Manic loony kid-comic Russell Howard has chatted with the Guardian recently, likening the Edinburgh Festival to an OFSTED (schools) inspection.

The Mock the Week regular has plenty to say on his early days in standup too…

How did you get started in stand-up?

When I was 19 I went down to a new acts night in Bristol and there was a guy eating a banana with a spoon while singing The Sweeney. I loved the madness of it. I thought, I can’t be worse than that, can I? I went back and started doing five-minute spots.

How did those first performances go?

The first six gigs were brilliant. I was just so energetic and, looking back, I think people were just laughing at this goofball, excited kid. Then on my seventh gig, I properly tanked. It was the first time I did an opening line and it got nothing. I died. That’s the real turning-point, because you think you’ve lost it. You have to do it again to get back to where you were in the earlier gigs. That’s the conveyer belt element of stand-up. You’re always chasing gigs you had, trying to better yourself

Certainly on the evidence of his recent Mock the Week appearances, he’s learning the trade…

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Now come on Frankie, you’re evidently not John Barrowman, Ricky Gervais or any other of the ubiquitous performers that we see on our screens these days - there’s no real reason for you to work yourself ragged appearing on Mock the Week in the middle of a massive UK tour.

You looked pretty shafted on last nights show, to be honest, and as a Scotsman who lives on beer and deep fried Mars bars, I can see you running into the wall pretty quickly.

Take it easy there, Mock the Week will still be there when you come back off tour.

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Certainly as the comedy industry gets bigger and bigger, more and more comics, writers and producers are needed - but what are the chances of a journalist (notorious for their absent sense of humour) making the grade as a comic?

Richard Morris - the chief reporter at the Hastings and St Leonards
Observer - recently took to the stage after a local comedy club manager offered
him a ten-minute slot following a professional turn, and his first-ever gig has created some buzz on the comedy scene
leading to Morris being scheduled to appear at London’s Comedy Store.

You can check out a Youtube video of Morris below - I wonder if he has a gag writer…

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More Edinburgh Festival warm-ups have been announced, with Hattie Hayridge and Norman Lovett - two sides of the Red Dwarf’s computer Holly - scheduled on the same bill at Harrogate Theatre on Monday evening (June 30th).

Although there with the purpose of doing standup, Lovett and Hayridge will join each other on stage to discuss the classic British comedy, which celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year.

The show starts at 7.30pm, with tickets costing £10 - £14  (concessions available) available via Harrogate Theatre box office on 01423 502116.

Expect lots of Red Dwarf fans…

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Here’s one we didn’t see coming - on 17-21 June, the Saltburn Comedy Festival will be held a few miles from the Quintessential Comedy headquarters!

To be held at the Saltburn Theatre on Albion Terrace, the acts - previewing material for the Edinburgh Festival - are:

*Jason Manford: Perrier nominee in 2005 and the brand new team captain on Channel 4’s ‘8 out of 10 Cats.’
*Norman Lovett: best known as ‘Holly’ in Red Dwarf and one of the first group of comics to play the original Comedy Store.
*Markus Birdman: a regular favourite at The Comedy Store, Jongleurs and all other major UK clubs, who is building an increasingly huge cult following.
*Mrs Barbara Nice: the comic creation of Janice Connolly, best known for her role as God-fearing barmaid ‘Holy Mary’ in the hugely popular Phoenix Nights.

… with Anvil Springstien hosting proceedings. Locals and interested parties can read more at saltburncomedyfestival.co.uk

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Not British, but very nearly Quintessential, George Carlin was an American standup comic best known to international audiences as Rufus in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure back in 1989.

His recent death has reminded comedy fans of the “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” routine, plus hosting the first ever Saturday Night Live while high on cocaine.

Can’t think of a better way to enjoy Saturday Night Live these days…

You can read a full obit in the Times

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The Scottish Mock the Week star is appearing at the Hackney Empire, Mare Street, E8 this Saturday and Sunday for a stand-up show that will be recorded for his first live performance DVD.

Not before time, either - along with co-star Andy Parsons and host Dara O’Briain, Boyle tightens up Mock the Week to such an extent that many of the misfiring guests can be forgiven.

(I’m not mentioning any names.  They’re nearly all female)

This is, then, certainly a show not to be missed, if only to get yourself on the front row and onto a DVD.

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The Edinburgh Festival is due to kick off in a weeks, and yesterday tickets went on sale for the Fringe events in August

Or rather they didn’t, as the computer systems went down.  Computer says “no”?

Where’s The IT Crowd when you need them?  Did you try turning it off and back on again?

“No tickets have sold on the web today. Phone and counter sales are also operating slowly.  We don’t have any information on whether it will be operating tomorrow.
“It’s really disappointing, but we are doing everything we can to sell tickets as normal, if not quicker in the future.”

The Fringe sold 1.7 million tickets last year.  If they don’t sort things out soon, it will be a lot less for 2008.  This year’s event includes over 28,000 performances, 17,000 artists, and spans 261 venues.

Sounds like a way to spend summer - ticket or no ticket.

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As part of his recent appearance as host of Have I Got News for You, Lee Mack spoke to the BBC website for the show. One particular question stands out:

You were sacked from your job as a blue coat at Pontin’s for appearing on stage drunk. Was it a good show?

I was very pissed so I can’t remember that much about the show. It wasn’t because I got drunk that I was sacked, it was because I was drunk and began to swear. It was my first attempt at stand-up comedy and I got on stage. The big joke the comedians used to do (because this Pontin’s was in Great Yarmouth) was, ‘Where are you from?’ and the audience would say ‘Kent’ because 80 percent of the people were from Kent. And you would say ‘What did you call me?’ and that would always go down a storm. So I got up and said, ‘Anyone here from Kent?’ someone went, ‘Yes’ and I said, ‘Well I’ve heard you’re a bunch of c*****’.

There’s more via the link, as well as a chat with one guest from each of the shows recent episodes - looks like tonights guests incidentally are Ian McMillan and Kate Silverton, with guest host Jeremy Clarkson.

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  It’s about time they were back, and although The Independent doesn’t think much of Vic and Bob’s brand of comedy, from the details of their politics-free show (I’d rather they were politics free than ski-holidaying their way through man-made global warming propaganda without being in control of the facts) it would seem that they are definitely Back On Form:

Tonight, the main raiding of the character cupboard was a reprisal for the odd folk duo Mulligan and O’Hare from The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer.

The croonsome twosome had taken over editorial duties at Heat magazine, and their particular spin on celebrity obsession was to spot celebrities shopping at hardware or furniture stores, and so seeing “Jennifer Aniston outside Carpet (Tick) Right” was high on their news agenda. The speculation on whom she might be buying the carpet for was their ludicrous take on celebrity obsession and it was as close to social comment as it gets from a pair rightly accused of heralding the de-politicisation of comedy in the Nineties and signalling catchphrase culture for scores of apolitical students to hide behind.

(more…)

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