Ronni luvs Dustin

The week's comedy trivia

‘Comics are not so much sad as angry about everything. Funny people are very angry people. And they turn their anger into funny.’ Joan Rivers

Ronni Ancona had an unhealthy fixation with Dustin Hoffman when she was younger. ‘I was in love with Dustin Hoffman,’ she said. “If I saw his name in print, I’d cut it out and stick it on my wall, so I had Dustin Hoffman wallpaper. And here’s the tragedy: since I’ve become relatively well-known, I’ve been friends with people who’ve met him. They talk about him and it’s too painful for me to bear. No one knows.’ Until now, obviously

Paul Merton has pre-ordered a copy of his own book Paul Merton’s Silent Comedy from Amazon – even though he hasn’t finished writing it yet. You can do the same here.

Character comic Pam Ann was once booked to perform at the Australia tennis open – but got kicked out midway through her routine when she pulled out a prop bag of ‘cocaine’ from her suitcase. ‘I’ve never seen officials run so fast,’ she said. ‘They freaked out, practically dragging me off the stage by my neck scarf and chucked me out.’

Victoria Wood loves baking elaborate cakes, and says: ‘For my son's third birthday I did children looking over a bridge at a train, but it had a slight air of a suicide pact about it.’

Aussie stand-up Brendon Burns is playing Glastonbury next month – to apologise for last time he appeared. In his worryingly bizzare 2005 gig, he bought enough magic mushrooms to get 1,000 people high, climbed the tentpole and very publicly bared his pain over the breakup of his relationship. But, one stay in a mental institution later, he’s ready to make amends – and will finish the movie about him that Aristocrats director Paul Provenza was shooting last time. ‘I want to say sorry,’ he said. ‘And make things better. We’re going to finish the film at Glastonbury – which is where it all started [his breakdown and recovery] – and now it’s got a happy ending.’

Jessica Stevenson thought that her sitcom According To Bex was so bad that she left her agent for putting her up for it.

The BBC cut a Graham Norton gag from its Baftas coverage, for fear of upsetting the Queen. The offensive line in question? ‘It’s not just Prince Philip who spends the evening looking at Ugly Betty