Bullies vs polo mints

WTF: Weekly Trivia File

Despite the bad news about his series, Stephen K Amos started the week well … at a star-studded Beyonce gig in the Shepherds Bush Empire in West London. Other celebs the the audience included Gwyneth Paltrow, Adel, Tinie Tempah, Jay-Z, Ewan McGregor, Alexandra Burke, Stella McCartney, Sugababes star Jade Ewen, JLS singer JB and Paloma Faith.

James Corden also saw Beyonce last weekend… in an even more showbiz style. He went to Glastonbury, but flew in by helicopter, stayed for a few hours, then as soon as she came off stage, he was whisked away again in his chopper. Keeping it real.

Rob Brydon has announced the birth of his fifth child – on Twitter. He posted: ‘Hello Again! Two-week radio silence after birth of new baby, a boy. All doing well although some more sleep would be nice. He’s my fifth child. Home birth in a pool in the kitchen. And no, I didn’t try to pass him like a rugby ball.’ And here he is talking about a previous birth:

Ricky Gervais has been given one of the guitars from This Is Spinal Tap for his 50th birthday. The Fender was given to him by Tap star Christopher Guest when Gervais had lunch with him and his wife Jamie Lee Curtis. He said: ‘I was speechless. It was really too much. What a remarkable gift. I had to have a little lie down in his hotel suite.’

Meanwhile, Gervais has also revealed that he once made a school bully cry - by hitting him in the face with a packet of Polos. But, less bravely, he then scuttled off to a dinner lady to hide behind. He recalled: ‘He wanted my sweets so I went, “What am I going to do here?” - and I smacked him in the face with the Polos. I was a faster runner than him so I hid behind the dinner lady and he got so frustrated he started to cry.’

How can we resist a YouTube clip titled: ‘Worst Stand Up EVER!’ But at least you can’t say you weren’t warned:

Comedian Eric Mutch broke his ankle five minutes before the start of his Edinburgh Fringe preview in Exeter on Tuesday – but carried on regardless, performing the whole hour-long show holding an ice pack to his ankle. He said: 'I don't recommend breaking one of your body parts for your art but, turning poison into medicine, it did become the star of Tuesday's show.

Jimmy Carr has written his first comic strip, with a tale of ‘violent point-scoring and social alienation’. Beat My Score, which appears in the latest issue of Clint magazine and has been illustrated in a manga style, is described as ‘nihilistic satirical sideswipe at the glamorisation of violence, tackling the difficult and disturbing effects as seen in school shootings’. Jonathan Ross, Frankie Boyle and Stewart Lee have all previously written their first comic strips for Clint. Here's a frame from the strip:

Not our usual WTF jollity, but Marcus Brigstocke has revealed he was so unhappy as a teenager he ate until he weighed 24 stone and kept trying to kill himself. ‘I got hugely overweight and hated myself,’ he said. ‘But I never had the courage to cut my wrists deeply enough or to take enough pills.’ Luckily, he sought treatment, and lost 12 stone.

Friends star Lisa Kudrow almost starred in a different sitcom altogether: Fraser. She was cast as the psychiatrist’s radio sidekick Roz – but lasted only three days on set before being dumped in favour of Peri Gilpin. She said: ‘I knew it wasn’t working, and they fixed it’ – but admits it was a career low, as she thought she’d blown her big chance.

Tweets of the week:
Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien):Tom Hanks is on my show tonight. As usual, he’s a total dick.
John Hamilton (@johnfromsoho): I just bought a new oven endorsed by LG. Its a Lady Gaga Aga.
Kristalina Steininger(@KristalinaS): Search thesaurus.com for “ninjas” & it says ‘No results found’. Well played, ninjas, well played!