The Greek-US comic has gone from Edinburgh fringe survival lessons with Jimmy Carr to working with Steven Soderbergh and Ang Lee. 'You have to be a crazy person,' he saysJimmy Carr may not s…
Misery Bear's Guide To Love And Heartbreak, BookAdmirers of quality web comedy may already be aware of Misery Bear, the cute, fluffy teddy who combines serial failure in the world of romance…
Alex Horne: Seven Years In The BathroomUnlike many of his stand-up comedy peers, Alex Horne hasn't had any difficulty filling time in his latest one-hour show, because he's set himself the n…
John Robins, NottinghamJohn Robins is a comic who doesn't fit into any easy categories. Although one of several promising stand-ups to emerge from Bristol in recent years, he lacks a West Co…
Patrick Monahan, On tourYou can be forgiven if ITV1's search-for-a-star stand-up reality package Show Me The Funny passed you by. But for many comedy fans, watching wannabe comics trying to …
The Boy With Tape On His Face, Hull, LancasterIt's amazing what a short length of gaffer tape can allow you to achieve. For Sam Wills, it's helped to bring mime back into contemporary comedy…
Neil Hamburger, Edward Aczel, Edinburgh, LondonPity those poor fringe-goers who arrive on the last weekend hoping for a cheery fix of Live At The Apollo-style stand-up, and find themselves i…
Simon Munnery: Hats Off For The 101ers & La ConceptaThere is a special informal category on the Edinburgh festival fringe for performers who (through a special genius and stubborn staying po…
Nick Helm: Dare To DreamThe first thing you have to get used to with Nick Helm is the shouting. His entire set is almost one long uninterrupted bellow, almost as if he's part standup, part d…
Doug Stanhope, London, CD/DVD setGiven the way that seemingly the entire comedy community develops a steely single-minded focus on Edinburgh every summer, it's easy to imagine that the rest …
As the Edinburgh festival kicks off, James Kettle asks a bunch of this year's comedy stars to tell us their best gagEvery summer I meet people who tell me they don't like air-…
Cariad LloydThere are many female performers doing character comedy, but it can be hard to tell which ones have proper comic instincts running through their bones and which are simply aspiri…
Our expert panel tell us their inspirations, favourite funny words, and what always gets a laughHow many gigs does a comic have to do before they're any good?Tom Rosenthal How many lives doe…
Sam Simmons: Fail, LondonSome comics may whinge about leaving London for a month to take part in the Edinburgh fringe but spare a thought for those who've travelled from much further afield.…
Joe Wilkinson, Hemel HempsteadOne of the stand-out new sitcoms last year was Stefan Golaszewski's Him & Her, which managed the difficult trick of mixing balls-out crudity with wit and genuin…
With the launch of ITV1's new comedy talent show Show Me The Funny, Alan Davies talks to James Kettle about stand-upITV1's latest talent contest Show Me The Funny " Stand-Up Showdown offers …
Marcel Lucont, EdinburghAfter all the excitement of Jerry Seinfeld, here comes the latest exotic import to arrive on these shores and show us all how comedy really should be done. Marcel Luc…
Jim Breuer, London, StevenageSaturday Night Live has launched some stellar comedy careers, from Bill Murray to Tina Fey. But while some move on from SNL to movie stardom, international recog…
Kerry Godliman, Godalming, BirminghamKerry Godliman's stage persona is low-key and down-to-earth, an appropriate match for her particular band of well-crafted commonsense observational comed…
Ian D Montfort, Birmingham & LondonTaking the piss out of spiritual mediums and fortune telling isn't exactly groundbreaking new territory for comedy, but no one does it with quite the same …
Peacock And Gamble, NottinghamComedy podcasts have a habit of gaining a life of their own. In recent times, we've seen Olly Mann and Helen Zaltzman's excellent Answer Me This! getting turned…
The 20-year-old could be his generation's Steve Martin, but right now he's pleased to be knocking around with Tim KeyWinchester, Andover, Ipswich: all towns that you might expect any aspirin…
Dead Cat Bounce, Kilkenny & WaterfordThe Kilkenny Comedy Festival is Ireland's most important laughterfest and it's become celebrated for the international performers it attracts. That's as …
As Jerry Seinfeld returns to the UK for his first show in 12 years, James Kettle looks back on the best moments of his long-running sitcomGeorge Costanza's worlds collideJason Alexander's Ge…
Stewart Lee's Austerity Binge: At Last The 1981 Show, LondonLet's park for a moment the fresh-faced stand-ups usually featured on this page (performers recently identified by Stewart Lee as …