WTF: Weekly Trivia File

• The Edinburgh Fringe programme police have been active again. They told comedian Sarah Campbell she’d have to change title of her show from Isn't It Fun??????? because they deemed seven question marks ‘excessive’ and only let her have three. But 13 As in Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrghh! Free! It’s The Increasingly Prestigious Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards Show is clearly perfectly fine. Meanwhile, their distaste for the word ‘cock’ continues, with no concern for whether it seems ridiculous. The blurb for Bob Doolally’s show describes him as the man who ‘put the c*ck into Mrs Cockenzie’ – not much of a riddle as to the missing letter there....

• Glasgow comic Ray Bradshaw has taken part in the ‘terrifying’ Globe of Death at Zippos Circus. The stand-up, pictured stood in the centre of the iron sphere with motorbikes whizzing around his head at 60mph. He said: ‘As soon as the engines revved, my heart began to pound in my chest. I couldn’t stop my legs from shaking and I could feel myself getting anxious. Within seconds the machines looped the loop just feet above my head. It was the most scared I have ever been. Just trying to follow the riders with my eyes left me feeling sick. I couldn’t wait to exit the cage.’ Bradshaw is trying to complete as many challenges as he can in a year. Next stop: A Spanish bull run.

• An Only Fools And Horses fan who hires out a replica of Del Boy’s three-wheeler was pulled over by the police when driving his canary-yellow Reliant Regal – because an inflatable doll was visible in the back window. Richard Foster says it was a homage to an episode in which Del acquires a batch of sex dolls, which have inadvertently been filled with an explosive gas. But cops in Bognor Regis threatened with a ticket under Section 5 of the Public Order Act unless he remove it. Foster filmed the encounter on his phone:

• Shazia Mirza has spent nine days in an Indian retreat where conversation was banned for  at least nine hours a day – with two days of no talking whatsoever. ‘It’s a revelation to me just how much rubbish people talk. In silence I discover that... I really don’t need to say so much in order to communicate with people.’

• Do the Japanese really think Two And A Half Men is about a couple of gay lovers? Well, no, but it would be lovely if this subtitled opening sequence WERE true:

• An Irish-themed pub in Edinburgh has drafted in comedian Paddy McCullagh to teach its staff the gift of the gab. He said: ‘Working in a bar, it’s all become a bit mechanical really, too fast paced. You pour the drink and ask the customer for the money. The idea behind this is that we get people talking again and make visiting bars more of an experience rather than just something you do when you’re thirsty.’ He’s taught the staff at Biddy Mulligans some one-liners and ‘proposition bet’ tricks to entertain their punters.

• Feel the silence as South African comic Unathi Mahaluba dies awfully. ‘Imagine there was a vagina festival...’:

• Jimmy Carr is to be the headline speaker for the British Mortgage Awards 2013.

• Tweets of the week
Neil _Enanem_ (@_Enanem_): Why do they hold London's major tournament at SW19? It should be NE1 for tennis.
Nick Motown (@NickMotown):French rock salt salesmen always try & give you the hard sel.
Solomon Georgio (@r.com/solomongeorgio): HOT TIP: Have your gay wedding at a Westboro Church member's funeral.

Published: 28 Jun 2013