Weekly trivia file

• ‘The whole point of being a stand-up is breaking away from caring what people think.’ Omid Djalili

• When asked about his favourite current comedians this week, Adrian Edmondson said: ‘I think there are some good ones. I like Noel Fielding and Mr skinny hips, hairy chest… Russell Grant. Not Grant, Brand.’

• Talking of the man himself, Mr Brand knows his reputation precedes him when he meets women. ‘Some people say, “Oh, do you only want to have sex?”,’ he says. ‘What do you mean ONLY? I'm bloody good at it and it's better than talking! I'm better at sex than talking so that is one of the best things you could do with me. You wouldn't say to Carl Lewis, “What? Are we only going to do running?”.’

• Heroes star Hayden Panettiere – who plays cheeleader Claire Bennet – is obsessed with Little Britain and says she is ‘in love’ with Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

• When Tim Vine was approached by a stranger who insisted they knew each other, the comic blithly told him: ‘Well actually I'm a comedian, you might recognise me from TV.' Only problem was, the man didn’t recognise him from the telly – they had met before and Vine had forgotten. ‘It was so embarrassing,’ he admits.

• Sacha Baron Cohen seems to have done himself a mischief. He arrived at the trendy Los Angeles restaurant Angelini Osteria on Wednesday night in crutches, with his lower leg set in a cast.

• No such thing as bad publicity? Until last week, around 200 people had seen the showreel of sketch comedian Abi Roberts, even though it had had been on MySpace for almost a year. Now it’s racked up well over 5,000 views. Why such a surge in popularity? Because gossip website Holy Moly named it Worst Showreel Ever, saying: ‘I DEFY you not to cringe whilst watching this “unique entertainer”.’ Brace yourself – here it is:
  

• And for the antidote, US comedian Louis CK has just landed a deal to write a new sitcom for CBS, which has to be good news given how good his HBO show Lucky Louie was. Criminally, it was cancelled after just one series, but here’s a taster of how good it was:
  

• Gavin and Stacey star James Corden says he’s getting fed up of journalists asking him about his supposed status as a sex symbol. ‘It's odd because it feels like people are asking me why I think I'm attractive, and what they mean is, “What's that about, because you're obviously not hot.” No one is asking Brad Pitt that question.’

SOURCES: Metro, Digital Spy, People magazine, Chorley Citizen, E! Online, HolyMoly, YouTube, BBC

Published: 18 Apr 2008