WTF: Weekly Trivia File

• Russell Brand: ‘I haven't found love yet because I've been looking in the wrong places all these years. Now I'm desperately seeking her. I'm a bit worried as it will be difficult for them. They will have to tolerate my insanity and madness.’

• Perhaps in that vein, Brand reportedly knocked back the advances of Lindsay Lohan.

• Sacha Baron Cohen has pissed off the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorist group, who have issued a rather chilling threat after their one-time member Aiman Abu Aita was made to look a prat in the Bruno film. Their statement says: ‘We reserve the right to respond in the way we find suitable against this man... This movie was part of a conspiracy against the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades… This was a dirty use of our brother, Aiman.’

• Mackenzie Crook is helping Peter Sellers ‘piss off his neighbours from beyond the grave’ by refusing to cut down a beech tree in the garden of his house, which was once owned by the late Goon, despite their complaints that it casts a shadow over their garden.

• Armando Iannucci flew to New York this week, and what was the woman in the seat next to him watching? His political satire In The Loop. ‘I had to look away for 100 minutes,’ Iannucci said.

• Let no one say local newspapers are parochial. The Coventry Telegraph reports: 'Former Coventry student Frank Skinner is taking part in a celebrity challenge for Children in Need – to travel around the world in 80 days. The Warwick University graduate is one of six pairs of celebrities set to race against the clock to follow in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg and Michael Palin.' Only in paragraph three do they mention he's a comic, not just a former Coventry student. And how is he a 'pair of celebrities'?

• Noel Fielding and Pixie Geldof are apparently an item.

• You Tube clip of the week? Dr Doom does stand-up:
  

• Comedy Store Player Andy Smart went running with the bulls in Pamplona last week, and saw Daniel Jimeno Romero after he was fatally gored. ‘He was in a bad way. There was a woman holding something to his neck,’ he said.

• From the Daily Express: ‘Ricky Gervais has hit back after a critic blasted him for condoning bullfighting while continuing to eat meat.’
  From the Irish Independent: ‘Ricky Gervais has hit back after a critic blasted him for condoning bullfighting while continuing to eat meat.’
  From OK Magazine: ‘Ricky Gervais has hit back after a critic blasted him for condoning bullfighting while continuing to eat meat.’
  Erm, that would be ‘condemning’ bullfighting, folks. Small difference.

• A little web doohickey for Stockholm Pride analyses the language used in Twitter feeds to determine how 'hetero' the writer is. The scores on the doors for some comedians threw up some very odd results: Rob Brydon, 76%, Jimmy Carr 75%, Dara O Brian 74%, Matt Lucas 70%, Alan Carr 69%, Stephen Fry 56%, Eddie Izzard 55%, Russell Brand 54%, Matt Horne, 43%, Tim Minchin 34%, Chortle’s news feed, 20%

• Favourite misspelling of the week: The Theatre Royal Stratford East clearly didn't know when to stop when billing stand-up Dan Antopolski: He's currently listed as Dan Antolopopoloski.

SOURCES: The People , The Sun, Exclaim! Canada, The Times, Twitter, Coventry Evening Telegraph, Holy Moly! , The Mirror, Rickygervais.com, Stockholm Pride, Stratfordeast.com

Published: 17 Jul 2009