'The point of comedy is to annoy people'

WTF: Weekly Trivia File

Frankie Boyle’s ‘creepiness’ has become a A-level question. A general studies paper asked about TV censorship by using a review that described him as ‘notable chiefly for his creepy mockery of breast cancer sufferers and Katie Price’s son’.

This baby’s got perfect comic timing, as comic James Alderson found out during a in Bath:

After Piff The Magic Dragon got plagiarised by a Ukranian talent show contestant, Andre Vincent reveals that in 1986 his street act was nicked, word for word, in Chinese. ‘At the Hong Kong fringe in 1987 you could see me do it, or someone else do it in Cantonese,’ he said.

What are you doing on March 28, 2014? It’s a Friday. Well, if you really do like forward planning, tickets have today gone on sale for Australian character comedian Pam Ann’s two shows at Hammersmith Apollo that weekend, just 96 weeks away...

Malcolm Hardee hated street mimes so much that he would approach them and mime handing over great wads of cash.

Brendon Burns, John Robertson and Sammy J all became overcome with a daredevil spirit at the Perth Comedy Festival. As Robertson’s show ran over time, he took it outside, and ended up on top of a merchandise stall with his guests. And after that there was only one way down: near-suicidal stagediving:

John Bishop is the face of a new billboard campaign promoting vegetarianism The comic gave up meat in 1985 after seeing a cow being slaughtered. ‘The cow was hanging up looking at me as if to say, “You did this'", he said. The poster shows him grinning into the camera as three chicks perch on his shoulder next to the caption: ‘Chicks Love a Vegetarian!’ The poster at London’s Borough Market coincides with National Vegetarian Week, which is now on.

Cadbury Dairy Milk ice cream has announced the winner of their competition to bring back the lolly stick joke. Charlie Thomas, a Newcastle scaffolder by day and part of a Rat Pack tribute act by night, won £5,000 for his gag: ‘Who is in charge of the hankies? The hankie-chief.'

What happens to old open spots? Well one of them, Phil Klein, was spotted in London by blogger John Fleming this week, standing in a corner of Leicester Square with a placard that said: ‘I have no message. and I’m not selling anything. I just haven’t got anything better to do.’

When comedian Bryan Lacey married Hannah, an agent at Mirth Control, earlier this month, he surprised her at the reception by performing a song he’d written in secret – all about how they would grow old together. The song is fast becoming a YouTube hit, with 75,000 views and soaring:

Confident, much? Stephen K Amos’s autumn tour shows are already being advertised with the line ‘Stephen is back with his new stand-up show after a sell-out season at the Edinburgh Festival’. So far tickets are available for all but one of his dates at the Fringe.

‘There are so many people who say they are a stand-up comic, and you think, “no you’re not!”. It seems some people think it’s a job you need very few skills for – just stand on stage and talk!’ Sean Hughes

Tweets of the week:
Karl (@sendasigh): FANS OF THE QUEEN: this year, refer to yourselves as "Jubileebers"
BenedictFarse ( @BenedictFarse): For my halitosis I was recommended mince. I've walked like John Inman for a week now and if anything it's got worse from all the extra cock.
Moose Allain:(@MooseAllain): I bought one of those self-assembly bird tables a while back. The lazy bastards haven't even opened the box, all they've done is shit on it./li>

Published: 25 May 2012