Comedy, Culture

Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes

Click to playRicky Gervais at the Golden Globes

We’re sure an awful lot of you will have seen this, but just in case, here we go again. Some have hailed Ricky Gervias’ performance as Golden Globes compere “cringeworthy” and “insulting”, but we’re firmly ensconced in the “brilliant” camp. Why? Skip to 4 min 22 secs on the video to find out.

Read Ricky’s response to the criticism (and see the man himself in some gold lamé pants) here.

Comedy, Culture, Film

Blake Edwards RIP

Click to playBlake Edwards RIP

Another Hollywood legend took their final bow yesterday when writer and director Blake Edwards passed away in Los Angeles. Doubtless, the obituary writers will take the opportunity to talk reverentially about Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but for us he will be remembered for two things: creating the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau (and with it, the career of Peter Sellers) and continually reminding the world just how rubbish men are at playing it cool in front of beautiful women.

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Comedy, Culture

Top Five – Utterly ridiculous blogs

Top Five – Utterly ridiculous blogs

From the outset, the internet has been fertile ground for over-opinionated forum pirates, pyramid scammers and pictures of genitals drawn using punctuation. [Read more...]

Comedy, Video clips

Don’t call me Leslie

Click to playDon’t call me Leslie

As if a freezing cold Monday morning isn’t bad enough – news from LA that the one and only Leslie Nielsen has died aged 84. The tributes will be plentiful and his legacy as the man with the straightest face in comedy will be hard to match, as this clip from Police Squad aptly demonstrates.

Comedy, Video clips

Brand new Alan

Click to playBrand new Alan

Ordinarily, sponsored collaborations with long-treasured TV characters are a recipe for disaster, but if the first of 12 weekly episodes of Foster’s Mid Morning Matters series is anything to go by, we’re in for another haul of classic comedy from DJ and Rover Vitesse aficionado, Alan Partridge. (And, yes, his new talkshow sidekick is indeed Esquire regular, Tim Key). www.fostersfunny.co.uk

Words by Henry Farrar-Hockley

Comedy

Top five slang words – for conversing with young people

Top five slang words – for conversing with young people

Just because you’re the kind of mature, sophisticated chap who buys Esquire magazine (and if you don’t, please refer immediately to the “subscribe” box to the left), that doesn’t mean you don’t want to be able to get down with the kids. Here’s Nikesh Shukla, author of Coconut Unlimited, a new comic novel about three Asian boys in an all-white secondary school, with some “greezy” slag. [Read more...]

Comedy

How to write sketches by Armstrong & Miller

Click to playHow to write sketches by Armstrong & Miller

Sketch show kings Armstrong & Miller return for a third series of their BAFTA-winning show this saturday on BBC1 at 9.45pm. New characters include no-nonsense self-made men Phil and Ken, pretentious ex-pat ‘Simpkins of the France’ and out-of-time vampires Pharius and Horschtadt, who bemoan the modern age of younger, cooler, Twilight-style vampires. For those of you harbouring comedy-writing ambitions of your own, we got the men themselves to lay down some guidelines: [Read more...]

Books, Comedy

And you thought yours was bad…

And you thought yours was bad…

For that tight-knit group who are so close, they are literally on top of one another. For maximum comfort, go denim.

Remember that photo? From that holiday when you were 12? The one where your “puppy fat” is pushing forcibly at your lime green dungarees, your dad’s doing that ‘muscle man’ pose and your mum’s attempting to flirt with the camera? The chances are you’ve suppressed that memory as deeply as possible, but if you fancy reveling in the pain of others to ease your suffering, then look no further than Awkward Family Photos.

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