, listening back and remembering the madness of my life, and The Man Who Hated Cheese (episode two - see video clip above)."

Series Two of The Jason Byrne Show starts Thursday 23rd July at 10pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 2.

Hi everyone. We are sketch group called . We are four men called Elliott Tiney, James Wrighton, Andrew Spiers and me, Ben Wilson.

Last year we were invited to the Canadian Just for Laughs Comedy Festival which takes place in and , and now we're here in Toronto about to do our first ever North American gig at the world famous Second City - breeding ground for comedy legends like Dan Ackyroyd, John Candy and Eugene Levy.

This is a blog of our time in Canada that will catalogue the highs and not so highs of this new comedy experience.

But it won't just be boring old text. Oh no! We are going Vod on yo asses with the help of regular Idiots of Ants video director Ben Taylor who is over here leering at us with his voyeur's eye.

So keep checking back to read and see all our latest news. We'll also be interviewing other acts, which is made all the more exciting when you consider the other acts include: John Cleese, Bill Cosby, Martin Short, Sarah Silverman...(fade out and back in again) Martin Short and Whoopi Goldberg. Any, if not all, of those people could refuse to talk to us so...fingers crossed.

BYE!

Well hello! My name's Joe Tracini, and I play DK in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three sitcom, Coming of Age. The lovely people at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ have asked me to write a blog to keep all you even lovelier people informed of what's happening as we rehearse and film series 2. This is all new to me, the whole blogging thing, so excuse me if I start rambling on about some three legged cat that I saw.

By the way, I saw a three legged cat today, his name was Mr Tiddles. Not because he was incontinent, just because he really liked playing tiddlywinks. Anyway he used to have four legs, but he got into a freak accident with a pair of Wellington boots, some Veet waxing strips and a goat. Poor bugger had a little cart strapped to him with his remaining back leg in it, like a sort of reverse wheelbarrow. If a wheelbarrow was a cat with a cart strapped to it. Bloody funny.

So, series two! If you missed the first series, Coming of Age is about a group of 5 students studying at college, and their day-to-day lives. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues! There's so much going on this series: exploding ducks, falling in love, and of course I will be getting practically naked - I think it's in my contract that I have to. We've started rehearsals now, and it's looking great. We even have a very special guest artist, whose name I will tell you when the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ man tells me if I'm allowed. So all very exciting! I'm going to be writing this bad boy every week as far as I know, so keep coming back and reading it, because if you don't, and I find out about it... well I don't know what will happen, probably nothing. It would take too long to actually come and find everybody who stops reading the blog, and put them through some sort of unpleasant experience, and to be honest I really don't have that sort of time. But still, read it!

Oh, and also, there will be no mention of the word 'Balamory' in this blog. Bugger, I just said it.

Have a nice day!

Coming of Age Series Two is currently filming in location. For anyone who hasn't seen Joe in action, here he is .

Peter Capaldi (amongst other things, Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and In The Loop) is director of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four's new series Getting On, whose naturalistic presentation has drawn favourable comparison to the political comedy in which Peter stars.

But what's it like to direct a comedy show that deals with such grim subject matter? And how do you direct a show after starring in one with such a distinct style? Peter explains...

"Armando [Iannucci] has developed a technique that is totally his own, and I've been lucky enough through The Thick Of It to see it in action.

Once you've been a part of it, it seems daft to go back to a more conventional way of working, particularly with this kind of realistic looking comedy. When the girls asked me to direct Getting On it just seemed the most obvious way to go. So we've a lot to thank him for, both in terms of the shooting style and our approach to the work.

The delightful thing for me was to work with such talented people as Jo, Jo and Vicky. The characters that they created and the situations they put them in were so funny and stimulating. I had a few script meetings with them to flag up where I thought things might work better structurally, but ultimately it's all their doing.

Working with Unison the nurses union who helped us out in our research was extremely useful. Obviously we always knew Lily was going to die, but what was great was being able to ask what the actual procedure was when a death occurs. I asked our contact to go through absolutely everything that had to be done when a death occurs, which is what Sister Flixter, Nurse Wilde and Dr Moore actually do. But the most surprising and moving thing to discover for me was thatÌý it was enshrined in the rules that no one should die alone. Therefore if a death is likely, and there are no relatives or friends in attendance, a member of staff has to be given the role of being with them. In this case Sister Flixter. And that gave us our first scene.

We were so lucky to get Ricky Grover who plays the part of Hilary Loftus brilliantly. He's a remarkably sensitive and funny performer. I also liked the way there was something of the old "Doctor In the House" movies about his name. A quiet tribute to James Roberstson Justice perhaps.

Also, we were blessed with a wonderful collection of old lady extras to play our old ladies. OK it doesn't sound the most taxing of jobs, sitting around in bed all day, but remember they had to act and put up with my impatient directions.

I appeared briefly in last week's episode. I found it a bit difficult as my hands were pretty full directing the show and I didn't want to have to watch myself as well as everyone else. Basically we didn't really have anyone else around so I jumped in. I'm a psychiatrist. And a very nice one too. With an astonishing resemblance to Malcolm Tucker.

There is a woman in the episode who possibly could be Malcolm's mother. But I think she abandoned him at birth and he was brought up by pixies who lost a much of their family when their den was crushed under a carelessly delivered skip, making them bitter and twisted, hateful and unusually interested in the political process."

Can't wait until the next episode on TV? Here's an exclusive video with Jo Brand's character, Nurse Wilde:




Read more about Getting On and watch exclusive character clips right here on the Comedy Blog.

There are certain sorts of programmes that inspire high levels of fan activity online - and Psychoville is one of them. It's a new series and it isn't even finished yet, but there's all sorts of stuff popping up on the web.

There's the small but beautifully designed fan community , which along with a forum also contains a for a new mobile phone.

We've also spotted this of Mr Jelly by Andrea Munuera on deviantART, and if you head over to YouTube you can see the show's "".

Staying on YouTube, there's some fun being had on the Psychoville character's Channels. has become #5 Most Subscribed This Month (well done David!) and, along with (#6 Most Subscribed This Month), has been leaving responses to his commentors. See if you can spot them...

In socialnetworkingland, as well as our own , a proliferation of Facebook and other pages have appeared, while every Thursday everyone's all a- about the show - which even became a trending topic during the first episode.

And of course, the forums on longstanding League of Gentlemen fansites such as and have been talking about Psychoville since it was announced.

Have you found any great Psychoville tributes online? Let us know below.

Q: What do you call three hundred sketches about Michael Jackson?
A: My inbox two weeks ago.

The week before that it was Sir Alan Sugar; last week it was Spies On Facebook. Each week on Newsjack, Radio 7's new topical sketch show, there's one story that really captures our writers' imaginations. Of course there are only so many Suralan sketches you can fit into a 28 minute programme and as script editor, it's partly my job to work out how many that is. It's none, by the way - if three hundred people have made the same joke by Monday, it's a good chance that, come Thursday night when the show is broadcast, everyone in the country will be sick to death of it.

However, the great thing about working on Newsjack has been reading witty, punchy, laugh-out-loud funny sketches and jokes that dodge the obvious and that have come in from new writers. Each week I see a couple of the same names coming through stronger and stronger and each week there's someone completely new with a crackingÌý bit of material. The show does have a regular team of commissioned writers - in case no one sends anything in - but my basic aim is to get as much non-commissioned stuff on air as possible. Sometimes, it'll be just as it arrived in the email but often a sketch has to be rewritten, either for time or clarity or just to punch it up. In fact, right up until the recording, we're tweaking jokes and fiddling with lines. That's the great thing about radio - the actors don't need to learn it.

I started out writing for an open door topical radio show back in the heady days of the 90s and it's great that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is trying something similar. I think it teaches you those two vital skills of the comedy writer - learning to write to a brief and dealing with rejection. If you've sent stuff in to Newsjack and we haven't used it, just look on it as part of the business and keep writing. Once you've worked your way up to the exquisite pain of a sitcom bombing in front of a panel of stony-faced commissioners, you won't even remember that unfairly dismissed one-liner about Freddie Flintoff.

We've only got one show left of this series, but there is another one planned for the near future so, if you've ever fancied writing comedy, have a listen to the show and then have a go at some sketches.

Actually, some of these new guys are pretty good. What am I thinking? I've got a child to feed. So, on second thoughts, go away - comedy's full.

Dan Tetsell is Script Editor of Newsjack. Find out how to submit your sketches at the Newsjack website.

An obnoxious American news reporter? Step forward Ruby Wax. She plays a reporter called Candida in the latest episode of Taking the Flak, which follows a team of journalists in an African war zone.

Here is an exclusive video shown on Red Button followed by an interview with Ruby.


Who did you look to for inspiration in performing your character - any particular American anchors?

There were a lot of role models to draw on for obnoxious American. Like Barbara Walters. So many people who don't really care about humanity at all -that's what I grew up with in the States. Now they're making them in quieter versions, on the outside anyway.

How did you get involved with the show?

Tira - who created Flak and co-wrote it, is my best friend from when we were in kindergarten together. She had no choice but to include me. It's vital to make important friends at age five who can come up with the goods later in life.
Ìý
What was it like filming in Tanzania?

It was much more fun because it's a great country...not the same boring faces...all life is there.

I was able to sit in on one of the trials about the genocide in Rwanda at the War Crimes Tribunal in Tanzania. Shocking and moving.

On the weekend I joined Tira, our cameraman and glamorous lawyer from the UN on safari. We were surrounded by every kind of wild game like a re-enactment of 'The Lion King'. At night we had a tented camp to ourselves, the hyenas yowled, the stars were bright and the Masai danced with spears, guttural grunts and yodels while jumping three feet into the air. It was a little different than filming in the UK.

What are you working on now?

I'm doing "Live from the Priory" a play which eventually will go into theatre. It's a two woman show about the world as we know it and seen from the eyes of all of us.

Joanna Scanlan - who you may recognise as The Thick of It's long-suffering Terri, stars as Sister Den Flixter in ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four's new comic drama Getting On, which she co-wrote. Den is a nurse, a role that Joanna has some familiarity with, as she explains:

"My first appearance as a professional actress at the late age of 34 was as a nurse on Peak Practice. Since then I have played eight other 'healthcare professionals' at the lower end of the payscale. My agent regularly sends me into the casting suite carrying a bed pan for good luck.Ìý Not many of these nurses have been given names in the original scripts. Okay, NURSE SUZANNE patiently tended the AIDS sufferers of the 1980's, but it was mere MIDWIFE that wiped the clammy brows of Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman at the births of the fruit of Henry VIII's loins in The Other Boleyn Girl.

I have had to ask myself why is it I am always playing Nurse?- Is it because I is fat? I am forced to conclude that fleshly proportions are often misconstrued as signs of selfless altruistic beneficence, kindness and care. This is ironic, because in real life I am not that nice. I am the bad Samaritan who didn't answer the phone. Whilst I still cling on to my BMI of 39 I remain stonily unmoved by the plight of the unfortunate. As my few friends and many enemies will tell you, I am as grasping as the next woman, primarily motivated by sex, money and power.

Other than fat, what are the qualities of Nurseness I possess? Is it something to do with having small feet? A mellifluous voice? An ample bosom? Of course my bra size dovetails with that further cliché, Nurse as a naughty fantasy figure; her bust measurement outstripping her intelligence quotient, her practiced probing digits bringing a nervous smile to the sickly face.

By sitting round the kitchen table with Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine, laptop to hand, I was able to unpack the Nurse's box and rummage around. Sister Den Flixter happens to be fat, thick, have small feet and a big bust, but there's a lot more to her than that.Ìý She's vain, venal, expedient and slothful. But somehow not all bad. As she would be the first to tell you - nurses are people too, you know."

Watch Joanna as Sister Den Flixter


Getting On some more

• Watch an interview with Dr Pippa Moore and review her case notes
  

Regular readers may remember that a few weeks ago we revealed some info about the new series of Shooting Stars, including news of a new permanent team member. Well, now you can find out exactly who he is and also about his van in this exclusive interview with Matt Lucas (aka George Dawes).

Matt explains:

"Angelos Epithemiou is an award-winning burger van owner, who refuses to let anyone know where exactly his burger van is situated because as he puts it, "I don't want anyone coming up to the van and mucking around with my generator because it's just been fixed and it cost me a fortune to do it, well not a fortune but quite a lot of money, well not that much because I knew the fella who did it for me and he did me a favour, but he's done a rubbish job, but I never trusted him anyway so it's not a big surprise that the bloody thing is buggered again".

Angelos met Bob Mortimer when Bob presented him with his award for Mobile Caterer of the Year. Angelos said of meeting Bob, "This fella gave me this award, what was long overdue in my opinion, and then we was talking and he said come on the telly, and I said no. Then he said, why not, and I said I dunno, then he asked me again and I said, alright."

Angelos is a big fan of quizzes so this seemed like the right show for him to launch his TV career. He had been looking around for a show to be on for some time but nothing had caught his eye apart from The Apprentice but he then decided that the people that go on that show are mickey mouse and it wasn't for him.

His experience on Shooting Stars has been as he puts it, "OK, but the whole thing is a bit babyish if I'm honest, I prefer comedy that you can get your teeth into like the Desmonds or Fresh Fields."

Angelos is planning to expand his burger van with the money his TV appearance has earned him."

So there you have it!

Shooting Stars returns to our screens later this year.

Adam Buxton's latest weird and wonderful creation may be terrifying, but he can certainly carry a tune. The song is by Adam Buxton, and the video was directed by Adam Buxton and Dougal Wilson.

We asked Adam for a bit of background info and this is what he told us:

"I created Nutty Room as part of Song Wars, a competitive song-writing feature on the radio show I do with Joe Cornish on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 6 Music, in which Joe and I write songs on a given subject and our listeners vote for which one they like best. The theme of that week's battle was 'scary songs'. Joe did one about a ghost that I recall he wasn't that pleased with and I did one about the lair of a movie style disturbed nutbag called Nutty Room.

I'm proud to say our listeners voted my song the winner that week. I was delighted as I had spent many long minutes on its complex harmony arrangements. In fact Nutty Room is considered one of the best songs ever written (if the list of the best songs ever written were to include every song ever written).
Ìý
The video was shot on Thursday 23rd April in an old abandoned house near where I live in Norfolk. It was boarded up years ago but dishonest people bust in and stripped out the fittings, floor tiles and everything else of any value. Now it's just a shell, overwhelmed by vines and weeds, the walls crumbling and the floorboards rotten and treacherous. According to many local residents, the house is haunted by the ghost of a monk (as opposed to being haunted by a living monk which can also happen).

I often passed the house on walks and after a few weeks I couldn't resist poking around. It scared the crap out of me, not so much because of the ghost monk (who I imagine would be fairly mellow) but because there are so many dark corners, blacked out rooms and cellars. As everyone who's ever watched a horror film knows, these are exactly the kinds of places in which twisted homicidal nuts love to hang out and dissect annoying teenagers. I knew this was the perfect place to make a video for my song.
Ìý
To create the nutty room you see in the video I spent a couple of weeks painting crazy childish art all over the walls just as twisted lunatics so often do in films to create what looks like the cover of a bad indie album. There were times when I worried that spending lonely hours scrawling on the walls of an abandoned house for a 3 minute internet-only video was not a good use of my time and might even indicate that I was partially insane, but when I started collecting jars and filling them with sausage meat and hair to enhance the nuttiness of the room, those worries seemed quaint and trivial. Finally the nutty room was complete and all that was needed was someone to help me realise my vision.
Ìý
I called my friend Dougal Wilson, the award winning director of videos for Coldplay, Dizzee Rascal, Jarvis Cocker and many others, and he got on the next train to Norwich. Dougal arrived around 11pm and we drove straight to the scary house where I had set up some lights and my video camera. I put on my best nutty-hat and an old lab coat, loaded a syringe with red paint and we got to work.

Filming went smoothly apart from a moment when we set light to a load of old newspapers from the 60s that we'd found in a bath tub in one of the rooms. It was a profoundly stupid thing to do and we nearly died of smoke inhalation. By 4am the next morning we decided it was time to pack up and go home only to find that the lights of the car had been left on and the battery was dead so we had to walk back to my house in the foggy chill of the night. We didn't care because we felt that we had created something truly stupid. I hope you agree."

More fun with Dr Buckles

• Adam's videos on Comedy Extra
• Adam's
  
• Adam and Joe on 6 Music
• The Adam and Joe 6 Music Blog

Lots of hot Brian Pern goss this week - plus we've hit the 1,000,000 hit mark! Wooo hoo! I'd like to thank my team, Derrin at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for hosting the blog whilst Brian's website is under construction and my son Ned for of his support, but mostly Brian Pern - we wouldn't be here without him.

Well, another week has past and Brian was on top form as he performed at the Children In Need warm up Concert at The Moorefield Eye Hospital. Brian had an emotional reunion with Radio 2's Paul Gambaccini, who was one of the first American DJs in the world. Paul is famously a fan of Brian's music and even admitted when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1996 that he performed better in bed when Brian's music was playing.

In order to raise money for Children in Need, Brian has donated his very own Cycling Proficiency Certificate from his childhood up for auction. It has been signed by Brian and Len Boggart, the Cycling Proficiency Instructor of Godalming in 1969. The bids start at £11,000.

Brian appeared on 'Saturday Kitchen' last week and had tremendous time, although he wasn't a fan of the prawns balls.

Brian provided backing vocals and triangle on Franz Ferdinand's cover of his 1986 hit Mind the Gap. Alex Kapranosdios said "I can't believe we met Brian. He is a hero of ours."

On a personal note, I will not be here next week as I have an operation and it's my birthday but my son Ned will be updating the blog. He is not good with computers so be patient!

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Brian Pern is brought to you by ITV Studios and written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day.

Hello again. Episode Four of "Psychoville" looms upon us - and a very exciting episode it is too. We wrote the fourth episode like a mini "Play for Today" (as if you remember what they were), and when it came to filming it we decided to try and capture the whole thing in one continuous take. This meant nothing could go wrong at ANY point because:

a) there was nothing to cut to, to snip out the mistakes
b) the camera had to know exactly where to be, and where to get to every second of the way
c) all the crew had to be able to get the furniture in and out of the way, as the camera moved in for close-ups, and back in position again so nothing would be missed when we returned to the wider shot
d) for sound we couldn't speak in the moments that the furniture was being moved, so had to be on top of leaving pauses
e) we had to be word perfect
f) oh I can't be bothered explaining it any more.

When you watch it, you'll see. (Note how cautious I am in skirting round daring to say it's brilliant. But it is.) Sorry if I have taken something away from the experience by crowing about the achievement of it - but they don't do it like this any more - and despite the strange "stagy" nature of it - it is quite mesmerising because it just doesn't stop. As it goes, the show is in two takes with a cut, which you will now easily spot because you'll be looking for it. But even the way we do that cut is "Rope" like. (We took the notion of the long take thing from Hitchcock's equally stagy, also brilliant, "").

The show is a three hander (well, three hander and a body) and so we needed a really good actor to come in and be our "Inspector Goole". I think we got him, the relatively unknown Sam Kisgart. We only had a day and a half to rehearse with him before we embarked on the two days allotted in the schedule to nail it. It was scary. And the first thing we shot. I really hope you like it.

After the show has been on, there will be another web video released on the Psychoville site of Steve and I talking about the episode and how it came to be. An entire half hour devoted to David and Maureen, and from what I can gather, people seem to be enjoying them and their funny little ways. We learn a lot more about them, but of course, the episode being as it is, the rest of the mystery is put on hold for a week. Please don't hold that against us. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it enough to forgive the "blip" and stick with us for another week. I'm being ironical of course - it's a very special episode for lots of reasons, and looking back now - I wouldn't have it any other way.

Reece Shearsmith is co-creator of Psychoville.

If you missed it last night here's the packages that went out on the red button after episode 1 of Taking the Flak. You will see lots of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ New Journalists telling their favourite stories about David Bradburn. Unfortunately we missed John Simpson as he wasn't around when this was filmed, but the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Affairs Editor has given us his opinion on Bradburn too....


'Taking the Flak', 9pm Wednesday 8 July ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2
ÌýReview by John Simpson (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ world affairs editor)

As in Stalin's Kremlin,Ìý you always start worrying in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ when they don't mention your name.ÌýÌýÌý

There on the Breakfast News couch yesterday were two of the actors from 'Taking The Flak' discussing the new ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 comedy about the people who report the world for television news. Martin Jarvis talked about the character he plays, the mean, pompous, lecherous, and very funny David Bradburn. Bradburn is the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's 'chief foreign editor'.Ìý

He and the presenters talked at length about all sorts of television newsmen whom he had based his character on. But just about the only television newsman he and the presenters didn't mention as a possible model was me. That was when I knew for sure that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ thought I was David Bradburn.Ìý

Well, so I am in many ways. He's lots of other people too, of course - some of them the correspondents whom Tira Shubart, the show's creator and co-writer, and I came across when we used to travel the world together for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in the 1980s and 90s.Ìý

One or two of our on-the-road jokes, I'm glad to say, have made it onto the screen. There is, for instance, the television correspondent's habit of using Wales as a unit of measurement;Ìý the resentful local ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ stringer (Bruce Mackinnon) tells us that the African country where he's based is 38 times the size of Wales.

Good comedy is always sharp and painful, and this is television comedy at its best. Alas, I recognise all sorts of things about myself in David Bradburn.Ìý

There are differences. I don't go round hoovering up phony receipts, because I gave up submitting expenses to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ years ago. I was always bad about it, and got sick of the angry letters from the administration. Nowadays my long-suffering producer, Oggy Boytchev, pays my basic living costs and I pay for any extras myself. And unlike Bradburn I don't take copies of my books around with me to hand out to people; I prefer good literature.ÌýÌý

But the pomposity? The self-importance? The bad temper? Well, being of bus-pass age and expected to pontificate for a living mean these things are sadly hard to avoid; though advancing age, and a three-year-old son, are bringing a surprising degree of mellowness.Ìý

David Bradburn and I have something more fundamental in common, though. We're almost the last survivors of a race of monsters which once roamed the world, dominating their environment through sheer will-power and aggression.ÌýÌý

The television news correspondents of the past were ferociously assertive. The worst were the Americans, but there were some pretty dreadful British examples;Ìý David and I are quite mild compared with many of the genus.ÌýÌý

Now, though, most of them have either retired or headed for the relative safety and better pay of the studio. The next generation, meanwhile, is altogether more urbane and pleasant:Ìý people like Ben Brown, Mark Austin and Tim Marshall.ÌýÌý

And the generation after that? Well, aside from some admirable people like Ian Pannell, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ man in Kabul, and Paul Wood in Jerusalem, younger journalists seem markedly less eager to visit nasty places nowadays. David Bradburn and I prefer it that way, of course.

The most accurately observed character in 'Taking The Flak' is Mackenzie Crook playing the lugubrious, unhelpful desk producer back in London: a sheer delight. In fact there was only one thing I didn't recognise in 'Taking The Flak': all the sex that was going about.Ìý

'Everyone is rogering their way round the world...collecting affair miles,' says Margaret, the awkward World Service lady (Joanna Brookes) wistfully. Alas not: the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ nowadays demands its money's worth from us.Ìý Trips are brief, days long, sleep in short supply.

Tira Shubart is one of the best news producers I've worked with.Ìý Perhaps understandably, she lets her fictional counterpart Jane (Doon Mackichan) off lightly compared with the appalling Bradburn.Ìý

The long-suffering, philosophical cameraman Jack, played by Lloyd Owen, also gets an easy ride. (The real-life cameraman who filmed the series is the famous Darren Conway, who usually works for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News;Ìý the quality of his work shines through.)ÌýÌýÌý

The locals, too, are wiser and more sympathetic than the bumbling twits from London. Fine; but satire is better when everyone is ludicrous or a swine. Who in Waugh's 'Scoop' is either wise or sympathetic?Ìý

Still, this is a quibble. The people in 'Taking The Flak' who most deserve it get thoroughly shafted, and very satisfying it is. I look forward to the rest of the series enormously. I'll be wincing as I laugh, though.Ìý

Welcome to Ward B4, a backwater in an NHS Trust Hospital. This is the world of slips, trips and hips, this is healthcare at its least glamorous. Getting On forms part of the Grey Expectations season of programmes dedicated to understanding life's twilight years on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 4.Ìý Ahead of the first episode that goes out tonight Doctor Pippa Moore has given us an insight into her daily routine....

Dr Pippa Moore - Consultant Gerontologist - King Edward VIIIÌý Foundation Hospital Trust

Time Management Task/Activity Schedule. July 8th 2009

5.30 am. Running late - only time for a 'tart's wash'.

7.30 am. Look for red zone parking space at Ted's.

8.30 am. For the love of God....

9.00 am. Find a blue zone space, which will have to do.

9.30 am. On to B4 for Ward Round. Troublesome liver with renal complications in Bed 6.Ìý Mr Harvey has over-ridden my beds allocation and has nosed one of his Angina's into bed 7 - I could spit. Have a pressing 18 weeker which I'm desperate to sign off. Will have to have a chat with the patient's GP, as luck would have it a fellow badminton player. We might be able to fudge it. Ward Sister Den Flixter rather offhand. Seems to have some private joke with the new return to practice nurse, Kim Wilde. Another comfort eater by the look of it.

12.35 am. Decide to cut out the middle man and make a call to Howard Gibson C.B.E. Chief Exec of Teds, to make a complaint.Ìý Who's palm is Harvey greasing? His PA books in a telephone appointment for a week on Friday. Interrupted by call waiting - it's Phillip - Air Traffic Control have grounded him in Phuket for another 24 hours.Ìý Says not to worry he won't be bored- he's got the latest Robert Harris page turner,Ìý and I made him promise not to go back to the bar where that woman shoots coy carp out of her vulva.

3.00 pm. Forgot to have lunch. Oh well too late now. Head to multi disciplinary team meeting. Tedious beyond belief. Have run in with the social worker. Honestly. What my son might call aÌý 'waste man'. Where do they find these people?

6.00 pm. Just finished my private Dementia Clinic. Treating the former head of MI6 - tragic wastage of a brilliant mind. Looking into Stem Cell Therapy options as last resort.

7.00 pmÌý Car park. Can't leave the red zone. Barrier won't open due to wrong pass and ticket now expired. Traffic Enforcement Operative is on his tea break. Back in 25 minutes. Listen to The Archers whilst munching a packet of pumpkin seeds. I'm going to miss helping my daughter finger Little Jack Horner on the piano. Oh well, something's got to give.


And here's a brief candid interview with Dr Pippa Moore as she takes five minutes out from her shift

For fans of action comedy Krod Mandoon, and those of you that missed the red button last night, here is an exclusive behind the scenes interview with Matt Lucas and Sean Maguire. It's not your normal behind the scenes stuff either as they cover the spectrum from, over friendly masseurs to Nazi rallies in Budapest and the pleasures of wearing a hairy cod piece.

Taking The Flak is a brand new comedy drama following a team of journalists in an African war zone. They are in a state of perpetual danger, not just from bombs, but their colleagues too!

Co-written and co-produced by experienced, award-winning journalists and comedy writers.
Taking the Flak includes cameo appearances from real ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News anchors, and starring performances from Doon Mackichan, and Martin Jarvis as veteran reporter David Bradburn.

Ìý

Taking the Flak is not only hilarious, it's a devastating satire of TV news. Where 'Drop the Dead Donkey' mocked the newsroom and preening presenters in the studio, this show focuses on the team in the field, and succeeds to brilliant effect. I've spent two decades as a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ foreign correspondent, and I recognised all the characters and the situations - Taking the Flak is sometimes frighteningly true to life. Central to the first episode, is the 'big footing' of Harry, the hapless local stringer in Karibu, a war torn mini-state in the heart of Africa. Big footing is what junior reporters fear more than bombs and bullets - it's when a star reporter is parachuted into their patch, and effectively grabs the story off them. I've seen this moment many times, first as victim and then as perpetrator and believe me, Harry's despair is scarcely exaggerated. His nemesis is the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's veteran reporter David Bradburn who flies in to grab the glory as Karibu is engulfed in a highly televisual civil war. Perhaps the most wonderful moment in the first episode is when David Bradburn (Martin Jarvis), having crushed Harry underfoot, is on the hotel roof and about to go live into the One O'Clock News. It suddenly dawns on him that he doesn't actually have a clue

what's going on. He demands a thirty second resume of the political situation from a nearby waiter and then regurgitates it down the satellite link to Sophie Raworth. How many 'two-ways' like this have been based on similar hasty 'briefings' - if not from a waiter, then certainly from a taxi driver on the road in from the airport? Throw in some wonderful 'what-on-the-road-stays-on-the-road' sex, and a charity worker who is uncannily like the 'aid babes' I used to come across in Africa, and you have the most real but also the most side-splittingly funny series about the news business I've ever seen. In the news business, we sometimes take ourselves far too seriously: it might be hard to after this.

Ben Brown has also written the Novel 'Sandstealers' based on his experience as a War Correspondant. ISBN number: .

Hello, Sue here.Ìý We've had a great response from all of you guys and gals out there who love the video blog, one particular man, Paul Butler from Chelmsford said "it was great!", which is great.

Brian's website is still under construction so we'd like to thank top Pern fan Derrin at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ for posting up this sneak preview of what's to come.

It's been another busy week for Brian who has just returned Uganda where he has been sampling sounds of the forest for his new album. Whilst on the trip, Brian's legendary keyboard technician Ben Quid was assaulted quite badly by a vagrant armed with a machete. It was a random attack and he lost a lot of blood, but he is doing well and hopefully will be able to keep his left arm. Sadly the right one perished.

List of possible titles for the new album - 16 years in the making

1. Liver Detective
2. The Simplicity of Duplicity
3. Dog Suicide
4. Shep Pettibone's Conundrum
5. Spam Legs

Brian has also written to The Telegraph defending his local MP, the Rt Hon Ben Friggart, in the recent expenses scandal. He is yet to get a response, but GO GET 'EM BRIAN! You have our full support. Click here to read the letter.

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Download an exclusive track from the 'Des' Soundtrack by Brian!

Brian Pern is brought to you by ITV Studios and written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day.

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Our mole has been at it again! He (or she) sent us this message from the set of a new TV show in the works. Look who's in it!

"Get a load of this. That's Adam Buxton on the set of The Scum Also Rises, the new ad-agency sitcom for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two which is currently filming out of Teddington Studios. Of course, I didn't show you that, right? It's produced by the guys who did The Inbetweeners, script-edited by Andrew "Not Going Out" Collins and is written by a guy who used to live, breathe and - given how mad, bad and crazy the show is - probably bathed in the excesses of "ad agency life".

From my perch behind the boiler, right next to the props table (which included a crucifix made from Ryvita) I saw everything, the whole episode and more. The highlights being: Adam bouncing on the sofa like a petulant child, Jarred Christmas dry-humping a table stacked high with huge pile of cash, Daisy Haggard performing a textbook prat-fall and Simon Farnaby dancing like the McDonald's Hamburglar. Surely that's what TV comedy's been missing all these years.

I've got to go now. If I hear anything else, I'll let you know, alright?

Love and kisses

The Mole. x"

Hmm. Very interesting...

Brian is currently working on his 6th Solo album, 15 years in the making tentatively titled Tentatively Titled.

Brian recently performed at the Fairport Science Convention in Cologne where he staged an entirely digital concert on 1000 plasma screens across Cologne. Sadly, there was a technical fault and only three worked and the sound was out of sync. Still, he entered the Guinness Record Book.

[Editor's note: FAIRPORT SCIENCE CONVENTION is a science convention looking at the latest technologies around the world, from FEDGE the bending breezeblocks, HOMOSEXUAL FRIDGES and STAY FRESH NAAN BREAD. The first FAIRPORT SCIENCE CONVENTION was held in 1956 in Cromer and revealed the first ever roll of tin foil.]

Brian attended the premier of Wolverine - X Men Beginnings with his lovely wife Bupa and his son Krispin. When asked what he thought of it by one of the a GMTV presenter on the red carpet afterwards he said "a bit far fetched".

That's all the news for this week, make sure to watch Brian's Video Update above, and why not check out this list of Brian's Fav Things? See you next time.

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The Honeycomb is Over and remixes!

• (Original)
• (Cornish Version)
• (Oddball Version)

Brian Pern is brought to you by ITV Studios and written by Rhys Thomas.

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It was with much anticipation and excitement that around 10,000 Fans descended on Wembley Arena last night. We were hoping to see the three men who rocked our worlds through our childhood with their hilarious take on 80s metal Metallica-likes. We saw them, and they officially rocked.

Fantastically, they supported themselves in the form of The Folkmen - a spoof folk group featured in a later documentary The Mighty Wind. 'Blood on the Coal', a song about a massive train wreck was inappropriately hilarious as is their way, and Harry Shearer had transformed into a woman (apart from his voice).

Folking it up with The Folkmen

Then The Tap burst on stage ready for a crazy gig. We were treated to songs from the entire history of the band, from the Beatles-esque 'Give Me Some Money' to heavy rock songs as 'Sex Farm Woman' and 'Rock and Roll Nightmare'. One of my highlights was their venture into Musical Theatre, with a song about Jack The Ripper - "You're a naughty one, Saucy Jack!".


They were joined by a host of guests: '70s keyboard legend Keith Emerson tried to push his organ over several times, Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, Steve Priest from '70s glam rock band The Sweet, and a whole host of girls came on stage for the finale of 'Big Bottom'.

But it was scary to see how much the band have aged. Somehow, I think everyone was expecting to see the 1984 film re-enacted on stage word for word, and for them to be 25 years younger. It was weird going to a rock gig that's all seated, but the heyday of the mosh pit is well and truly over for Spinal Tap - and for most of their fans!

However they might have lived up to our expectations, we still love them for all the times we have found comfort in the stupidity of their bad jokes and ridiculous music. In fact thinking on it now, I am slightly worried that my haircut may have been influenced by Nigel Tufnel.

Oh, and thanks to the guy a few rows in front of me - your comedy dancing was awesome.

"We've got armadillos in our trousers. It's really quite frightening."

Readers! What are your favourite Spinal Tap quotes?

Lucy McDermott is the researcher for Comedy Online and she goes all the way up to 11.

Brian in the studio

Hello,

Sue here. As many of you know, I have been running the Official Brian Pern Fan Club for what seems like a squillion years - (it's actually fifteen and a third), filling you in with all the latest goss, pics and tunes, plus organising the monthly magazine, the conventions and tours of Brian's old houses, schools, studios and visits to his local Library.

Now, with Brian's blessing and after a trillion begging letters (it's actually been about 128 over six years), it has been decided that I run his official website and we are re-launching it very soon. It's currently unavailable (I've had trouble with my BT ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hub, don't get me started!) but thanks to my cousin Derrin, who runs the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ website, also a huge Brian fan, we are able to give you a sneak preview right here, right now with Brian's very own video diaries and downloads all exclusive to this blog. If you love Brian like we do, this is the place to be until the site's back up.

Brian is in the Amazon at the moment recording an experimental EP called 'Ragu Mamma' with some spider monkeys and Dave Stewart. Spider monkeys are apparently one of the most musical primates and are wizards on the bongos, so hopefully Brian will have another hit there.

However, before he set off, he sent this very special message:

Hi Pern Pickers

Brian here, sending a message before I set off to the Amazon. I am very pleased that Sue has taken on my website. It is going to be great.Ìý

Bye

Brian P

Brian was in a rush when he sent that message, he actually texted me from the plane just before everyone was asked to turn off all electrical equipment, including mobile phones, laptops and battery operated items - so we should all feel very privileged as fans that we were the last people he thought of before he took off.

Come back soon for Brian's first webcast!

Brian Pern is brought to you by ITV Studios and written by Rhys Thomas.