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I was very pleased when I heard that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ were planning a retrospective of The Office. Usually they make those things when the creator dies. This way I can watch it myself. Perfect.

The success of the show seems more surreal now than it did at the time. I think that's because it has never quite gone away. I feel like I manage "The Estate" of The Office every day. "So and so want to use a clip"..."no". "Russia want to do a remake".."yes." I wouldn't have it any other way though. Ownership is paramount.

The biggest thrill for me, (and Steve), was that we were making something purely to please us. We made our own little pilot in the real office that I worked in for 7 or 8 years, and we made it on our terms. There was absolutely no interference from anyone, which to this day, is unheard of. I think if we'd have just sent the script off it would still be in a big pile on someone's desk. "David Brent says something unfunny then looks awkwardly at the camera and touches his tie" doesn't jump off the page does it. We had to show them what we meant. Not just for them to get it it but also to show them we were the right people to write, direct and star in it. If they didn't want it on those terms they couldn't have it at all. I said as much at the first meeting we had at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ. After the meeting Steve said "Rick, can I do the talking in future". He was sure we'd blown it. We hadn't.

I remind him of this anecdote now and again, smug in the knowledge that we never compromised. He points out that if it had gone differently we might be sleeping in a car now. Such is life. You never know what you're going to get - unlike a box of chocolates, in which the different centres are clearly described. (even Forrest Gump's mum was an idiot).

Join Ricky and friends for A Night At The Office: this Sunday from 9pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two and watch exclusive videos about the show right now on Comedy Extra.

Tom Young, from 5 Live's interactive team, writes...

Wow. What a couple of days it's been... At 11.10pm on Thursday night, Reginald D Hunter handed over the microphone to comedy novice Richard Bacon. He had 10 minutes to fill, and ended up doing 13 in front of 400 people, most of whom stayed for the duration.

How did it go? Well, we'll let you be the judge of that. Needless to say, the whole evening made for great radio:



The best place to gauge Richard's reaction is through his account.

Here's a couple of tweets from last night...

@timminchin I got a new found respect for you comics. Ding dang, ding dang dong...!

@domjoly That wasn't much fun.

You can listen to the whole programme including critical analysis of Richard's performance on iPlayer, and there are pictures on too.

Richard Bacon is on 5 Live from 10.30pm every Monday - Thursday.

Chain Reaction, the 'tag' talk show in which last episode's guest is the next episode's host, returns this Wednesday. On the show, will be interviewing about his many adventures - in the physical world and online.

A prolific , Dave also his way around the world, and so it's no surprise to find he's a very active participant in the conversation on .

Robert also has a large following on , and presents his own online chatshow which is filmed entirely... in his car.

Here's a clip from the episode, in which Robert asks Dave about his experiences using social media tools:



Chain Reaction returns to Radio 4 at 6.30pm on Wednesday 2nd September

Eddie Izzard is 26th marathons into his fundraising mission around the UK, and seems in incredibly good health considering. That doesn't mean it's easy going, however - not when the weather is involved.

Eddie iz - sorry, is - running to raise money for . Follow his efforts every week here on the Comedy Blog.

Last night, Richard Bacon decided to face his first live audience with an impromptu gig during his radio show from the Pleasance Courtyard in Edinburgh.

Flanked by comedians Brendon Burns, Will Anderson and comedy writer Marc Haynes, Richard collated some joke suggestions from his loyal listeners to test on the gag-hungry crowd. Have a watch to see how it worked out.


Tonight (August 27th) Richard will be performing his own material live on the E4 Udderbelly stage in Edinburgh in front of 400 people.

Listen to it live on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 5 live tonight from 10.30pm. The full performance will be available on this blog tomorrow.

We Are Klang's Steve Hall writes...

Klang have travelled up to Edinburgh to perform at a benefit gig for the Charlie Harthill Special Reserve in the Pleasance Courtyard. The Pleasance in Edinburgh witnessed our breakthrough shows in terms of live performance, and it was at the Pleasance in London that we did the first script reads of the series in front of some astonishingly brave audiences. The Pleasance have been extremely good to us over the years, and massively patient and encouraging, so it's an honour to be able to do something in return, especially for such a worthwhile cause. I was up in Edinburgh at the start of the festival - Alun Cochrane, Felicity Ward, Celia Pacquola and Cardinal Burns all have exceptionally good shows - it's strange to be in Edinburgh without a show to peddle - but also rather liberating knowing you don't have an imminent £8000 debt looming.

There's a moment in this week's episode where I get punched in the balls by a small child. I was suitably boxed and buffered in the downstairs, protecting myself and future generations of my weedy bloodstock, wondering if the production team would perhaps draft in one of these obese children so fashionable nowadays, whose pudgy fingers and fist would perhaps cushion my monkey and pee-wees from any lasting damage. I needn't have worried. Doing the punching was the most adorable and shy little girl - my hound and my baskervilles were safe. Delicately, director Ben and third assistant director Jen, talked her through what she needed to do: "You hit Steve just below his tummy..." At which point her mum interjected with "Oh, I just told her to whack him in the gonads..." Delightful.

When we played Australia, a review charmingly called us 'visually pitiful'. Playing Glasgow some years back, during a forlorn taxi ride back to our hotel we wondered aloud why nobody of either gender ever appeared to take an interest in partying hearty after our shows. At which point the taxi driver, who up til this point had remained completely silent, chipped with the helpful reminder: 'Because you're all ugly b*s'. He then didn't speak for the rest of the journey.Ìý

He received a substantial tip. When we did The Wall in 2008, an ex- girlfriend took the time to send me a message saying that the three of us looked like 'swarthy potatoes'. Lovely.

It was perhaps due the cumulative effect of all these knockbacks, that I approached this episode with some trepidation, for this week's episode sees my backside feature as a key character. It speaks volumes for my limited acting ability that I can wring more pathos when expressing through the medium of bottom-theatre than with my actual face, but I remain proud of his surprising peachyness. Just don't call him a bumcrack. He's been here for years. But time takes it toll, and as we approached filming, I began to assess how he might look on the screen. I did consider a trial run standing outside the window of my local electrical goods shop, but dignity got the better of that idea.Ìý

And so I had to face facts - he'd gotten a little fuzzier than he used to be. Whatever was a boy to do? The answer - hair removal cream. I am a fool. The result is there for you to revel in, a tableaux my flatmate has described as looking like a monk with a headwound. And if you're watching in HD I really am very, very sorry.

We Are Klang continues tonight at 10.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Read more from Klang and watch extra video in our Klang blog archive.

Enjoy the first new episode of Shooting Stars last night? Hungry for more? Here's a bit of play-along-at-home fun for you - an exclusive song sung by Vic, of course, in the club style:


Watch Shooting Stars at 10pm, Wednesday nights on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two.

Richard Bacon is in Edinburgh preparing to perform his first ever stand-up routine - which will be broadcast live on air. Here's Tom Young, from 5 Live's interactive team, with an update on how Richard's doing:

Not long to go now as Richard begins to hone his material for his comedy debut. He seems in a confident mood but remains totally aware that it could all turn sour. His main concerns appear to be the fact that it's LIVE on national radio and that he's performing in front of a crowd who've come to see Reginald D Hunter. Will they be happy that the final 10 minutes have been handed to a man without a comedy track record?

Yesterday, Richard went to a Comedy Masterclass at the Laughing Horse Comedy club hosted by prolific comedy writer Kevin McCarron, who was one of the first to hear some of Richard's material. Here's how it went:


He also met up with his mentor (and if you think about it, warm-up act) Reginald D Hunter, who gave him some advice to take on stage. If you look closely, you really can see the fear in Richard's eyes:


You can listen again to last night's show here. It features Richard getting plenty of tips of the trade from comedy greats such as, Richard Herring, Lucy Porter, Brendon Burns and Justin Moorhouse.

Richard Bacon is on 5 Live from 10.30pm every Monday - Thursday.

On Thursday, 5 live's Richard Bacon will be swapping one mic for another and performing his first ever stand-up comedy routine at . He has been handed a 10 minute slot at the end of Reginald D Hunter's gig at the city's Udderbelly Theatre. 10 minutes that's sure to feel like 10 days and all broadcast live on-air. Gulp.

Tom Young, Interactive Producer on Richard's show will be following his journey and here describes what lies ahead:

Ìý

Talk about a baptism of fire. It's a real race against time with only a few days up in Edinburgh to get prepared. He's off to a comedy master class on Wednesday and hoping to glean some tips from seasoned pros such as Reginald D Hunter, Barry Cryer, Richard Herring and Lucy Porter along the way. It's certainly getting plenty of attention from the local press, but will the gig, which Richard has dubbed 'His Final Farewell Tour', actually be funny? And can he cut it in front of the critics standing by to review him straight after the show?

Ìý

Along with the rest of his 5 live production team, I'll be following Richard in the build-up to the event and filming every second of the gig itself. There's sure to be some nerves, maybe some tears and at least a couple of laughs. It all gets going on Wednesday at 10.30pm live from the Pleasance Courtyard.

Ìý

You can keep up to date with his progress on this blog, listen to the programme live or on iPlayer as well as following him at where you can see 140 character gems such as this:

Ìý

-Doing that whole stand up writing thing again. Turns out it's not easy. And I keep getting distracted. By things like Twitter.

Ìý

-Fact of the day. If you put the ENTIRE population of Burnley inside Old Trafford they'd be 2000 spare seats.

Ìý

For more information on Reginald D Hunter's show check

In the meantime, check out his appearance on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News 24 last week...yes, that's right, he's wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

After last week's show of strength, Eddie is beginning to suffer from fatigue - which would explain his gibbering about Kendal Mint Cake castles.

Eddie iz - sorry, is - running to raise money for . Follow his efforts every week here on the Comedy Blog.

Marek kissing a frog (or a toad). Alright, it's not a dog, but it's the closest we could find.

We Are Klang's Marek writes...

The best thing about doing a television series is you can write scenes into scripts that give you the opportunity to do something that would never normally happen in real life. For some people this might be driving expensive sports cars or getting chatted up by beautiful women, but in my case it's getting off with a dog.

So the day of the big scene arrived, I was feeling very nervous and even brushed my teeth twice. I arrived on set and was introduced to the dog handler.

When you imagine a dog handler, you might think of someone slightly quirky, maybe wearing scruffy clothes with a slight disregard for personal appearance. What you don't want to see is a man who is wearing little more than a potato sack, with homemade gloves, a man who looks like they've tried too hard at a sex offender look-a-like party. If this wasn't disconcerting enough, for some reason he was holding a massive stick. I don't know anyone over seven who deems it acceptable to hold a massive stick in public unless they have walking difficulties.

The assistant director thought it would be a good idea for me to meet the dog before I got off with it, that way both of us would feel more relaxed about getting intimate in front of camera. The following is an excerpt from the conversation between myself and the dog handler.

Dog Handler: Hello.
Marek: They're nice gloves.
Dog Handler: Yes, homemade.
Marek: What's the stick for?
Dog Handler: Holding on to.
Marek: Oh right. I suppose I should say hello to your dog.
Dog Handler: Yes, this is Maggie.
Dog Handler gestures to swollen looking Jack Russell, with a really manky ass.
Marek: Hello Maggie.
Dog Handler: Yes, she's been on heat all week, got herself into a real state, so I thought I'd better get her out of the house as she kept on bothering the sheep.
Marek: Maybe you should have chosen another dog?
Dog Handler: No, no, she seems to have calmed down a bit now.

Despite being a bit concerned that Maggie had been face deep in sheep's asses all week, I still went ahead with the scene (which is in episode five). Maggie almost bit my face off when it came to giving her a little peck on the cheek. I then returned to filming base to discover the real dog handler waiting with four pristine well groomed dogs in tow. What I had in fact got off with was an unwashed, untrained dog, belonging to an extra, who was possibly mentally ill. Life has never been so exciting.

We Are Klang continues tonight at 10.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Read more from Klang and watch extra video in our Klang blog archive.

That's right! Shooting Stars is back for a whole new series!

If you're looking at the picture above and wondering who that confused-looking guy with the tie is - that's Angelos, burger-van owner and new addition to the team. You can find out all about him here on the blog in this interview he did with Matt Lucas.

We'll also be bringing you a look behind the scenes at Shooting Stars each week, starting with this from the making of the first show. Just what will guest DJ Ironik make of it all?


The brand new series of Shooting Stars begins Wednesday 26th August at 10pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two.Ìý

HI! I'M DOCTOR GUSTAV GRIPPENSCHAAFT, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SELF-HELP MYSELF HELP YOU.

Notice how I introduced myself to you just now. I did it confidently and I looked you directly in the eye. A STRONG MANLY HANDSHAKE OF WORDS. Unless you read it wrong.

Twelve years ago, I WAS LIKE YOU - socially awkward, unassertive and paranoid. I was also in jail.

That was before I found the SECRET TO HAPPINESS (and you can too).

In March 2005, shortly after my release, I founded the Wisconsin University of Successology. In May of that same year I graduated. I was top of my class. SEEING IS ACHIEVING.

That was the FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE REST OF MY LIFE.

Now look at me. No, really look at me. I'm one of life's winners. I'm a bestselling author, a self-qualified doctor and a dedicated father to countless children around the world. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

When the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ asked me to share my secrets of Successology with the people of England, Scotland, Wales, Europe and Cornwall, I was apprehensive. Would they have the same problems? Could I indeed help them? The answer is yes and yes.Ìý

Join me now on a journey: A JOURNEY INTO YOURSELF.

GUSTAV'S THOUGHT OF THE DAY

"When you next catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror I want you to note two of your best qualities. Say them out loud. Now do the same with three of your worst qualities but say them even louder and in a deep, gruff voice. Repeat until you genuinely frighten yourself."

Grippenschaaft is written by Thomas Nelstrop and Simeon Goulden.

Ricky Gervais talks Steven Merchant through his planned retrospective of the naughties. He also mentions that A Night At The Office will be on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two at 9pm on Sunday 30th of August.

(via )

That's right! For one night only at the end of the month, The Office will be returning to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two - and you'll be able to watch the whole first series back-to-back in one sitting.

To celebrate, we'll be publishing a load of exclusive new interviews with Ricky and Steve, the cast, and some rather familiar fans of the show here on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy website. Watch the video above for a little taste of what's in store.

And, while we count the days until that night, we'd like to know: what are your favourite moments from The Office? Mine might even be Tim and Gareth's exchange about who put Gareth's stapler in some jelly, and why a person might do that, right in the first episode.




Discuss your favourite Office moments below.

Incredibly, Eddie seems to be getting into his stride... for the first ten miles of each daily marathon, at least.

Eddie iz - sorry, is - running to raise money for . Follow his efforts every week here on the Comedy Blog.

We Are Klang's Greg writes...

I think that one thing that has united Klang over the years is our love of people. Having worked together for several years we have learned that if you treat your audience well, they will take you to their hearts. A couple of incidents spring to mind.

After one live show we did a few years ago, a smartly dressed middle-aged lady decided to talk to us about some of the less family-friendly material we had presented. Before she found her way to our dressing room, we had enjoyed the hospitality provided by the venue and the conversation that ensued went as follows:

Woman: I would just like to say how offensive I found-

Steve: Sorry can I stop you there.

Woman: Pardon?

Steve: I just wanted to let you know before you go any further that I don't care what you think.

Woman: But...I...

Steve: By all means continue but I think it's only fair to warn you that I'm not interested.

Marek and Greg: Childish and antagonizing giggles.

Woman leaves; a fan.

It was around this time that I realized we were equipped to charm and win over any crowd. At another gig when warming up for Edinburgh, we witnessed a group of students in the audience loudly heckling the acts before us. When we took to the stage I politely requested that they mind their manners. All went well until their self-appointed floppy-fringed leader decided to join in with a finely crafted sketch that involved Marek and I ramming Jaffa Cakes and grapes into our over-full mouths. The moment the curtain-faced adolescent piped up, Marek, one by one and with professional accuracy, threw an entire packet of Jaffa Cakes into his face from very close range. I have always thought of the Jaffa as comfort food so was surprised to see the devastating damage they can cause when thrown with force.

He left, covered in chocolate and blood; a devotee.

At the Edinburgh festival later that year, a member of our audience decided to walk out halfway through the show. He was at the opposite side of the room from the exit and had, therefore, to make a very laboured and clunky exit. I lead a chant of every foul and offensive insults in my vocabulary and in so doing questioned the gentleman's parentage, sexual practices and gender. We ploughed on with the show satisfied that one of life's vermin had been vanquished. He returned to the room venue five minutes later and clearly very upset. He had just been to the toilet.

He stayed for the rest of the show and left; a disciple.

This episode of Klang is about an Inspection that ultimately reveals us to be total losers. I like to think of it in some way an apology to the three people mentioned above.

We Are Klang continues tonight at 10.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Read more from Klang and watch extra video in our Klang blog archive.

P.S On this piece of backstage footage I detail the members of crew I'd be prepared to sleep with. It wasn't a bit off-screen japery. I did all of them that night:

It's the penultimate week of Taking the Flak, so here is another exclusive piece of Red Button content. This week we go behind the scenes to meet both the real and fictional Directors of Photography. We find out what it takes to be a cameraman in an action packed field and how to avoid taking a backwards tumble:



Tira Shubart, the co-writer and producer of Taking the Flak, gives us an view of what it was like for Team Flak to set up a fake civil war in Africa.


Staging a fictional civil war can be trickier than covering a real civil war.Ìý The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is rightly proud of its health and safety rules which in Africa is a lot more difficult for a large cast and crew than a small news team covering real action.

Taking the Flak was filmed in beautiful Tanzania, a country with vast herds of wildlife, spectacular plains and famous mountains like Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru which can be seen in the many of our scenes. So we were able to call upon safari outfitters to make things happen.Ìý

Behind the scenes a dozen Landrovers bumped along African roads carrying actors, crew and vast amounts of equipment. Camp hands put up canvas "bush toilets" for our many locations outside the town of Arusha. And caterers who usually feed trekkers on Kilimanjaro would arrive magically every morning--no matter where we were--and set up their kitchens for the team and large mess tents to sit and enjoy a much needed meal.

Team Flak spent a lot of time in tents. We had catering tents, the toilet tents (the less about them the better), the dressing room tents, the tents to shade the cast and the extras from the blazing sun, and then there were the refugee tents....

For Episode Six, our brilliant Art Department had to create a whole refugee tented city. The old used tents they acquired had to look even more beaten up. Our set designers were masters at sprinkling dust and bits of scenic looking rubbish around, and our refugee city was born.

But what about the weapons?Ìý Our young actors playing child soldiers carried replica guns--Kalashnikovs or AKs--made of rubber. And the mortar seen on the back of a rebel vehicle is simply a pipe welded on a platform...as for the impressive tank....is it real? We leave that for you to decide!

Hello all! Apologies for the delay in updating the blog, had a pretty bad case of food poisoning from some cocktail sausages I ate, and didn't want to get sick all over my keyboard... I'm sure you all understand.

Well, since the last time I wrote anything, we've filmed two episodes, and we've started shooting them out of order, so we've finished Episode Two and Episode Five! Both went very well. Episode Two took quite a while, because we normally have about 10 minutes of the episode already filmed on location, but we didn't for that one, so had to shoot the whole 28 minutes. We we're all very hot, tired and horny.

Alright maybe not horny, but it just occurred to me that the blog thus far has been pretty boring, so thought I'd spice it up a bit. So, it's time for...

Tony's Stupid Comment of the Week

This week, Tony saw a copy of The Times in the make up room, and said "I don't understand how The Times can make everything so boring. I love football, and if you read about it in The Sun, it's really funny and interesting, but in The Times, the say things like..." (and I promise you this is a direct quote, I wrote it down and everything), "'This week, Chelsea have signed a player who will be a significant, fragmental society figure to this years squad'". I'm sure you will all join me in saying...WHAT?!

We're moving on to film Episode Three this week, in which I am naked except for a small drawstring bag covering my manly/boy-ly bits for the majority of the episode - which will be an experience in front of a 300 strong audience, I'm sure. I'll make sure I let you know how it goes! I have also been informed that a DVD of Series One will be out sometime in October. I believe you can pre-order it somewhere on the internet! Please buy it. I want my 1.5% of the money, I have car insurance to pay. See ya! x

Now in his second week of running around the UK for Sport Relief, Eddie Izzard is now onto his 8th marathon, and unsurprisingly the strain of running 30 miles a day is beginning to show. Thankfully, he's not alone on the road...

Eddie iz - sorry, is - running to raise money for . Follow his efforts every week here on the Comedy Blog.

We Are Klang's Steve Hall writes...

There's a fairly simple dilemma which presents itself to any self-respecting self-loathing comedian with a new series going out: to self-google or not to self-google. I think it must be a product of my slightly peculiar Jewish-Catholic heritage that I take a perverse enjoyment in seeing what's out there. There's always something you're not expecting, which in this particular instance took the form of no fewer than three separate people saying that I look like the lead singer of The Flying Pickets. That's the lead singer of The Flying Pickets. For you youngsters out there, were pretty much the Bloc Party of their time. So that's quite a feather in my cap - thanks, The Internet.

Elsewhere, someone has uploaded a live version of our Racial Identity song from a gig we did a few years ago at Andrew Maxwell's Fullmooners gig. I would say we look so young, but I'm very aware that context is a nutkicker.

It's pleasant being able to reflect on some of the gigs we did back in the day. A favourite memory is of a show we did in Lancaster, where Marek and Greg were losing about thirty quid each on the round trip.Ìý

I'd managed to find a coach which departed at 3am which would mean I made seven pounds all told. Waiting for the coach in the freezing Lancastrian air, two drunk angry men stumbled my way and declared "Well, well, looks like we've got ourselves a drifter... do you want a bite of my burger, drifter?" I was so hungry I actually took them up on the offer. Glory days, glory days.

Episode Two of We Are Klang airs tonight. This week's episode is Crime. It features the fantastic Waen Shepherd - we first met Waen when his awesome Gary Le Strange character won Best Newcomer at the Insert Corporate Sponsor Here Comedy Award. His song I'm Japanese was a particular favourite of mine, at least until my flatmate spilt coffee over the CD. Waen joined us on location in Stalybridge to film the moment when Klang first encounter the fiendish villain known only as The Juggler. Here's some behind the scenes footage:

Unfortunately Marek's camera battery died at this point. Following on from absolute was of course the word brilliance. Rhod Gilbert is kind and gentle soul. Speaking of excellent stand-ups, I went on Jon Richardson's 6 Music show on Sunday morning, and was able to share a few embarrassing tales about Marek and Greg from their lives before Klangbury. I was allowed to choose a song to play, so I earnestly chose Popscene by Blur, and gave an introduction which to me sounded erudite and cool, but according to my missus sounded like I had "learning difficulties". Marek and me are going on Talksport tomorrow, where we can talk about the ever more depressing plight of ** and *, our respective football teams. This may depend on being able to stem the flow of bitter salty tears as we speak.

Listen to an excerpt of Steve's appearance on 6 Music (or listen again to the full show). Here he talks about one of Greg's 'pre-fame achievements':

We Are Klang continues tonight at 10.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Read more from Klang and watch extra video in our Klang blog archive.

Continuing our series of exclusive red button content from Taking the Flak - here's journalist Harry Chambers talking about the perils of reporting when scary animals are looking at you.





The producer from Taking the Flak - Tira Shubart - gives us an account of what it's like on set having to deal with cobras, tortoises and a camera-shy goat.

If you want a snake-eye view of people, all you have to do is get into the snake enclosure. First remove the two rather large black spitting cobras to make room for the cameraman. Simple. Just take a very long snake-lifting prong thing and pick up the cobras very carefully. Remember to put on your sunglasses to protect your eyes from the cobras' venomous spitting. They spit to blind their prey and then go for a much nastier and usually lethal bite. Then deposit the six-foot long cobras in a secure container--a fancy description of a large bucket with a lid. With the enclosure snake-free, your cameraman -Pete Rowe in this case--can manoeuvre into the empty cage to film a "snake eye's view" of actors Bruce Mackinnon (Harry) and Lydia Gitachu (Grace).Ìý Simple!

Actually the cobras were more compliant animal actors than the twenty leopard tortoises we used in one scene. The gentle leopard tortoises simply wanted to crawl off and look for lovely grass to eat. Our camera crew quickly learned the art of "tortoise wrangling" to hold the tortoises stationary and leap out of shot at the last moment before the cameras started to roll. Ìý

But our goat, an animal actor featured in another episode, tried a serious escape during a night shoot. Goats are quite speedy, especially when running away from a television crew.Ìý Thanks to an impressive flying tackle we didn't give up the goat... Did David Attenborough ever have this kind of trouble?

Africa has the most spectacular wildlife on the planets and Taking the Flak wanted to feature some of the classic animals that people love to see on safari.Ìý But we had a tough time trying to get a zebra to graze near our microphone as the script required. Happily our zebras lived in a private reserve and could be bribed by their favourite kind of hay...so they had their moment of media fame too.

This interview with is part of the video diary the Idiots of Ants have been making of their experiences in Canada at the Just For Laughs comedy festival.

Hello again! Before I start, I would like to point out that in the picture above the last post, I am the one on the left. Not the crazy mouthed one on the right, that would be Tony Bignell who play's Matt. Here's something about Tony: he's a great actor, and a lovely bloke, but he says some bloody stupid things. So stupid in fact, I'm going to sprinkle a few of them in this blog in a section I like to call Tony's Stupid Comment of The Week.

Tony's Stupid Comment of The Week

This week, he was rehearsing a joke with a spirit level, and wasn't entirely sure what a spirit level was. After a lengthy explanation of how they are generally used on building sites and the like, he hastily replied, "Yea, but what spirits do they measure?". Ah, Tony.

Anyway, it's been a glorious few weeks on the Coming of Age set! We went on location in the metropolis that is Watford for a week, which is always fun! Doing stunts like falling off the top of a car were particularly enjoyable/absolutely-crapped-myself.

We've also completed Episode One, which went really well! I had a ventriloquists doll of myself for the whole episode, which was a bloody nightmare, and I now understand why Keith Harris is so pissed off all the time (for anybody born after the 70's, Keith Harris was a ventriloquist with a puppet of a duck named Orville. He wasn't very good, but incredibly had a Number One hit with I Wish I Could Fly. Now don't say I never tell you anything interesting).

Rehearsals for Episode Two are well underway, and it's looking great! We also have some fantastic guest artists this year, including Geraldine McNulty, Miriam Margolyes, and Dave Lamb, who you probably know as the voiceover guy on Come Dine With Me!

Well, I'm off to sleep, as this acting lark is bloody hard. Take care crazy people x

Joe Tracini plays DK in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three sitcom Coming of Age. Read the rest of his diary here on the Comedy Blog.

Eddie Izzard is running. Running, and running, and running. As he explains in his , he's running right around the UK, from capital to capital: London to Cardiff to Belfast to Edinburgh and back to London.

He's aiming to cover 30 miles a day, six days a week. That's over a marathon a day and an incredible undertaking - all in aid of . His run is being followed for a programme on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three, which will be broadcast in 2010, but he is also making video updates like the one above which you can catch right here on the Comedy Blog.

You can also follow Eddie's progress in terrifyingly microscopic detail via his , where he is publishing pictures and even sending out his exact location on Google Maps. When it comes to running a marathon a day, he seems to be the : "Finished 4th Marathon in 4 days. My feet are having a bad time". Mind you, that's probably for the best. I'm not sure anyone would feel comfortable reading seven weeks of their favourite stand-up tweeting in agony.

Eddie Iz Linking

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• Eddie Iz Running (the programme)
  

Here's another slice of red button video from Taking the Flak, plus some more exclusive pictures taken by the crew from the filming in Tanzania.

This week, go behind the scenes to witness the making of Strictly Come Tribal Dancing, and meet the 'Witch Doctor':


There are also some more behind the scenes photos -