Chubby: I’ve got loads of black friends...

WTF: Weekly Triva File

Lee Mack says his Not Going Out co-star Tim Vine is paranoid about his gags being plagiarised. ‘Tim often thinks that people are trying to steal his jokes,’ Mack said. ‘He’s a bit over-defensive. If there's a joke even vaguely familiar to his he thinks it's been nicked.’

Paddy Guinness hasn't had his bins emptied for several weeks. If you want to know more, subscribe to his Twitter feed – he's posted more than 20 endlessly fascinating tweets about the snow-hit service, including a delightful comparison between the growing pile of garbage to a family who decided to 'live on benefits and have a shitload more [children]’.

Russell Brand donated nearly £3,000 so the South Essex Rape and Incest Crisis Centre could throw a party to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Debate raged on Chortle last week about the laughter track on The Persuasionists. So are such tracks detrimental to sitcoms? Well, comedy scenes certainly weird if you remove the chuckles, as this rather creepy clip from Big Bang Theory shows:

Roy Chubby Brown: ‘I’ve got loads of black friends. I go to the gym with a bloke who makes coal look white.’

Comedy Central are having a launch bash for their new schedules next month, with invites teasingly saying: ‘What's a party without Charlie?’ Of course it's not a reference to coke – at a media party? Heaven forefend – but to the star of their prized import, Two And A Half Men’s Charlie Sheen. Still, given his Christmas arrest for alleged domestic violence, and the fact his wife is in intensive care with a high fever and an infection following mouth surgery, that's probably even more controversial than a drugs reference...

Bill Bailey spotted this at the BBC and Twittered it, with the message: 'Saw this at the BBC the other day, Rob. You deserve a better dressing room, this is a scandal.'